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PubMed1992

Is it possible to observe biological macromolecules by electrostatic force microscopy?

Biological macromolecules such as proteins are charged species in solution. The exact charge depends upon the pH, temperature and ionic strength of the medium in general. This suggests the possibility of employing electrostatic force microscopy as a useful tool for the observation of these macromolecules. Our calculations show that electrostatic forces could be used for this purpose, thus helping to remove ambiguities in the location and identification of proteins. The long-range nature of electrostatic forces could make them useful to locate these macromolecules on the appropriate substrate while, at the same time, overcoming important disturbing effects such as lateral displacement of the macromolecules or destructive contact with the sample.

Electrochemistry↗
PubMed1990

Membrane electrostatics.

In conclusion, charged membrane together with their adjacent electrolyte solution form a thermodynamic and physico-chemical entity. Their surfaces represent an exceptionally complicated interfacial system owing to intrinsic membrane complexity, as well as to the polarity and often large thickness of the interfacial region. Despite this, charged membranes can be described reasonably accurately within the framework of available theoretical models, provided that the latter are chosen on the basis of suitable criteria, which are briefly discussed in Section A. Interion correlations are likely to be important for the regular and/or rigid, thin membrane-solution interfaces. Lateral distribution of the structural membrane charge is seldom and charge distribution perpendicular to the membranes is nearly always electrostatically important. So is the interfacial hydration, which to a large extent determines the properties of the innermost part of the interfacial region, with a thickness of 2-3 nm. Fine structure of the ion double-layer and the interfacial smearing of the structural membrane charge decrease whilst the surface hydration increases the calculated value of the electrostatic membrane potential relative to the result of common Gouy-Chapman approximation. In some cases these effects partly cancel-out; simple electrostatic models are then fairly accurate. Notwithstanding this, it is at present difficult to draw detailed molecular conclusions from a large part of the published data, mainly owing to the lack of really stringent controls or calibrations. Ion binding to the membrane surface is a complicated process which involves charge-charge as well as charge-solvent interactions. Its efficiency normally increases with the ion valency and with the membrane charge density, but it is also strongly dependent on the physico-chemical and thermodynamic state of the membrane. Except in the case of the stereospecific ion binding to a membrane, the relatively easily accessible phosphate and carboxylic groups on lipids and integral membrane proteins are the main cation binding sites. Anions bind preferentially to the amine groups, even on zwitterionic molecules. Membrane structure is apt to change upon ion binding but not always in the same direction: membranes with bound ions can either expand or become more condensed, depending on the final hydrophilicity (polarity) of the membrane surface. The more polar membranes, as a rule, are less tightly packed and more fluid. Diffusive ion flow across a membrane depends on the transmembrane potential and concentration gradients, but also on the coulombic and hydration potentials at the membrane surface.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Electrostatic interactions of S4 voltage sensor in Shaker K+ channel.

The S4 segment comprises part of the voltage sensor in Shaker K+ channels. We have used a strategy similar to intragenic suppression, but without a genetic selection, to identify electrostatic interactions of the S4 segment that may be important in the mechanism of voltage-dependent activation. The S4 neutralization mutations K374Q and R377Q block maturation of the protein, suggesting that they prevent proper folding. K374Q is specifically and efficiently rescued by the second site mutations E293Q and D316N, located in putative transmembrane segments S2 and S3, respectively. These results suggest that K374, E293, and D316 form a network of strong, local, electrostatic interactions that stabilize the structure of the channel. Some other double mutant combinations result in inefficient suppression, identifying weak, presumably long-range electrostatic interactions. A simple structural hypothesis is proposed to account for the effects of the rescued double mutant combinations on the relative stabilities of open and closed channel conformations.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Theory of electrostatic interactions in macromolecules.

In the past year, substantial progress has been made in the modeling of electrostatic interactions in biomolecules. This review highlights advances in the following areas: first, the efficient computation of long-range electrostatic interactions in detailed molecular simulations; second, the application of the Poisson-Boltzmann electrostatic model in conformational analysis; third, the application of the Poisson-Boltzmann model in quantum chemistry calculations; fourth, the development of atomic parameters; and finally, the modeling of ionization equilibria in proteins.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2005

Effect of "helper lipid" on lipoplex electrostatics.

