Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Free-Energy Landscape and Rate Estimation of the Aromatic Ring Flips in Basic Pancreatic Trypsin Inhibitors Using Metadynamics

Kulkarni, Mandar LU and Söderhjelm, Pär LU (2023) In Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation 19(19). p.6605-6618
Abstract

Aromatic side chains (phenylalanine and tyrosine) of a protein flip by 180° around the Cβ-Cγ axis (χ2 dihedral of the side chain), producing two symmetry-equivalent states. The study of ring flip dynamics with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments helps to understand local conformational fluctuations. Ring flips are categorized as slow (milliseconds and onward) or fast (nanoseconds to near milliseconds) based on timescales accessible to NMR experiments. In this study, we investigated the ability of the infrequent metadynamics approach to estimate the flip rate and discriminate between slow and fast ring flips for eight individual aromatic side chains (F4, Y10, Y21, F22, Y23, F33, Y35, and F45) of... (More)

Aromatic side chains (phenylalanine and tyrosine) of a protein flip by 180° around the Cβ-Cγ axis (χ2 dihedral of the side chain), producing two symmetry-equivalent states. The study of ring flip dynamics with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments helps to understand local conformational fluctuations. Ring flips are categorized as slow (milliseconds and onward) or fast (nanoseconds to near milliseconds) based on timescales accessible to NMR experiments. In this study, we investigated the ability of the infrequent metadynamics approach to estimate the flip rate and discriminate between slow and fast ring flips for eight individual aromatic side chains (F4, Y10, Y21, F22, Y23, F33, Y35, and F45) of the basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. Well-tempered metadynamics simulations were performed to estimate the ring-flipping free-energy surfaces for all eight aromatic residues. The results indicate that χ2 as a standalone collective variable (CV) is not sufficient to obtain computationally consistent results. Inclusion of a complementary CV, such as χ1(Cα-Cβ), solved the problem for most residues and enabled us to classify fast and slow ring flips. This indicates the importance of librational motions in ring flips. Multiple pathways and mechanisms were observed for residues F4, Y10, and F22. Recrossing events were observed for residues F22 and F33, indicating a possible role of friction effects in ring flipping. The results demonstrate the successful application of infrequent metadynamics to estimate ring flip rates and identify certain limitations of the approach.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
volume
19
issue
19
pages
14 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:37698852
  • scopus:85172918450
ISSN
1549-9618
DOI
10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00460
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
df5f9ede-08bf-4841-a453-51d36d7cdab8
date added to LUP
2023-11-29 11:37:09
date last changed
2024-04-26 14:38:33
@article{df5f9ede-08bf-4841-a453-51d36d7cdab8,
  abstract     = {{<p>Aromatic side chains (phenylalanine and tyrosine) of a protein flip by 180° around the C<sub>β</sub>-C<sub>γ</sub> axis (χ<sub>2</sub> dihedral of the side chain), producing two symmetry-equivalent states. The study of ring flip dynamics with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments helps to understand local conformational fluctuations. Ring flips are categorized as slow (milliseconds and onward) or fast (nanoseconds to near milliseconds) based on timescales accessible to NMR experiments. In this study, we investigated the ability of the infrequent metadynamics approach to estimate the flip rate and discriminate between slow and fast ring flips for eight individual aromatic side chains (F4, Y10, Y21, F22, Y23, F33, Y35, and F45) of the basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. Well-tempered metadynamics simulations were performed to estimate the ring-flipping free-energy surfaces for all eight aromatic residues. The results indicate that χ<sub>2</sub> as a standalone collective variable (CV) is not sufficient to obtain computationally consistent results. Inclusion of a complementary CV, such as χ<sub>1</sub>(C<sub>α</sub>-C<sub>β</sub>), solved the problem for most residues and enabled us to classify fast and slow ring flips. This indicates the importance of librational motions in ring flips. Multiple pathways and mechanisms were observed for residues F4, Y10, and F22. Recrossing events were observed for residues F22 and F33, indicating a possible role of friction effects in ring flipping. The results demonstrate the successful application of infrequent metadynamics to estimate ring flip rates and identify certain limitations of the approach.</p>}},
  author       = {{Kulkarni, Mandar and Söderhjelm, Pär}},
  issn         = {{1549-9618}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{19}},
  pages        = {{6605--6618}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation}},
  title        = {{Free-Energy Landscape and Rate Estimation of the Aromatic Ring Flips in Basic Pancreatic Trypsin Inhibitors Using Metadynamics}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00460}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00460}},
  volume       = {{19}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}