Conformational Fluctuation Dynamics Research Articles

Understanding the intricacy of protein in hydrated deep eutectic solvent: Solvation dynamics, conformational fluctuation dynamics, and stability

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are potential biocatalytic media due to their easy preparation, fine-tuneability, biocompatibility, and most importantly, due to their ability to keep protein stable and active. However, there are many unanswered questions and gaps in our knowledge about how proteins behave in these alternate media. Herein, we investigated solvation dynamics, conformational fluctuation dynamics, and stability of human serum albumin (HSA) in 0.5 Acetamide/0.3 Urea/0.2 Sorbitol (0.5Ac/0.3Ur/0.2Sor) DES of varying concentrations to understand the intricacy of protein behaviour in DES. Our result revealed a gradual decrease in the side-chain flexibility and thermal stability of HSA beyond 30 % DES. On the other hand, the associated water dynamics around domain-I of HSA decelerate only marginally with increasing DES content, although viscosity rises considerably. We propose that even though macroscopic solvent properties are altered, a protein feels only an aqueous type of environment in the presence of DES. This is probably the first experimental study to delineate the role of the associated water structure of the enzyme for maintaining its stability inside DES. Although considerable effort is necessary to generalize such claims, it might serve as the basis for understanding why proteins remain stable and active in DES.

Probing Protein-DNA Conformational Dynamics in DNA Damage Recognition: Xeroderma Pigmentosum Group A Stabilizes the Damaged DNA-RPA14 Complex by Controlling Conformational Fluctuation Dynamics.

DNA damage inside biological systems may result in diseases like cancer. One of the major repairing mechanisms is the nucleotide excision repair (NER) that recognizes and repairs the damage caused by several internal and external exposures, such as DNA double-strand distortion due to the chemical modifications. Recognition of lesions is the initial stage of the DNA damage repair, which occurs with the help of several proteins like Replication Protein A (RPA) and Xeroderma Pigmentosum group A (XPA). The recognition process involves complex conformational dynamics of the proteins. Studying the dynamics of damage recognition by these proteins helps us to understand the mechanism and to develop therapeutics to increase the efficiency of recognition. Here, we use single-molecule fluorescence fluctuation measurements of a dye, labeled at a damaged position on DNA, to understand the interaction of the damage site with RPA14 and XPA. Our results suggest that interactive conformational dynamics of RPA14 with damaged DNA is inhomogeneous due to its low affinity for DNA, whereas binding of XPA with the already formed DNA-RPA14 complex may increase the specificity of damage recognition by controlling the conformational fluctuation dynamics of the complex.

Macromolecular crowding: how shape and interaction affect the structure, function, conformational dynamics and relative domain movement of a multi-domain protein.

The cellular environment is crowded by macromolecules of various sizes, shapes, and charges, which modulate protein structure, function and dynamics. Herein, we contemplated the effect of three different macromolecular crowders: dextran-40, Ficoll-70 and PEG-35 on the structure, active-site conformational dynamics, function and relative domain movement of multi-domain human serum albumin (HSA). All the crowders used in this study have zero charges and similar sizes (at least in the dilute region) but different shapes and compositions. Some observations follow the traditional crowding theory. For example, all the crowders increased the α-helicity of HSA and hindered the conformational fluctuation dynamics. However, some observations are not in line with the expectations, such as an increase in the size of HSA with PEG-35 and uncorrelated domain movement of HSA with Ficoll-70 and PEG-35. The relative domain movement is correlated with the activity, suggesting that such moves are essential for protein function. The interaction between HSA and Ficoll-70 is proposed to be hydrophobic in nature. Overall, our results provide a somewhat systematic study of the shape-dependent macromolecular crowding effect on various protein properties and present a possible new insight into the mechanism of macromolecular crowding.

