330 likes | 502 Views
Interactions in proteins and their role in structure formation. Levels of protein structure organization. Dominant forces in protein folding. Electrostatic forces Hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions Intrinsic properties Hydrophobic forces
E N D
Dominant forces in protein folding • Electrostatic forces • Hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions • Intrinsic properties • Hydrophobic forces • Conformational entropy (opposes folding)
Can we say that there are „dominant” forces in protein folding? Hardly. Proteins are only marginally stable (5 – 20 kBT/molecule). For comparison: water-water H-bond has about 5 kcal/mol (9 kBT/molecule) Consequently, even the tiniest force cannot be ignored. However, different types of interactions play different role Hydrophobic interaction: compactness Local interactions: chain stiffness Hydrogen bonds: architecture
Long-range vs. short-range interactions n<=3: long range interactions n>3: short-range interactions Long-range: electrostatic (charge-charge, charge-dipole, and dipole-dipole) interactions Short-range: van der Waals repulsion and attraction, hydrophobic interactions
Lots of like-charges (e.g., side-chain ionization by pH decrease/increase) destabilize protein structure • Increase of ionic strength destabilizes protein structure • 5 – 10 kcal/mol / counter-ion (salt-bridge) pair • A protein contains only a small number of salt bridges, mainly located on the surface (nevertheless, they can be essential).
Example of a surface salt bridge: salt bridge triad between Asp8, Asp12 and Arg110 on the surface of barnase
Replacement of charged residues with hydrophobic residues can increase the stability by 3-4 kcal/mol. Example: ARC repressor Wild type: salt triad between R31, E36, and R40 Mutant: hydrophobic packing between M31, Y36, and L40
Free energies of N-methylamide dimerization in water (w) and CCl4 (n) solution and transfer between these solvents DG1=-2.40 kcal/mol An+Bn (AB)n DG5=+3.72 kcal/mol DG3=+3.10 kcal/mol DG4=+0.62 kcal/mol Aw+Bw (AB)w DG3=+3.10 kcal/mol
Local interactions are largely determined by Ramachandran map
Conformations of a terminally-blocked amino-acid residue E Zimmerman, Pottle, Nemethy, Scheraga, Macromolecules, 10, 1-9 (1977) C7eq C7ax
Energy maps of Ac-Ala-NHMe and Ac-Gly-AHMe obtained with the ECEPP/2 force field
Energy curve of Ac-Pro-NHMe obtained with the ECEPP/2 force field fL-Pro»-68o
Energy minima of therminally-blocked alanine with the ECEPP/2 force field
Dependence of the PMF and cavity contribution to the PMF of two methane molecules on temperature (Sobolewski et al., PEDS, 22, 547-552 (2009)