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Correlation spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations to study the structural features of proteins.

ABSTRACT: In this work, we used a combination of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation methodologies to acquire structural information on pH-induced unfolding of the maltotriose-binding protein from Thermus thermophilus (MalE2). FCS has emerged as a powerful technique for characterizing the dynamics of molecules and it is, in fact, used to study molecular diffusion on timescale of microsecond and longer. Our results showed that keeping temperature constant, the protein diffusion coefficient decreased from 84±4 µm(2)/s to 44±3 µm(2)/s when pH was changed from 7.0 to 4.0. An even more marked decrease of the MalE2 diffusion coefficient (31±3 µm(2)/s) was registered when pH was raised from 7.0 to 10.0. According to the size of MalE2 (a monomeric protein with a molecular weight of 43 kDa) as well as of its globular native shape, the values of 44 µm(2)/s and 31 µm(2)/s could be ascribed to deformations of the protein structure, which enhances its propensity to form aggregates at extreme pH values. The obtained fluorescence correlation data, corroborated by circular dichroism, fluorescence emission and light-scattering experiments, are discussed together with the MD simulations results.

SUBMITTER: Varriale A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3672191 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Correlation spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations to study the structural features of proteins.

Varriale Antonio A Marabotti Anna A Mei Giampiero G Staiano Maria M D'Auria Sabato S

PloS one 20130604 6

In this work, we used a combination of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation methodologies to acquire structural information on pH-induced unfolding of the maltotriose-binding protein from Thermus thermophilus (MalE2). FCS has emerged as a powerful technique for characterizing the dynamics of molecules and it is, in fact, used to study molecular diffusion on timescale of microsecond and longer. Our results showed that keeping temperature constant, the ...[more]

PMID: 23750215

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Project description:The knowledge of multiple conformational states is a prerequisite to understand the function of membrane transport proteins. Unfortunately, the determination of detailed atomic structures for all these functionally important conformational states with conventional high-resolution approaches is often difficult and unsuccessful. In some cases, biophysical and biochemical approaches can provide important complementary structural information that can be exploited with the help of advanced computational methods to derive structural models of specific conformational states. In particular, functional and spectroscopic measurements in combination with site-directed mutations constitute one important source of information to obtain these mixed-resolution structural models. A very common problem with this strategy, however, is the difficulty to simultaneously integrate all the information from multiple independent experiments involving different mutations or chemical labels to derive a unique structural model consistent with the data. To resolve this issue, a novel restrained molecular dynamics structural refinement method is developed to simultaneously incorporate multiple experimentally determined constraints (e.g., engineered metal bridges or spin-labels), each treated as an individual molecular fragment with all atomic details. The internal structure of each of the molecular fragments is treated realistically, while there is no interaction between different molecular fragments to avoid unphysical steric clashes. The information from all the molecular fragments is exploited simultaneously to constrain the backbone to refine a three-dimensional model of the conformational state of the protein. The method is illustrated by refining the structure of the voltage-sensing domain (VSD) of the Kv1.2 potassium channel in the resting state and by exploring the distance histograms between spin-labels attached to T4 lysozyme. The resulting VSD structures are in good agreement with the consensus model of the resting state VSD and the spin-spin distance histograms from ESR/DEER experiments on T4 lysozyme are accurately reproduced.

Dataset Information

Correlation spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations to study the structural features of proteins.

Publications

Correlation spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations to study the structural features of proteins.

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