Biomedical subjects

R Pomès

Publications and source records attributed to R Pomès.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Framework model for single proton conduction through gramicidin.

This paper describes a framework model for proton conduction through gramicidin; a model designed to incorporate information from molecular dynamics and use this to predict conductance properties. The state diagram describes both motion of an excess proton within the pore as well as the reorientation of waters within the pore in the absence of an excess proton. The model is constructed as the diffusion limit of a random walk, allowing control over the boundary behavior of trajectories. Simple assumptions about the boundary behavior are made, which allow an analytical solution for the proton current and conductance. This is compared with corresponding expressions from statistical mechanics. The random walk construction allows diffusing trajectories underlying the model to be simulated in a simple way. Details of the numerical algorithm are described.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2000

A combined molecular dynamics and diffusion model of single proton conduction through gramicidin.

We develop a model for proton conduction through gramicidin based on the molecular dynamics simulations of Pomès and Roux (Biophys. J. 72:A246, 1997). The transport of a single proton through the gramicidin pore is described by a potential of mean force and diffusion coefficient obtained from the molecular dynamics. In addition, the model incorporates the dynamics of a defect in the hydrogen bonding structure of pore waters without an excess proton. Proton entrance and exit were not simulated by the molecular dynamics. The single proton conduction model includes a simple representation of these processes that involves three free parameters. A reasonable value can be chosen for one of these, and the other two can be optimized to yield a good fit to the proton conductance data of, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 339:8-20) for pH > or = 1.7. A sensitivity analysis shows the significance of this fit.

Biophysics↗

PubMed1998

Free energy profiles for H+ conduction along hydrogen-bonded chains of water molecules.

The molecular mechanism for proton conduction along hydrogen-bonded chains, or "proton wires," is studied with free energy simulations. The complete transport of a charge along a proton wire requires two complementary processes: 1) translocation of an excess proton (propagation of an ionic defect), and 2) reorientation of the hydrogen-bonded chain (propagation of a bonding defect). The potential of mean force profile for these two steps is computed in model systems comprising a single-file chain of nine dissociable and polarizable water molecules represented by the PM6 model of Stillinger and co-workers. Results of molecular dynamics simulations with umbrella sampling indicate that the unprotonated chain is preferably polarized, and that the inversion of its total dipole moment involves an activation free energy of 8 kcal/mol. In contrast, the rapid translocation of an excess H+ across a chain extending between two spherical solvent droplets is an activationless process. These results suggest that the propagation of a bonding defect constitutes a limiting step for the passage of several protons along single-file chains of water molecules, whereas the ionic translocation may be fast enough to occur within the lifetime of transient hydrogen-bonded water chains in biological membranes.

Biophysical Phenomena↗

PubMed1996

Structure and dynamics of a proton wire: a theoretical study of H+ translocation along the single-file water chain in the gramicidin A channel.

The rapid translocation of H+ along a chain of hydrogen-bonded water molecules, or proton wire, is thought to be an important mechanism for proton permeation through transmembrane channels. Computer simulations are used to study the properties of the proton wire formed by the single-file waters in the gramicidin A channel. The model includes the polypeptidic dimer, with 22 water molecules and one excess proton. The dissociation of the water molecules is taken into account by the "polarization model" of Stillinger and co-workers. The importance of quantum effects due to the light mass of the hydrogen nuclei is examined with the use of discretized Feynman path integral molecular dynamics simulations. Results show that the presence of an excess proton in the pore orients the single-file water molecules and affects the geometry of water-water hydrogen bonding interactions. Rather than a well-defined hydronium ion OH3+ in the single-file region, the protonated species is characterized by a strong hydrogen bond resembling that of O2H5+. The quantum dispersion of protons has a small but significant effect on the equilibrium structure of the hydrogen-bonded water chain. During classical trajectories, proton transfer between consecutive water molecules is a very fast spontaneous process that takes place in the subpicosecond time scale. The translocation along extended regions of the chain takes place neither via a totally concerted mechanism in which the donor-acceptor pattern would flip over the entire chain in a single step, nor via a succession of incoherent hops between well-defined intermediates. Rather, proton transfer in the wire is a semicollective process that results from the subtle interplay of rapid hydrogen-bond length fluctuations along the water chain. These rapid structural fluctuations of the protonated single file of waters around an average position and the slow movements of the average position of the excess proton along the channel axis occur on two very different time scales. Ultimately, it is the slow reorganization of hydrogen bonds between single-file water molecules and channel backbone carbonyl groups that, by affecting the connectivity and the dynamics of the single-file water chain, also limits the translocation of the proton across the pore.

Biophysical Phenomena↗

PubMed1996

Thermodynamic stability of water molecules in the bacteriorhodopsin proton channel: a molecular dynamics free energy perturbation study.

The proton transfer activity of the light-driven proton pump, bacteriorhodopsin (bR) in the photochemical cycle might imply internal water molecules. The free energy of inserting water molecules in specific sites along the bR transmembrane channel has been calculated using molecular dynamics simulations based on a microscopic model. The existence of internal hydration is related to the free energy change on transfer of a water molecule from bulk solvent into a specific binding site. Thermodynamic integration and perturbation methods were used to calculate free energies of hydration for each hydrated model from molecular dynamics simulations of the creation of water molecules into specific protein-binding sites. A rigorous statistical mechanical formulation allowing the calculation of the free energy of transfer of water molecules from the bulk to a protein cavity is used to estimate the probabilities of occupancy in the putative bR proton channel. The channel contains a region lined primarily by nonpolar side-chains. Nevertheless, the results indicate that the transfer of four water molecules from bulk water to this apparently hydrophobic region is thermodynamically permitted. The column forms a continuous hydrogen-bonded chain over 12 A between a proton donor, Asp 96, and the retinal Schiff base acceptor. The presence of two water molecules in direct hydrogen-bonding association with the Schiff base is found to be strongly favorable thermodynamically. The implications of these results for the mechanism of proton transfer in bR are discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1995

Free energy simulations of the HyHEL-10/HEL antibody-antigen complex.

Free energy simulations are reported for the N31LD mutation, both in the HyHEL-10-HEL antibody-lysozyme complex and in the unliganded antibody, using the thermodynamic-cycle perturbation method. The present study suggests that the mutation would change the free energy of binding of the complex by -5.6 kcal/mol (unrestrained free energy simulations), by -0.5 kcal/mol (free energy simulations with a restrained backbone) and by 1.8 kcal/mol (Poisson-Boltzmann calculations, which also use a restrained geometry model). A detailed structural analysis helps in estimating the contributions from various residues and regions of the system. Enhanced recognition of HEL by the mutant HyHEL-10 would arise from the combination of thermodynamically more favorable conformational changes of the CDR loops upon association and subsequent charge pairing with Lys96 in the antigen.

Antigen-Antibody Complex↗