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Published on: January 26, 2016
Peptide Solubility Limits: Backbone and Side-Chain Interactions
Rahul Sarma1, Ka-Yiu Wong1, Gillian C Lynch1
1Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology , University of Texas Medical Branch , 301 University Boulevard , Galveston , Texas 77555-0304 , United States.
Abstract:
We calculate the solubility limit of pentapeptides in water by simulating the phase separation in an oversaturated aqueous solution. The solubility limit order followed by our model peptides (GGRGG > GGDGG > GGGGG > GGVGG > GGQGG > GGNGG > GGFGG) is found to be the same as that reported for amino acid monomers from experiment (R > D > G > V > Q > N > F). Investigation of dynamical properties of peptides shows that the higher the solubility of a peptide is, the lower the time spent by the peptide in the aggregated cluster is. We also demonstrate that fluctuations in conformation and hydration number of peptide in monomeric form are correlated with the solubility of the peptide. We considered energetic mechanisms and dynamical properties of interbackbone CO-CO and CO···HN interactions. Our results confirm that CO-CO interactions more than the interbackbone H-bonds are important in peptide self-assembly and association. Further, we find that the stability of H-bonded peptide pairs arises mainly from coexisting CO-CO and CO···HN interactions.
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