Conformational states and fluctuations in endothelial nitric oxide synthase under calmodulin regulation

Mechanisms that regulate nitric oxide synthase enzymes (NOS) are of interest in biology and medicine. Although NOS catalysis relies on domain motions and is activated by calmodulin (CaM) binding, the relationships are unclear. We used single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectroscopy to elucidate the conformational states distribution and associated conformational fluctuation dynamics of the two NOS electron transfer domains in an FRET dye-labeled endothelial NOS reductase domain (eNOSr) and to understand how CaM affects the dynamics to regulate catalysis by shaping the spatial and temporal conformational behaviors of eNOSr. In addition, we developed and applied a new imaging approach capable of recording three-dimensional FRET efficiency versus time images to characterize the impact on dynamic conformal states of the eNOSr enzyme by the binding of CaM, which identifies clearly that CaM binding generates an extra new open state of eNOSr, resolving more detailed NOS conformational states and their fluctuation dynamics. We identified a new output state that has an extra open conformation that is only populated in the CaM-bound eNOSr. This may reveal the critical role of CaM in triggering NOS activity as it gives conformational flexibility for eNOSr to assume the electron transfer output FMN-heme state. Our results provide a dynamic link to recently reported EM static structure analyses and demonstrate a capable approach in probing and simultaneously analyzing all of the conformational states, their fluctuations, and the fluctuation dynamics for understanding the mechanism of NOS electron transfer, involving electron transfer among FAD, FMN, and heme domains, during nitric oxide synthesis.

Ultra-sensitive lock-in amplifier coupled oscillatory magnetic tweezers for piconewton force manipulation applications

We have developed lock-in amplifier coupled oscillatory magnetic tweezers, aiming to synchronize the oscillatory magnetic force application and single-molecule response detection at the applied oscillatory frequency by incorporating an optical lock-in amplifier detection. The designed home-built lock-in amplifier detection instrument enables an exact reference signal input and hence reveals an accurate and sensitive magnetic response synchronization. We have further demonstrated the approach with the rhodamine 6G stained super-paramagnetic beads by monitoring the below-the-noise-background weak fluorescence signal changes due to the magnetic response of the super-paramagnetic beads under the oscillatory force manipulation. The integration of the lock-in amplifier and the oscillating magnetic tweezers can significantly expand the application of the magnetic tweezers for signal detection below the noise background, such as adapting to the important applications in the detailed exploration of mechanical properties of biomolecules and studies of the protein conformational fluctuation dynamics.

Shape-Dependent Macromolecular Crowding on the Thermodynamics and Microsecond Conformational Dynamics of Protein Unfolding Revealed at the Single-Molecule Level

One of the main differences in the intercellular environment compared to the laboratory condition is the presence of macromolecular crowders of various compositions, sizes, and shapes. In this article, we have contemplated a systematic shape dependency of macromolecular crowders on the thermodynamics and microsecond conformational fluctuation dynamics of protein unfolding by taking human serum albumin (HSA) as the model protein and similar-sized crowders, namely, dextran-40, ficoll-70, and PEG-35 as macromolecular crowders of different shapes, to mimic the cell environment. We observed that dextran-40 and ficoll-70 counteract the thermal denaturation and PEG-35 assists it. A complete thermodynamic analysis suggests that the stabilization by dextran-40 and ficoll-70 occurs mainly through stabilizing entropic effect, which is somewhat counteracted by the destabilizing enthalpic effect, in line with what is expected from the traditional interpretation of excluded volume and soft interaction. Surprisingly, the destabilizing effect of PEG-35 is not through unfavorable interaction but through a destabilizing entropic effect, which is opposite to the excluded volume prediction. Our speculation is that the modulation of the associated water structure due to crowder-induced distortion plays a crucial role in modulating the entropic component. Moreover, while a two-state model can approximate the overall thermal denaturation of HSA in the absence and presence of various crowders, the thermal denaturation profile of domain III of HSA involves a distinct intermediate state. The active-site dynamics of HSA are altered significantly in the presence of all the three differently shaped crowders used in the study. Rod-shaped dextran-40 and spherical ficoll-70 hinder the microsecond conformational dynamics of domain III of HSA in all states except the intermediate state. Mesh-like PEG-35 in addition to hindering the microsecond conformational dynamics shifts the intermediate state from 40 to 30 °C. Overall, our results provide new insight into deciphering the mechanism of crowder-induced changes in protein. Through our interpretation, we not only explain the unfavorable entropic contribution but also provide a physical basis to explain the entropy-enthalpy compensation.