Lipoplexes, which are complexes between cationic liposomes (L+) and nucleic acids, are commonly used as a nucleic acid delivery system in vitro and in vivo. This study aimed to better characterize cationic liposome and lipoplex electrostatics, which seems to play a major role in the formation and the performance of lipoplexes in vitro and in vivo. We characterized lipoplexes based on two commonly used monocationic lipids, DOTAP and DMRIE, and one polycationic lipid, DOSPA--each with and without helper lipid (cholesterol or DOPE). Electrical surface potential (Psi0) and surface pH were determined using several surface pH-sensitive fluorophores attached either to a one-chain lipid (4-heptadecyl hydroxycoumarin (C17HC)) or to the primary amino group of the two-chain lipids (1,2-dioleyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-carboxyfluorescein (CFPE) and 1,2-dioleyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-7-hydroxycoumarin) (HC-DOPE). Zeta potentials of the DOTAP-based cationic liposomes and lipoplexes were compared with Psi0 determined using C17HC. The location and relatively low sensitivity of fluorescein to pH changes explains why CFPE is the least efficient in quantifying the differences between the various cationic liposomes and lipoplexes used in this study. The fact that, for all cationic liposomes studied, those containing DOPE as helper lipid have the least positive Psi0 indicates neutralization of the cationic charge by the negatively-charged phosphodiester of the DOPE. Zeta potential is much less positively charged than Psi0 determined by C17HC. The electrostatics affects size changes that occurred to the cationic liposomes upon lipoplex formation. The largest size increase (based on static light scattering measurements) for all formulations occurred at DNA-/L+ charge ratios 0.5-1. Comparing the use of the one-chain C17HC and the two-chain HC-DOPE for monitoring lipoplex electrostatics reveals that both are suitable, as long as there is no serum (or other lipidic assemblies) present in the medium; in the latter case, only the two-chain HC-DOPE gives reliable results. Increasing NaCl concentrations decrease surface potential. Neutralization by DNA is reduced in a NaCl-concentration-dependent manner.

Cations↗
PubMed2006

Modeling electrostatic effects in proteins.

Electrostatic energies provide what is perhaps the most effective tool for structure-function correlation of biological molecules. This review considers the current state of simulations of electrostatic energies in macromolecules as well as the early developments of this field. We focus on the relationship between microscopic and macroscopic models, considering the convergence problems of the microscopic models and the fact that the dielectric 'constants' in semimacroscopic models depend on the definition and the specific treatment. The advances and the challenges in the field are illustrated considering a wide range of functional properties including pK(a)'s, redox potentials, ion and proton channels, enzyme catalysis, ligand binding and protein stability. We conclude by pointing out that, despite the current problems and the significant misunderstandings in the field, there is an overall progress that should lead eventually to quantitative descriptions of electrostatic effects in proteins and thus to quantitative descriptions of the function of proteins.

Models, Molecular↗
PubMed2005

Proteins Markovian 3D-QSAR with spherically-truncated average electrostatic potentials.

Proteins 3D-QSAR is an emerging field of bioorganic chemistry. However, the large dimensions of the structures to be handled may become a bottleneck to scaling up classic QSAR problems for proteins. In this sense, truncation approach could be used as in molecular dynamic to perform timely calculations. The spherical truncation of electrostatic field with different functions breaks down long-range interactions at a given cutoff distance (r(off)) resulting in short-range ones. Consequently, a Markov chain model may approach to the average electrostatic potentials of spatial distribution of charges within the protein backbone. These average electrostatic potentials can be used to predict proteins properties. Herein, we explore the effect of abrupt, shifting, force shifting, and switching truncation functions on 3D-QSAR models classifying 26 proteins with different functions: lysozymes, dihydrofolate reductases, and alcohol dehydrogenases. Almost all methods have shown overall accuracies higher than 73%. The present result points to an acceptable robustness of the MC for different truncation schemes and r(off) values. The results of best accuracy 92% with abrupt truncation coincide with our recent communication. We also developed models with the same accuracy value for other truncation functions; however they are more complex functions. PCA analysis for 152 non-homologous proteins has shown that there are five main eigenvalues, which explain more than 87% of the variance of the studied properties. The present molecular descriptors may encode structural information not totally accounted for the previous ones, so success with these descriptors could be expected when classic fails. The present result confirms the utility of our Markov models combined with truncation approach to generate bioorganic structure protein molecular descriptors for QSAR.

