Novel covalent bond in proteins: calculations on model systems question the bond stability

We have investigated the sulfilimine covalent link between methionine (Met) and lysine (Lys), recently identified in collagen IV (R. Vanacore, A.-J. L. Ham, M. Voehler, C. R. Sanders, T. P. Conrads, T. D. Veenstra, K. B. Sharpless, P. E. Dawson, B. G. Hudson, Science 2009, 325, 1230), and have explored its stability with respect to both the redox processes and UV radiation by means of advanced computational methods. We have concluded that the bond should be present in a protonated state, (-NH=S-)(+). The bond is characterized by a relatively high standard reduction potential, that is, the bond should not be stable in a typical cell environment; if the sulfilimine bond exists (as suggested by the experiment) then the bond has to be supported by the protein environment. The sulfilimine bond then destabilizes the protein structure with respect to the alternative tertiary structure. We discuss conditions under which the bond could be formed as well as other possible structural arrangements consistent with the Met-Lys stoichiometry; some of the alternative bond motifs are more thermodynamically stable than the sulfilimine bond. We suggest that the character of the Met-Lys contact could be approached via NEXAFS spectroscopy. Finally, we show that the protonation brings photostability to the sulfilimine bond.