Single-Molecule Spectroscopy Study of Crowding-Induced Protein Spontaneous Denature and Crowding-Perturbed Unfolding-Folding Conformational Fluctuation Dynamics.

The effects of molecular crowding on protein folding-unfolding processes are of importance for understanding protein function and structure dynamics in living cells. The enhancement of protein stability as a result of reduced entropic effect in the presence of molecular crowding is well understood both experimentally and theoretically. However, because of the complexity and interplay between various interactions existing in an equally favored environment of protein folding and unfolding conformational dynamics, such a simple reduced entropic enhancement model does not suffice to describe protein folding conformational dynamics under a protein crowding condition. In this paper, we report our observation on that single protein molecules spontaneously denature into unfolded proteins and folding-unfolding fluctuations in solution of crowding reagent Ficoll 70. We have identified that such protein dynamics involves a combined mechanism of polymer-polymer interaction, entropic effects, and protein solvation dynamics. We characterize the protein folding-unfolding dynamics by using single-molecule spectroscopy to obtain detailed molecular dynamic scale information on the protein folding-unfolding conformational fluctuation dynamics. Our findings suggest that the complex unfolding dynamic processes are spontaneous denature of single protein molecules induced by molecular crowding effect which has been elusive for analysis in ensemble-averaged measurements. Furthermore, the energy needed for the spontaneous unfolding is at the biological accessible force fluctuation level, which suggests a strong implication of significant human health relevance and importance. The new knowledge of the inhomogeneous protein unfolding processes can serve as a step forward to a mechanistic understanding of human diseases associated with molecular crowding, protein aggregates, fibril formation, as well as gene translational regulation processes typically under a molecular crowded local environment.

Probing conformational dynamics of an enzymatic active site by an in situ single fluorogenic probe under piconewton force manipulation

Unraveling the conformational details of an enzyme during the essential steps of a catalytic reaction (i.e., enzyme-substrate interaction, enzyme-substrate active complex formation, nascent product formation, and product release) is challenging due to the transient nature of intermediate conformational states, conformational fluctuations, and the associated complex dynamics. Here we report our study on the conformational dynamics of horseradish peroxidase using single-molecule multiparameter photon time-stamping spectroscopy with mechanical force manipulation, a newly developed single-molecule fluorescence imaging magnetic tweezers nanoscopic approach. A nascent-formed fluorogenic product molecule serves as a probe, perfectly fitting in the enzymatic reaction active site for probing the enzymatic conformational dynamics. Interestingly, the product releasing dynamics shows the complex conformational behavior with multiple product releasing pathways. However, under magnetic force manipulation, the complex nature of the multiple product releasing pathways disappears and more simplistic conformations of the active site are populated.

Startling temperature effect on proteins when confined: single molecular level behaviour of human serum albumin in a reverse micelle.

The present work reports the effect of confinement, and temperature therein, on the conformational fluctuation dynamics of domain-I of human serum albumin (HSA) by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The water-pool of a sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) reverse micelle has been used as the confined environment. It was observed that the conformational fluctuation time is about 6 times smaller compared to bulk medium when confined in a water-pool of 3.5 nm radius. On increasing the size of the water-pool the conformational fluctuation time was found to increase monotonically and approaches the bulk value. The effect of confinement is on par with the general belief about the restricted motion of a macromolecule upon confinement. However, the effect of temperature was found to be surprising. An increase in the temperature from 298 K to 313 K induces a larger change in the conformational fluctuation time in HSA, when confined. In the bulk medium, apparently there is no change in the conformational fluctuation time in the aforementioned temperature range, whereas, when HSA is present in an AOT water-pool of radius 3.5 nm, about an 88% increase in the fluctuation time was observed. The observed prominent thermal effect on the conformational dynamics of domain-I of HSA in the water-pool of an AOT reverse micelle as compared to in the bulk medium was concluded to arise from the confined solvent effect.