Markov Chains↗
PubMed2006

Effect of externally applied electrostatic fields on the surface topography of ceramide-enriched domains in mixed monolayers with sphingomyelin.

Lipid and protein molecules anisotropically oriented at a hydrocarbon-aqueous interface configure a dynamic array of self-organized molecular dipoles. Electrostatic fields applied to lipid monolayers have been shown to induce in-plane migration of domains or phase separation in a homogeneous system. In this work, we have investigated the effect of externally applied electrostatic fields on the distribution of the condensed ceramide-enriched domains in mixed monolayers with sphingomyelin. In these monolayers, the lipids segregate in different phases at all pressures. This allows analyzing by epifluorescence microscopy the effect of the electrostatic field at all lateral pressure because coexistence of lipid domains in condensed state are always present. Our observations indicate that a positive potential applied to an electrode placed over the monolayer promotes a repulsion of the ceramide-enriched domains which is rather insensitive to the film composition, depends inversely on the lateral pressure and exhibits threshold dependence on the in-plane elasticity.

Ceramides↗
PubMed2005

Electrostatics in computational protein design.

Catalytic activity and protein-protein recognition have proven to be significant challenges for computational protein design. Electrostatic interactions are crucial for these and other protein functions, and therefore accurate modeling of electrostatics is necessary for successfully advancing protein design into the realm of protein function. This review focuses on recent progress in modeling electrostatic interactions in computational protein design, with particular emphasis on continuum models.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2006

The synergistic effect between hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions in the uptake of amino acids by strongly acidic cation-exchange resins.

The goal of this work was to investigate the synergistic effect between the electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions upon the uptake of organic ions with hydrophobic moieties by ion-exchange resins with hydrophobic matrixes. The uptake of neutral amino acids by a macroporous polystyrene-based strongly acidic cation-exchange resin (D001) and two strongly acidic cation-exchange resins (poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl propanesulfonic acid) and poly(vinylsulfonic acid)) with much less hydrophobic matrixes essentially follow an ion exchange stoichiometry. However, the thermodynamic parameters of the uptakes indicate that besides electrostatic interaction, hydrophobic interaction also contributes to the affinity of the amino acids with hydrophobic side chains for D001. No detectable uptake capacities for the amino acids by D001AM, which was obtained by amidation of the sulfonic acid groups of D001, can be determined. Thus, it is deduced that the hydrophobic interaction alone contributes little to the uptake of these amino acids by D001, of which hydrophobicity is the same with or lower than that of D001AM. These results indicate that synergistic effect exists between the electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions when the two interactions exist in a chelate manner and the hydrophobic interaction contributes to the uptake even if the hydrophobic interaction is so weak that it contributes little to the uptake when it acts alone.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed2006

Effects of organic ligands, electrostatic and magnetic interactions in formation of colloidal and interfacial inorganic nanostructures.

This paper discusses effects of organic ligands, electrostatic and magnetic interactions involved in morphological control of chemically synthesized inorganic nanostructures including colloid and planar systems. The special attention was concentrated on noble metal (gold and palladium) nanoparticles and nanostructures formed at the gas-liquid interface. The analysis of experimental data showed that electrostatic and ligand-related interactions influence very strongly on the metal nanostructure morphology. The hydrophobicity of ligand, charge and binding affinity to inorganic phase are important factors influencing the morphology of inorganic nanostructures formed in a layer at the gas/liquid interface by the interfacial synthesis method. The important point of this method is the quasi two-dimensional character of reaction area and possibilities to realize ultimately thin and anisotropic dynamic monomolecular reaction system with two-dimensional diffusion and interactions of precursors, intermediates and ligands resulting in planar growth and organization of inorganic nanoparticles and nanostructures in the plain of Langmuir monolayer. The morphology of resulting inorganic nanostructures can be controlled efficiently by variations of growth conditions via changes in state and composition of interfacial planar reaction media with the same precursor, and by variations of composition of adjacent bulk phases. The extreme anisotropy and heterogeneity of two-dimensional interfacial reaction system allows creating conditions when growing inorganic particles floating on the aqueous phase surface interact selectively with hydrophobic water-insoluble ligands in interfacial monolayer or with hydrophilic bulk-phase ligands, or at the same time with ligands of different nature present in monolayer and in aqueous phase. The spatial anisotropy of interfacial reaction system and non-homogeneity of ligand binding to inorganic phase gives possibilities for growth of integrated anisotropic nanostructures with unique morphologies, in particularly those characterized by very high surface/volume ratio, high effective perimeter, and labyrinth-like structure. In a case of magnetic nanoparticles dispersed in colloids specific magnetic dipolar interactions can result in formation of chains, rings and more complex nanoparticulate structures or separated highly anisotropic nanoparticles. Theoretical considerations indicate to the importance of system dimensionality in relation to the energy balance which determines specific features of structure organization in planar charged metallic and magnetic nanostructures. For example, a requirement of Coulomb energy minimum, the possibility of free electron redistribution and strengthened attractive interactions between particles in metallic nanostructures can explain formation of very branchy systems with extremely high "effective perimeter". The obtained experimental and literature data show that system dimensionality, organic ligand nature along with electrostatic and magnetic interactions are most important factors of morphological control of chemically synthesized inorganic nanomaterials. The understanding and appropriate exploitation of these factors can be useful for further developments of efficient nanofabrication techniques based on colloidal and interfacial synthetic methods.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

