Microscopic Significance of Hydrophobic Residues for Protein Stability in Ionic Liquids

It is well-known that ionic liquids (ILs) can alter the structural stability of proteins. The change in protein conformation is closely related to the interaction between the protein residue and ILs. To probe the impact of hydrophobic interactions on protein stability in ILs, we conducted molecular dynamic simulations and compared the unfolding process of two proteins, the wild-type villin headpiece protein HP35 and its doubly mutant form HP35NN which contains two hydrophobic norleucine (NLE) substitutions at Lys24/29, in hydrated 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIM]Cl). By sampling at a long time scale, the denaturation ability of ILs was well captured. Specifically, HP35NN exhibits greater structural instability than HP35, characterized by the unfolding of helix-3 where the mutated hydrophobic residues are located. These findings highlight the thermodynamic instability of the protein caused by the mutation of two hydrophobic residues in the ILs. By evaluating the hydration kinetics of helix-3 with ILs, we found that the intramolecular hydrogen bonds of HP35NN were broken. At the same time, HP35NN binds to more ILs through hydrophobic interactions. Therefore, we propose that the hydrophobic interaction between ILs and the mutated hydrophobic residue plays a crucial role in the denaturation of HP35NN. The stability comparison and verification of the alkyl chain model of hydrophobic residues in ILs also further prove the instability of hydrophobic residue mutation in ILs. These findings may provide valuable basic information for understanding the effect of ILs on the conformational stability of proteins.