Single-molecule spectroscopy reveals how calmodulin activates NO synthase by controlling its conformational fluctuation dynamics

Mechanisms that regulate the nitric oxide synthase enzymes (NOS) are of interest in biology and medicine. Although NOS catalysis relies on domain motions, and is activated by calmodulin binding, the relationships are unclear. We used single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectroscopy to elucidate the conformational states distribution and associated conformational fluctuation dynamics of the two electron transfer domains in a FRET dye-labeled neuronal NOS reductase domain, and to understand how calmodulin affects the dynamics to regulate catalysis. We found that calmodulin alters NOS conformational behaviors in several ways: It changes the distance distribution between the NOS domains, shortens the lifetimes of the individual conformational states, and instills conformational discipline by greatly narrowing the distributions of the conformational states and fluctuation rates. This information was specifically obtainable only by single-molecule spectroscopic measurements, and reveals how calmodulin promotes catalysis by shaping the physical and temporal conformational behaviors of NOS.

Probing single-molecule protein spontaneous folding-unfolding conformational fluctuation dynamics: the multiple-state and multiple-pathway energy landscape.

Protein conformational dynamics often plays a critical role in protein functions. We have characterized the spontaneous folding-unfolding conformational fluctuation dynamics of calmodulin (CaM) at thermodynamic equilibrium conditions by using single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectroscopy. We have identified multiple folding transition pathways and characterized the underlying energy landscape of the single-molecule protein conformational fluctuation trajectories, using a model analysis based on the detailed balance rate process principle. Our results suggest that the folding dynamics of CaM molecules involves a complex multiple-pathway multiple-state energy landscape, rather than an energy landscape of two-state dynamical process. Our probing single-molecule FRET fluctuation experiments demonstrate a new approach of studying spontaneous protein folding-unfolding conformational dynamics at the equilibrium that features recording long time single-molecule conformational fluctuation trajectories.

Probing protein multidimensional conformational fluctuations by single-molecule multiparameter photon stamping spectroscopy.

Conformational motions of proteins are highly dynamic and intrinsically complex. To capture the temporal and spatial complexity of conformational motions and further to understand their roles in protein functions, an attempt is made to probe multidimensional conformational dynamics of proteins besides the typical one-dimensional FRET coordinate or the projected conformational motions on the one-dimensional FRET coordinate. T4 lysozyme hinge-bending motions between two domains along α-helix have been probed by single-molecule FRET. Nevertheless, the domain motions of T4 lysozyme are rather complex involving multiple coupled nuclear coordinates and most likely contain motions besides hinge-bending. It is highly likely that the multiple dimensional protein conformational motions beyond the typical enzymatic hinged-bending motions have profound impact on overall enzymatic functions. In this report, we have developed a single-molecule multiparameter photon stamping spectroscopy integrating fluorescence anisotropy, FRET, and fluorescence lifetime. This spectroscopic approach enables simultaneous observations of both FRET-related site-to-site conformational dynamics and molecular rotational (or orientational) motions of individual Cy3-Cy5 labeled T4 lysozyme molecules. We have further observed wide-distributed rotational flexibility along orientation coordinates by recording fluorescence anisotropy and simultaneously identified multiple intermediate conformational states along FRET coordinate by monitoring time-dependent donor lifetime, presenting a whole picture of multidimensional conformational dynamics in the process of T4 lysozyme open-close hinge-bending enzymatic turnover motions under enzymatic reaction conditions. By analyzing the autocorrelation functions of both lifetime and anisotropy trajectories, we have also observed the dynamic and static inhomogeneity of T4 lysozyme multidimensional conformational fluctuation dynamics, providing a fundamental understanding of the enzymatic reaction turnover dynamics associated with overall enzyme as well as the specific active-site conformational fluctuations that are not identifiable and resolvable in the conventional ensemble-averaged experiment.

Conformational fluctuation dynamics of domain I of human serum albumin in the course of chemically and thermally induced unfolding using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.

