Theoretical modeling of peptide α-helical circular dichroism in aqueous solution

Reliable modeling of protein and peptide circular dichroism (CD) spectra in the far UV presents a challenge for current theoretical approaches. In this study, the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), configuration interaction with single excitation (CIS), and transition dipole coupling (TDC) were used to assess the most important factors contributing to the CD spectra of the α-helical secondary structure. The dependence on the peptide chain length and also the role of the flexibility and solvent environment were investigated with a model oligopeptide Ac-(Ala)(N)-NH-Me, (N = 1, ..., 18). Both the TDDFT and TDC-like methods suggest that the CD curve typical for the α-helix arises gradually, but its basic characteristic is discernible already for peptides with 4-5 amino acid residues. The calculated dependence was in a qualitative agreement with experimental spectra of short α-helices stabilized by the histidine-metal binding. The TDDFT computations of the CD were found to be unusually sensitive to the basis set and solvent model. Explicit hydration and temperature fluctuations of the peptide geometry, simulated with the aid of molecular dynamics (MD), significantly influenced the CD and absorption spectral shapes. An extensive averaging over MD configurations is thus required to obtain a converged spectral profile in cluster simulations. On the other hand, both the TDDFT and TDC models indicate only a minor influence of the alanine side chains. The CIS and TDC calculations also point toward a relatively small effect of the helix-helix interaction on the CD spectral profiles. For a model system of two helices, the CIS method predicted larger changes in the spectra than TDC. This suggests other than interactions between peptide chains, such as mutual polarization, can have a minor, but measurable, effect on the CD spectrum.