title: Molecular dynamics simulations of the hydrophobin SC3 at a hydrophobic/hydrophilic interface.
abstract: Hydrophobins are small ( approximately 100 aa) proteins that have an important role in the growth and development of mycelial fungi. They are surface active and, after secretion by the fungi, self-assemble into amphipathic membranes at hydrophobic/hydrophilic interfaces, reversing the hydrophobicity of the surface. In this study, molecular dynamics simulation techniques have been used to model the process by which a specific class I hydrophobin, SC3, binds to a range of hydrophobic/hydrophilic interfaces. The structure of SC3 used in this investigation was modeled based on the crystal structure of the class II hydrophobin HFBII using the assumption that the disulfide pairings of the eight conserved cysteine residues are maintained. The proposed model for SC3 in aqueous solution is compact and globular containing primarily beta-strand and coil structures. The behavior of this model of SC3 was investigated at an air/water, an oil/water, and a hydrophobic solid/water interface. It was found that SC3 preferentially binds to the interfaces via the loop region between the third and fourth cysteine residues and that binding is associated with an increase in alpha-helix formation in qualitative agreement with experiment. Based on a combination of the available experiment data and the current simulation studies, we propose a possible model for SC3 self-assembly on a hydrophobic solid/water interface.
authors.affiliation: Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB), Department of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Xiaoqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: George T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Robillard
authors.forename: Alan E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Mark
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012567:Schizophyllum / Q000737:chemistry; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments