Biomedical subjects

B Montgomery Pettitt

Publications and source records attributed to B Montgomery Pettitt.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Effects of dimerization of Serratia marcescens endonuclease on water dynamics.

The dynamics and structure of Serratia marcescens endonuclease and its neighboring solvent are investigated by molecular dynamics (MD). Comparisons are made with structural and biochemical experiments. The dimer form is physiologic and functions more processively than the monomer. We previously found a channel formed by connected clusters of waters from the active site to the dimer interface. Here, we show that dimerization clearly changes correlations in the water structure and dynamics in the active site not seen in the monomer. Our results indicate that water at the active sites of the dimer is less affected compared with bulk solvent than in the monomer where it has much slower characteristic relaxation times. Given that water is a required participant in the reaction, this gives a clear advantage to dimerization in the absence of an apparent ability to use both active sites simultaneously.

Binding Sites↗

PubMed2006

Enthalpy-entropy contributions to the potential of mean force of nanoscopic hydrophobic solutes.

Entropic and enthalpic contributions to the hydrophobic interaction between nanoscopic hydrophobic solutes, modeled as graphene plates in water, have been calculated using molecular dynamics simulations in the isothermal-isobaric (NPT) ensemble with free energy perturbation methodology. We find the stabilizing contribution to the free energy of association (contact pair formation) to be the favorable entropic part, the enthalpic contribution being highly unfavorable. The desolvation barrier is dominated by the unfavorable enthalpic contribution, despite a fairly large favorable entropic compensation. The enthalpic contributions, incorporating the Lennard-Jones solute-solvent terms, largely determine the stability of the solvent separated configuration. We decompose the enthalpy into a direct solute-solute term, the solute-solvent interactions, and the remainder that contains pressure-volume work as well as contributions due to solvent reorganization. The enthalpic contribution due to changes in water-water interactions arising from solvent reorganization around the solute molecules is shown to have major contribution in the solvent induced enthalpy change.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2006

Solvent participation in Serratia marcescens endonuclease complexes.

The monomer and dimer of the bacterium Serratia marcescens endonuclease (SMnase) are each catalytically active and the two subunits of the dimer function independently of each other. Specific interfacial waters may play a role in stability, complex formation, and functionality. We performed molecular dynamics simulations of both a subunit of SMnase and its model built complex with DNA and analyzed the relation of the hydration sites to the catalytic mechanism. It was found that the binding of DNA has little influence on the global hydration properties of the protein, including occupancy and water residence time distributions. DNA and protein recognition in our model mainly involves direct contacts by hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interactions. Water-mediated contacts exist, but are less common. Three interior water clusters were identified for SMnase. One cluster around the active site in the monomer-DNA complex shows relatively strong interactions between hydration sites as well as between the sites and the biomolecules. The simulated cluster properties agreed well with experimental data. The magnesium ion shows ligand exchange. Although Mg2+ keeps six ligands during the entire simulation, upon the binding of DNA, Asn119 loses its coordination with Mg2+, while one nonbridging oxygen of the phosphate of a DNA residue and two oxygen atoms of the side chain of Glu127 become the ligands. Waters in a nearby cluster exchange and participate in the resolvation of groups in the presence of DNA. Water thus not only participates in the cleavage of DNA but also can stabilize the transition state and the leaving groups in our model.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2005

Effective density terms in proper integral equations.

Two complementary routes to a new integral equation theory for site-site molecular fluids are presented. First, a simple approximation to a subset of the atomic site bridge functions in the diagrammatically proper integral equation theory is presented. This in turn leads to a form analogous to the reactive fluid theory, in which the normalization of the intramolecular distribution function and the value of the off-diagonal elements in the density matrix of the proper integral equations are the means of propagating the bridge function approximation. Second, a derivation from a topological expansion of a model for the single-site activity followed by a topological reduction and low-order truncation is given. This leads to an approximate numerical value for the new density coefficient. The resulting equations give a substantial improvement over the standard construction as shown with a series of simple diatomic model calculations.

Chemistry, Physical↗

PubMed2005

Protein folding, stability, and solvation structure in osmolyte solutions.