The present study elucidates the involvement of conformational fluctuation dynamics during chemically and thermally induced unfolding of human serum albumin (HSA) by fluorescence correlation spectroscopic (FCS) study, time-resolved fluorescence measurements, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic methods. Two fluorescent probes, tetramethylrhodamine-5-maleimide (TMR) and N-(7-dimethylamino-4-methylcoumarin-3-yl) iodoacetamide (DACIA) were used to selectively label the domain I of HSA through the reaction with cys-34 for these studies. The guanidine hydrochloride (GnHCl) induced global structural change of HSA is monitored through its hydrodynamic radius (r(H)) and CD response, which is found to be two step in nature. In FCS experiment, along with the diffusion time component we have observed an exponential relaxation time component (τ(R)) that has been ascribed to the concerted chain dynamics of HSA. Unlike in the global structural change, we found that the τ(R) value changes in a different manner in the course of the unfolding. The dependence of τ(R) on the concentration of GnHCl was best fitted with a four state model, indicating the involvement of two intermediate states during the unfolding process, which were not observed through the CD response and r(H) data. The fluorescence lifetime measurement also supports our observation of intermediate states during the unfolding of HSA. However, no such intermediate states were observed during thermally induced unfolding of HSA.

Multiscale complex network of protein conformational fluctuations in single-molecule time series.

Conformational dynamics of proteins can be interpreted as itinerant motions as the protein traverses from one state to another on a complex network in conformational space or, more generally, in state space. Here we present a scheme to extract a multiscale state space network (SSN) from a single-molecule time series. Analysis by this method enables us to lift degeneracy--different physical states having the same value for a measured observable--as much as possible. A state or node in the network is defined not by the value of the observable at each time but by a set of subsequences of the observable over time. The length of the subsequence can tell us the extent to which the memory of the system is able to predict the next state. As an illustration, we investigate the conformational fluctuation dynamics probed by single-molecule electron transfer (ET), detected on a photon-by-photon basis. We show that the topographical features of the SSNs depend on the time scale of observation; the longer the time scale, the simpler the underlying SSN becomes, leading to a transition of the dynamics from anomalous diffusion to normal Brownian diffusion.

EVOLUTION OF A CATALYTICALLY EFFECTIVE MODEL ENZYME: THE IMPORTANCE OF TUNED CONFORMATIONAL FLUCTUATIONS

Possible causal connections between the dynamics of a thermally fluctuating model enzyme molecule and catalysis are explored. The model is motivated by observations from experiment and simulation that amino acid residues residing in different enzymatic domains may show markedly different degrees of conformational freedom. Consequently, we are interested in the catalytic efficacy of an enzyme as a function of long-range many-atom cooperative effects resulting from strong, moderate, and weak interactions between enzymatic residues. Here we show and quantify through molecular dynamics simulations how the number and distribution of these interactions affects an enzyme's conformational fluctuation dynamics and its effectiveness as a catalyst. For any given distribution of "stiff" and "loose" enzymatic domains, catalytic fitness is defined as the number of chemical events — specifically the number of times a catalytic residue and substrate surmount a chemical reaction barrier — during molecular dynamics simulation. Through mutation, recombination, and a selection procedure following the ideas of Darwinian evolution, a genetic algorithm drives a population of enzyme molecules to greater catalytic fitness by modifying the mix of stiff and loose interactions. Approximately 30,000 different enzyme molecules are generated by the genetic algorithm — each with a unique number and distribution of strong, moderate, and weak inter-residue interactions. While the catalytically least fit enzyme exhibits 16 chemical events, the fittest boasts 253. That point mutations far from the active-site chemistry in the fittest enzyme have a strong effect on the number of chemical events suggests that catalysis depends, in part, on long-range many-atom globally correlated dynamical fluctuations.

Time-Domain Observation of Conformational Fluctuation of Protein by Time-Resolved Hole-Burning Spectroscopy.

Time-resolved transient hole-burning (TRTHB) spectroscopy is quite effective to elucidate the conformational fluctuation dynamics of protein in ns-ms time regime, which has not been investigated intensively so far. It has also great importance for the understanding of the molecular-level mechanism of protein functioning. TRTHB study on Zn-substituted myoglobin has clarified its highly non-exponential fluctuation dynamics. The time scale of the observed fluctuation is distributed over very wide range from ns to μs. The results underscore the utility of the present method to characterize conformational dynamics of protein.