title: Proteins at air-water interfaces: a coarse-grained model.
abstract: We present a coarse-grained model to describe the adsorption and deformation of proteins at an air-water interface. The interface is introduced empirically in the form of a localized field that couples to a hydropathy scale of amino acids. We consider three kinds of proteins: protein G, egg-white lysozyme, and hydrophobin. We characterize the nature of the deformation and the orientation of the proteins induced by their proximity to and association with the interface. We also study protein diffusion in the layer formed at the interface and show that the diffusion slows with increasing concentration in a manner similar to that for a colloidal suspension approaching the glass transition.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences , 02-668 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cieplak
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Allan
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Leheny
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Reich
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D000818:Animals; D055767:Immobilized Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D055767:Immobilized Proteins; D014867:Water