An understanding of the impact of the crowded conditions in the cytoplasm on its biomolecules is of clear importance to biochemical, medical, and pharmaceutical science. Our previous work on the use of small biochemical compounds to crowd protein solutions indicates that a quantitative description of their nonideal behavior is possible and straightforward. Here, we show the structural origin of the nonideal solution behavior. We discuss the consequences of these findings regarding protein folding stability and solvation in crowded solutions through a structural analysis of the m-value or the change in free-energy difference of a macromolecule in solution with respect to the concentration of a third component.

Biophysics↗

PubMed2005

Dynamics of water trapped between hydrophobic solutes.

We describe the model dynamical behavior of the solvent between two nanoscopic hydrophobic solutes. The dynamics of the vicinal water in various sized traps is found to be significantly different from bulk behavior. We consider the dynamics at normal temperature and pressure at three intersolute distances corresponding to the three solvent separated minima in the free energy profile between the solutes with attractions. These three states correspond to one, two, and three intervening layers of water molecules. Results are obtained from a molecular dynamics simulation at constant temperature and pressure (NPT) ensemble. Translational diffusion of water molecules trapped between the two solutes has been analyzed from the velocity correlation function as well as from the mean square displacement of the water molecules. The rotational behavior has been analyzed through the reorientational dynamics of the dipole moment vector of the water molecule by calculating both first and second rank dipole-dipole correlation functions. Both the translational and reorientational mobilities of water are found to be much slower at the smaller separation and increases as the separation between solutes becomes larger. The occupation time distribution functions calculated from the trajectories also show that the relaxation is much slower for the smallest intersolute separation as compared to other wider separations. The sublinear trend in mean square displacement and the stretched exponential decay of the relaxation of dipolar correlation and occupation distribution function indicate that the dynamical behavior of water in the confined region between two large hydrophobic solutes departs from usual Brownian behavior. This behavior is reminiscent of the behavior of water in the vicinity of protein surface clefts or trapped between two domains of a protein.

Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions↗

PubMed2005

On the mechanism of hydrophobic association of nanoscopic solutes.

The hydration behavior of two planar nanoscopic hydrophobic solutes in liquid water at normal temperature and pressure is investigated by calculating the potential of mean force between them at constant pressure as a function of the solute-solvent interaction potential. The importance of the effect of weak attractive interactions between the solute atoms and the solvent on the hydration behavior is clearly demonstrated. We focus on the underlying mechanism behind the contrasting results obtained in various recent experimental and computational studies on water near hydrophobic solutes. The length scale where crossover from a solvent separated state to the contact pair state occurs is shown to depend on the solute sizes as well as on details of the solute-solvent interaction. We find the mechanism for attractive mean forces between the plates is very different depending on the nature of the solute-solvent interaction which has implications for the mechanism of the hydrophobic effect for biomolecules.

Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions↗

PubMed2004

How independent are the appearances of n-mers in different genomes?

MOTIVATION: Analysis of statistical properties of DNA sequences is important for evolutional biology as well as for DNA probe and PCR technologies. These technologies, in turn, can be used for organism identification, which implies applications in the diagnosis of infectious diseases, environmental studies, etc. RESULTS: We present results of the correlation analysis of distributions of the presence/absence of short nucleotide subsequences of different length ('n-mers', n = 5-20) in more than 1500 microbial and virus genomes, together with five genomes of multicellular organisms (including human). We calculate whether a given n-mer is present or absent (frequency of presence) in a given genome, which is not the usually calculated number of appearances of n-mers in one or more genomes (frequency of appearance). For organisms that are not close relatives of each other, the presence/absence of different 7-20mers in their genomes are not correlated. For close biological relatives, some correlation of the presence of n-mers in this range appears, but is not as strong as expected. Suppressed correlations among the n-mers present in different genomes leads to the possibility of using random sets of n-mers (with appropriately chosen n) to discriminate genomes of different organisms and possibly individual genomes of the same species including human with a low probability of error.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2004

Orientation of DNA on a surface from simulation.

DNA orientation near surfaces determines many properties related to hybridization efficiency. We performed a 40-ns molecular dynamics simulation to study the structure and orientation of a 12-base-pair DNA duplex tethered to a neutral, epoxide-coated silica surface. Starting with a canonical B-form tethered in an up-right position, normal to the surface, the DNA tilted to over 55 degrees and back. The time scale was a few nanoseconds for tilting events. The linker between the DNA and the surface went from standing upright to tilted, and finally collapsed on the surface. Although the DNA conformation fluctuated, it remained closed to B-form for the entire 40 ns. Calculations of helical parameters of the DNA show that the tethered end of the DNA changed its conformation noticeably when attracted to the surface.

Computer Simulation↗

PubMed2004

Theoretical aspects of genomic variation screening using DNA microarrays.

We present a theoretical model for typical microarray-based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay of small genomic DNA amount. We derived the adsorption isotherm expressing the on-array hybridization efficiency in terms of genomic target sequence and concentration, oligonucleotide probe sequence and surface density, hybridization buffer, and temperature. This isotherm correctly describes the surface probe density effects, the sensitivity peak, and the melting temperature depression, and is in accord with published experiments. We discuss optimization of parallel SNP genotyping. Our estimates show that SNP detection at a single temperature in aqueous hybridization buffer is restricted by DNA regions that differ by less than 20% in GC content. We predict that the variety of genotyped SNPs could be substantially extended using an assay design with high probe density and a large fraction of probes hybridized.

Genetic Testing↗

PubMed2003

Sensitive quantitative nucleic acid detection using oligonucleotide microarrays.

We report a new theoretical approach to optimize the performance and quantify the results of gene expression oligonucleotide microarrays which are widely used in biomedical research. An on-array hybridization isotherm that takes into account the screened Coulomb repulsion between the assayed nucleic acid target and the layer of surface tethered oligonucleotide probes is presented. The hybridization efficiency is found as a function of the genomic target (sequence, length, and concentration), array parameters (probe sequence and length, surface probe density), and hybridization conditions (temperature and buffer ionic strength). We present simple relations for the hybridization signal maximum and the linear dynamic detection range and show explicit criteria for optimization. The approach is based on an extension of our recently published theory (Vainrub, A.; Pettitt, B. M. Phys. Rev. E 2002, 66, art. no.-041905) which we generalize here for the cases of target depletion effects and arbitrary target length.

Nucleic Acids↗

PubMed2003

Surface electrostatic effects in oligonucleotide microarrays: control and optimization of binding thermodynamics.

We present a theoretical thermodynamic framework for the design of more efficient oligonucleotide microarrays. A general thermodynamic relation is derived to describe the electrostatic surface effects on the binding of the assayed biomolecule to a surface-tethered molecular probe. The relation is applied to analyze how the nucleic acid target, the oligonuleotide probe, and their DNA duplex electrostatic interactions with the surface affect the hybridization on DNA arrays. Taking advantage of a closed form exact solution of the linear Poisson-Boltzmann equation for a charged ion-penetrable sphere in electrolyte solution interacting with a plane wall, we study the effects of the surface and solution conditions. Binding free energy is found as a function of the surface material, dielectric or metal, the surface charge density, linker molecule length, temperature, and added salt content. The charge or electric potential of the dielectric or metal surface, respectively, is shown to dominate the hybridization, especially at low added salt or short linker length. We predict that substantial enhancement of sensitivity, selectivity, and reliability of microarrays can be achieved by control of the surface conditions. As examples, we discuss how to overcome two limitations of current technologies: nonequal sensitivity of the probes with different GC and AT bases content, and poor match/mismatch discrimination. In addition, we suggest the design of microarray conditions where the tested nucleic acid is unfolded, thus making possible the screening of a larger sequence with single nucleotide resolution. These promising findings are discussed and further experimental tests suggested.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2003

Simulation of the bis-(penicillamine) enkephalin in ammonium chloride solution: a comparison with sodium chloride.

In order to quantify specific ion effects, a simulation study of bis(penicllamine) enkephalin, also known as DPDPE, has been performed in aqueous ammonium chloride solution and has been compared to a previous simulation of DPDPE in aqueous sodium chloride solution. Global thermodynamics have been calculated for a model system and the solution environment around DPDPE has been characterized. Associations of ions with DPDPE have been investigated. The observed differences between sodium chloride solution and ammonium chloride solution suggest that individual cations affect the solvation and peptide binding properties of a given anion.