The use of molecular electrostatic potentials as hydrogen-bonding-donor parameters for QSAR studies.

Hydrogen bonding is an important interaction, which controls solubility, partitioning and transport of drugs and is an important force in drug-receptor interactions. Unfortunately it is difficult to quantify, and so inclusion of hydrogen bonding descriptors into quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) is often restricted to indicator variables. The prime objective of this work was to devise readily accessible hydrogen bonding descriptors by means of theoretical chemistry to use in QSAR studies. Because of the dominantly electrostatic nature of this bond, molecular-electrostatic potential was considered and the highest electrostatic potential on the solvent accessible surface (ESP+) was used as the hydrogen-bonding-donor ability of the molecule. The ability of this descriptor to predict the measured hydrogen bonding parameter of sigmalphaH2 was compared with that of the empirically derived atomic charges. The efficiency of ESP+ in a QSAR was also examined. The results suggested that ESP+ was superior to the atomic charge descriptor and that the use of this parameter as the hydrogen bonding parameter in QSAR studies was successful.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed2004

Electrostatic double-layer interaction between spherical particles inside a rough capillary.

Predictions of electrostatic double-layer interaction forces between two similarly charged spherical colloidal particles inside an infinitely long "rough" capillary are presented. A simple model of a rough cylindrical surface is proposed, which assumes the capillary wall to be a periodic function of axial position. The periodic roughness of the wall is characterized by the wavelength and amplitude of the undulations. The electrostatic double-layer interaction force between two spherical particles located axially inside this rough capillary is determined by solving the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation employing finite element analysis. The effect of surface roughness of the cylindrical enclosure on the interaction force between two particles is extensively studied on the basis of this model. The simulations are carried out for dimensionless amplitudes (amplitude/particle radii) ranging from 0.05 to 0.15 and scaled wavelengths (wavelength/particle radii) ranging from 0.4 to 4.0. The interaction force between the particles is significantly modified by the proximity of the rough capillary wall. Generally, the interaction force for rough capillaries oscillates around the corresponding interaction force in a smooth capillary depending on the magnitudes of the scaled amplitude and wavelength of the roughness. The influence of roughness on the electrostatic interactions becomes more pronounced when the surface potential of the cylinder wall is different from the sphere surface potentials. When the cylinder and the particle surfaces have large potential differences, the axial force experienced by a particle is dominated by the capillary roughness. There are dramatic oscillations of the force, which alternately becomes repulsive and attractive as the particle moves from the crest to the trough of the rough capillary wall. These results suggest that manipulation of colloidal particles in narrow microchannels may be subject to significant force variations owing to the roughness inherent in microfabricated channels etched on metal films.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Influence of electrostatic interaction on fibrinogen adsorption on gold studied by imaging ellipsometry combined with electrochemical methods.

