Hydration dynamics protein

Li TP, Hassanali AAP, Kao YT, Zhong DP, Singer SJ (2007) Hydration dynamics and time scales of coupled water-protein fluctuations. J Am Chem Soc 129(11) 3376-3382... 

Rosenberg, A. and Somogyi, B. (1986) Conformational fluctuations, thermal stability and hydration of proteins, studies by hydrogen exchange kinetics. n Dynamic of Biochemical systems, edited by S. Damjanovich, T.Keleti and L.Tron, pp. 101-112. Amsterdam Elsevier. 

This bimodal dynamics of hydration water is intriguing. A model based on dynamic equilibrium between quasi-bound and free water molecules on the surface of biomolecules (or self-assembly) predicts that the orientational relaxation at a macromolecular surface should indeed be biexponential, with a fast time component (few ps) nearly equal to that of the free water while the long time component is equal to the inverse of the rate of bound to free transition [4], In order to gain an in depth understanding of hydration dynamics, we have carried out detailed atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies of water dynamics at the surface of an anionic micelle of cesium perfluorooctanoate (CsPFO), a cationic micelle of cetyl trimethy-lainmonium bromide (CTAB), and also at the surface of a small protein (enterotoxin) using classical, non-polarizable force fields. In particular we have studied the hydrogen bond lifetime dynamics, rotational and dielectric relaxation, translational diffusion and vibrational dynamics of the surface water molecules. In this article we discuss the water dynamics at the surface of CsPFO and of enterotoxin. 

HYDRATION DYNAMICS AND COUPLED WATER-PROTEIN FLUCTUATIONS PROBED BY INTRINSIC TRYPTOPHAN... 

Femtosecond spectroscopy has an ideal temporal resolution for the study of ultrafast water motions from femtosecond to picosecond time scales [33-36]. Femtosecond solvation dynamics is sensitive to both time and length scales and can be a good probe for protein hydration dynamics [16, 37-50]. Recent femtosecond studies by an extrinsic labeling of a protein with a dye molecule showed certain ultrafast water motions [37-42]. This kind of labeling usually relies on hydrophobic interactions, and the probe is typically located in the hydrophobic crevice. The resulting dynamics mostly reflects bound water behavior. The recent success of incorporating a synthetic fluorescent amino acid into the protein showed another way to probe protein electrostatic interactions [43, 48]. 

We recently developed a systematic method that uses the intrinsic tryptophan residue (Trp or W) as a local optical probe [49, 50]. Using site-directed mutagenesis, tryptophan can be mutated into different positions one at a time to scan protein surfaces. With femtosecond temporal and single-residue spatial resolution, the fluorescence Stokes shift of the local excited Trp can be followed in real time, and thus, the location, dynamics, and functional roles of protein-water interactions can be studied directly. With MD simulations, the solvation by water and protein (residues) is differentiated carefully to determine the hydration dynamics. Here, we focus our own work and review our recent systematic studies on hydration dynamics and protein-water fluctuations in a series of biological systems using the powerful intrinsic tryptophan as a local optical probe, and thus reveal the dynamic role of hydrating water molecules around proteins, which is a longstanding unresolved problem and a topic central to protein science. 

With site-directed mutation and femtosecond-resolved fluorescence methods, we have used tryptophan as an excellent local molecular reporter for studies of a series of ultrafast protein dynamics, which include intraprotein electron transfer [64-68] and energy transfer [61, 69], as well as protein hydration dynamics [70-74]. As an optical probe, all these ultrafast measurements require no potential quenching of excited-state tryptophan by neighboring protein residues or peptide bonds on the picosecond time scale. However, it is known that tryptophan fluorescence is readily quenched by various amino acid residues [75] and peptide bonds [76-78]. Intraprotein electron transfer from excited indole moiety to nearby electrophilic residue(s) was proposed to be the quenching... 

Biomolecular recognition is mediated by water motions, and the dynamics of associated water directly determine local structural fluctuation of interacting partners [4, 9, 91]. The time scales of these interactions reflect their flexibility and adaptability. For water at protein surfaces, the studies of melittin and other proteins [45, 46] show water motions on tens of picoseconds. For trapped water in protein crevices or cavities, the dynamics becomes much slower and could extend to nanoseconds [40, 71, 92], These rigid water molecules are often hydrogen bonded to interior residues and become part of the structural integrity of many enzymes [92]. Here, we study local water motions in various environments, from a buried crevice to an exposed surface using site-selected tryptophan but with different protein conformations, to understand the correlation between hydration dynamics and conformational transitions and then relate them to biological function. 

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