Ammonium Chloride↗

PubMed2002

Coulomb blockage of hybridization in two-dimensional DNA arrays.

Experiments on DNA microarrays have revealed substantial differences in hybridization thermodynamics between DNA free in solution and surface tethered DNA. Here we develop a mean field model of the Coulomb effects in two-dimensional DNA arrays to understand the binding isotherms and thermal denaturation of the double helix. We find that the electrostatic repulsion of the assayed nucleic acid from the array of DNA probes dominates the binding thermodynamics, and thus causes the Coulomb blockage of the hybridization. The results explain, observed in DNA microarrays, the dramatic decrease of the hybridization efficiency and the thermal denaturation curve broadening as the probe surface density grows. We demonstrate application of the theory for evaluation and optimization of the sensitivity, specificity, and the dynamic range of DNA array devices.

Biophysical Phenomena↗

PubMed2002

Solvation and hydration of proteins and nucleic acids: a theoretical view of simulation and experiment.

Many theoretical, computational, and experimental techniques recently have been successfully used for description of the solvent distribution around macromolecules. In this Account, we consider recent developments in the areas of protein and nucleic acid solvation and hydration as seen by experiment, theory, and simulations. We find that in most cases not only the general phenomena of solvation but even local hydration patterns are more accurately discussed in the context of water distributions rather than individual molecules of water. While a few localized or high-residency waters are often associated with macromolecules in solution (or crystals from aqueous liquors), these are readily and accurately included in this more general description. The goal of this Account is to review the theoretical models used for the description of the interfacial solvent structure on the border near DNA and protein molecules. In particular, we hope to highlight the progress in this field over the past five years with a focus on comparison of simulation and experimental results.

Computer Simulation↗

PubMed2002

Fine-tuning function: correlation of hinge domain interactions with functional distinctions between LacI and PurR.

LacI and PurR are highly homologous proteins. Their functional units are homodimers, with an N-terminal DNA binding domain that comprises the helix-turn-helix (HTH), N-linker, and hinge regions from both monomers. Hinge structural changes are known to occur upon DNA dissociation but are difficult to monitor experimentally. The initial steps of hinge unfolding were therefore examined using molecular dynamics simulations, utilizing a truncated, chimeric protein comprising the LacI HTH/N-linker and PurR hinge. A terminal Gly-Cys-Gly was added to allow "dimerization" through disulfide bond formation. Simulations indicate that differences in LacI and PurR hinge primary sequence affect the quaternary structure of the hinge x hinge' interface. However, these alternate hinge orientations would be sterically restricted by the core domain. These results prompted detailed comparison of recently available DNA-bound structures for LacI and truncated LacI(1-62) with the PurR structure. Examination revealed that different N-linker and hinge contacts to the core domain of the partner monomer (which binds effector molecule) affect the juxtapositions of the HTH, N-linker, and hinge regions in the DNA binding domain. In addition, the two full-length repressors exhibit significant differences in the interactions between the core and the C-linker connection to the DNA binding domain. Both linkers and the hinge have been implicated in the allosteric response of these repressors. Intriguingly, one functional difference between these two proteins is that they exhibit opposite allosteric response to effector. Simulations and observed structural distinctions are correlated with mutational analysis and sequence information from the LacI/GalR family to formulate a mechanism for fine-tuning individual repressor function.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Reconstruction of the genetic regulatory dynamics of the rat spinal cord development: local invariants approach.

Recently, many attempts have been made to describe the gene expression temporal dynamics by using systems of differential equations. This is fraught with difficulty, given the current experimental level of understanding. Another way to extract useful information regarding regulation in genetic networks can be provided by our method of Incomplete Modeling using Local Invariants, although at the price of not being able to construct a complete model of the whole system. In this approach we are looking for a set of simple models describing the algebraic or differential relations among just a few variables, genes in this case, which fit the experimental data with the required accuracy. In the present work, we apply this method to gene expression time profiles of 112 genes from rat spinal cord development experiments. We found that many different types of Local Invariants exist in this dataset. Moreover, some isolated self-contained subsystems, whose behavior can be described by closed systems of differential equations, were also found.

Aging↗