Residue Specific and Chirality Dependent Interactions between Carbon Nanotubes and Flagellin

Flagellum is a lash-like cellular appendage found in many single-celled living organisms. The flagellin protofilaments contain 11-helix dual turn structure in a single flagellum. Each flagellin consists of four sub-domains - two inner domains (D0, D1) and two outer domains (D2, D3). While inner domains predominantly consist of α-helices, the outer domains are primarily beta sheets with D3. In flagellum, the outermost sub-domain is the only one that is exposed to the native environment. This study focuses on the interactions of the residues of D3 of an R-type flagellin with 5nm long chiral (5,15) and arm-chair (12,12) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) using molecular dynamics simulation. It presents the interactive forces between the SWNT and the residues of D3 from the perspectives of size and chirality of the SWNT. It is found that the metallic (arm-chair) SWNT interacts the most with glycine and threonine residues through van der Waals and hydrophobic interactions, whereas the semiconducting (chiral) SWNT interacts largely with the area of protein devoid of glycine by van der Waals, hydrophobic interactions, and hydrogen bonding. This indicates a crucial role that glycine plays in distinguishing metallic from semiconducting SWNTs.