A Hybrid All-Atom Structure-Based Model for Protein Folding and Large Scale Conformational Transitions.

Abstract

Structure-based models are successful at conjugating the essence of the energy landscape theory of protein folding with an easy and efficient implementation. Recently, their realm expanded beyond a single protein structure, and structure-based potentials have been used profitably to widely study complex conformational transitions. Still, when dealing with structural rearrangements between two, or more, well-defined structures, an unbiased and transferable description of the local backbone and side chain interactions could be advantageous. Here, we propose an all-atom model that merges a classical force field description of these local interactions with a structure-based long-range potential that takes into account the different conformations. We first validate the model simulating and characterizing the folding reaction and the transition state of two well-known proteins: the villin headpiece and the SH3 domain. Then, we characterize the activation mechanism of the catalytic domain of c-Src kinase. Such a process involves the conformational rearrangement of a large loop and the swing of an α helix. The appearance of a stable intermediate state in the free energy landscape between the two conformational end points suggests the mechanism of the loop opening. The low computational cost of the model together with the satisfactory accuracy of the results make it a promising approach to studying conformational transitions in large protein systems.