Consistent Treatment of Hydrophobicity in Protein Lattice Models Accounts for Cold Denaturation

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Feb 19;116(7):078101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.078101. Epub 2016 Feb 16.

Abstract

The hydrophobic effect stabilizes the native structure of proteins by minimizing the unfavorable interactions between hydrophobic residues and water through the formation of a hydrophobic core. Here, we include the entropic and enthalpic contributions of the hydrophobic effect explicitly in an implicit solvent model. This allows us to capture two important effects: a length-scale dependence and a temperature dependence for the solvation of a hydrophobic particle. This consistent treatment of the hydrophobic effect explains cold denaturation and heat capacity measurements of solvated proteins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cold Temperature
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Monte Carlo Method
  • Peptides / chemistry
  • Protein Denaturation
  • Protein Folding
  • Proteins / chemistry*
  • Water / chemistry

Substances

  • Peptides
  • Proteins
  • Water
  • polyphenylalanine