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. 2019 Mar 6;21(10):5634-5645.
doi: 10.1039/c8cp06803h.

Position-, disorder-, and salt-dependent diffusion in binding-coupled-folding of intrinsically disordered proteins

Affiliations

Position-, disorder-, and salt-dependent diffusion in binding-coupled-folding of intrinsically disordered proteins

Xiakun Chu et al. Phys Chem Chem Phys. .

Abstract

Successful extensions of protein-folding energy landscape theory to intrinsically disordered proteins' (IDPs') binding-coupled-folding transition can enormously simplify this biomolecular process into diffusion along a limited number of reaction coordinates, and the dynamics subsequently is described by Kramers' rate theory. As the critical pre-factor, the diffusion coefficient D has direct implications on the binding kinetics. Here, we employ a structure-based model (SBM) to calculate D in the binding-folding of an IDP prototype. We identify a strong position-dependent D during binding by applying a reaction coordinate that directly measures the fluctuations in a Cartesian configuration space. Using the malleability of the SBM, we modulate the degree of conformational disorder in an isolated IDP and determine complex effects of intrinsic disorder on D varying for different binding stages. Here, D tends to increase with disorder during initial binding but shows a non-monotonic relationship with disorder in terms of a decrease-followed-by-increase in D during the late binding stage. The salt concentration, which correlates with electrostatic interactions via Debye-Hückel theory in our SBM, also modulates D in a stepwise way. The speeding up of diffusion by electrostatic interactions is observed during the formation of the encounter complex at the beginning of binding, while the last diffusive binding dynamics is hindered by non-native salt bridges. Because D describes the diffusive speed locally, which implicitly reflects the roughness of the energy landscape, we are eventually able to portray the binding energy landscape, including that from IDPs' binding, then to binding with partial folding, and finally to rigid docking, as well as that under different environmental salt concentrations. Our theoretical results provide key mechanistic insights into IDPs' binding-folding, which is internally conformation- and externally salt-controlled with respect to diffusion.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Trajectories, transition path analyses, and free energy landscapes of binding-coupled-folding of pKID to KIX.
2D binding–folding free energy landscapes are calculated from REMD simulations and projected along (A) dRMSB, QF and (B) QB, QF. dRMSB is the root-meansquare deviation of the distances of binding native contact pairs to those in the native structure, while QB and QF are the fractions of binding and folding native contacts for pKID, respectively. The typical structures of pKID-KIX are shown corresponding to the indicated binding stages. A sample binding trajectory (C, D), 1D free energy landscape (E, F), and transition path analyses (G, H) are shown along dRMSB and QB, respectively. p(TP|x) is the conditional probability of being on a transition path, where x is the reaction coordinate. The dashed vertical lines in free energy landscapes and p(TP|x) are plotted according to the maximum values as an identification of the transition state. The values at the peak of p(TP|x) for dRMSB and QB are 0.45±0.03 and 0.35±0.01, respectively. The transition state locations are very similar, according to different identifications of the barrier of free energy landscapes and the peak of p(TP|x). In detail, for dRMSB, the transition states’ dRMSB are 1.49 and 1.52 from the free energy landscape and p(TP|x), respectively, while for QB, the transition states’ QB are 0.22 and 0.20 from the free energy landscape and p(TP|x), respectively. We denote the transition state ensembles that have p(TP|x) higher than 0.30 by gray shadow regions. The errors of p(TP|x) are calculated by analyzing different trajectories. A total of 1108 and 1099 (un)binding transition paths are observed along dRMSB and Q, respectively. Time is in reduced units, dRMSB is in units of nm, and free energy is in units of kTB, where TB is the binding temperature.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Position-dependent diffusion coefficient and free energy landscapes.
1D binding thermodynamic (solid line), effective (circles) free energy landscapes, and the diffusion coefficient D are plotted along dRMS−B. The insert plot indicates the slight height and position shift of the transition state between the thermodynamic and effective free energy landscapes. The free energy landscape is obtained from thermodynamic REMD simulations, and D is calculated from restraining simulations, at constant binding temperature. dRMS−B is in units of nm, and free energy is in units of kTB, where TB is the binding temperature. D is in units of nm2/time
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Diffusion coefficient at different degrees of conformational disorder.
(A) The position-dependent D along dRMSB. Free energy landscape with default disorder parameter α =1.0 at binding temperature is shown with dashed line as a guidance of the binding process, which can be further divided into three stages: the binding state ensemble (BSE), transition state ensemble (TSE), and unbinding state ensemble (USE), based on the transition path analysis shown in Fig. 1E. (B) The ratio between the mean D(dRMSB) of different degrees and default (α =1.0) parameter of conformational disorder for different binding stages. “WSE” is an acronym for the “whole state ensemble”.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Binding mechanisms at different degrees of conformational disorder.
(A) 2D binding free energy landscapes projecting onto QBαA and QBαB. QBαA and QBαB are the fractions of native binding contacts of helices αA and αB of pKID to KIX, respectively. The free energy landscapes of α=0.1, 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0 are plotted. The lines in each panel illustrate pathways, with thick ones indicating large flux and vice versa. (B) Evolutions of binding contacts of helices αA and αB of pKID along dRMSB. Solid and dashed lines are QBαA and QBαB, Respectively, and different colored lines correspond to different degrees of conformational disorder. The color of shadows and lines follow the same scheme used in Fig. 3A.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Diffusion coefficient at different strengths of electrostatic interactions.
(A) The position-dependent D along dRMSB. Free energy landscape with moderate salt concentration CSalt=0.15 M at binding temperature is shown with dashed line as a guidance of the binding process (B) The ratio between the mean D(dRMSB) of different salt concentrations and moderate salt concentration (CSalt =0.15M) for different binding stages.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6. Non-native salt bridges and native contact formations of the two helices during binding at moderate salt concentration
Csalt = 0.15M. SB is an acronym for “salt bridge”.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7. Scheme illustrating the effects of conformational disorder and salt concentrations on the topography of binding energy landscapes.
The deepness, the size, and the roughness of the funnels represent the energy gap, entropy, and energy roughness of the energy landscapes, respectively. The single funnel at the top shows binding with moderate conformational disorder and low salt concentration (strong electrostatic interactions). The three funnels at the bottom show the change according to the conformational disorder. Conformational ensembles of pKID are shown on the top of each funnel, with the native structure colored blue. The bound complex of pKID-KIX is shown at the basin of the funnel, indicating the destination of binding.

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