Imaging ellipsometry was combined with electrochemical methods for studying electrostatic interactions of protein and solid surfaces. The potential of zero charge for gold-coated silicon wafer/solution interfaces wad determined by AC impedance method. The potential of the gold-coated silicon wafer was controlled at the potential of zero charge, and the adsorption of fibrinogen on the potential-controlled and non-controlled surfaces was measured in real time at the same time by imaging ellipsometry. The effect of electrostatic interaction was studied by comparing the difference between the potential of controlled adsorption and the potential of noncontrolled adsorption. It was shown that the rate of fibrinogen adsorption on the potentiostatic surface was faster than that on the nonpotentiostatic surface. The electrostatic influence on fibrinogen adsorption on the gold-coated silicon wafer was weak, so the hydrophobic interaction should be the major affinity.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2005

Electrostatic potential around charged finite rodlike macromolecules: nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann theory.

In this paper, we show that the far field electrostatic potential created by a highly charged finite size cylinder within the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) theory, is remarkably close to the potential created within the linearized PB approximation by the same object at a well-chosen fixed potential. Comparing the nonlinear electrostatic potential with its linear counterpart associated to a fixed potential boundary condition (called the effective surface potential), we deduce the effective charge of the highly charged cylinder. Values of the effective surface potential are provided as a function of the bare surface charge and Debye length of the ionic solution. This allows to compute the anisotropic electrostatic interaction energy of two distant finite rods.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

The impact of ionic strength on the adsorption of protons, Pb, Cd, and Sr onto the surfaces of Gram negative bacteria: testing non-electrostatic, diffuse, and triple-layer models.

Bacterial surface adsorption reactions are influenced by electric field effects caused by changes in ionic strength; however, existing datasets are too sparse to definitively constrain these differences or to determine the best way to account for them using thermodynamic models. In this study, we examine the ionic strength dependence of proton and metal adsorption onto the surfaces of Pseudomonas mendocina and Pseudomonas putida by conducting proton, Cd(II), Pb(II), and Sr(II) adsorption experiments over the ionic strength range of 0.001 to 0.6 M. Chosen experimental results are thermodynamically modeled using a non-electrostatic approach, a diffuse layer model (DLM), and a triple-layer model (TLM). The results demonstrate that bacterial surface electric field effects are negligible for proton, Cd, and Pb adsorption onto P. putida and P. mendocina, and that the discrete site non-electrostatic model developed in this study is adequate for describing these reactions. The extent of Sr adsorption is influenced by changes in the bacterial surface electric field; however, the non-electrostatic model better describes Sr adsorption behavior than the DLM or TLM. The DLM and TLM greatly overpredict the effect of the electric field for all adsorption reactions at all ionic strengths tested.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2005

Negative adsorption due to electrostatic exclusion of micelles.

Interactions of surfactants with solid substrates are important in the controlling of processes such as flotation, coating, flocculation and sedimentation. These interactions usually lead to adsorption on solids, but can also result in an exclusion of the reagents with dire consequences. In this work electrostatic exclusion of negatively charged dodecylbenzene sulfonate micelles from quartz/water, Bio-Sil/water and alumina/water interfaces has been investigated as a function of pH and ionic strength. Measurable negative adsorption of these surfactants from similarly charged solid/liquid interface was observed in the micellar region. In the case of porous samples with large surface area, comparison of pore size with the micelle size is necessary to avoid any erroneous conclusions regarding the role of electrostatic exclusion in a given system. A theoretical model for the electrostatic exclusion of micelles is developed and used to calculate the adsorption of negatively charged dodecylbenzene sulfonate on negatively charged quartz (pH 7), silica (Bio-Sil A, pH 3) and alumina (pH 11) in the micellar concentration region. The micellar exclusion values calculated using the model are in excellent agreement with the experimental results.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2005

Electrostatic potential and electroosmotic flow in a cylindrical capillary filled with symmetric electrolyte: analytic solutions in thin double layer approximation.

The electrostatic potential in a capillary filled with electrolyte is derived by solving the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation using the method of matched asymptotic expansions. This approach allows obtaining an analytical result for arbitrary high wall potential if the double layer thickness is smaller than the capillary radius. The derived expression for the electrostatic potential is compared to numerical solutions of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation and it is shown that the agreement is excellent for capillaries with radii greater or equal to four times the electrical double layer thickness. The knowledge of the electrostatic potential distribution inside the capillary enables the derivation of the electroosmotic velocity flow profile in an analytical form. The obtained results are applicable to capillaries with radii ranging from nanometers to micrometers depending on the ionic strength of the solution.

Journal Article↗