Das, Amit; Chakrabarti, J.; Ghosh, Mahua
Conformational thermodynamics of metal-ion binding to a protein
CHEMICAL PHYSICS LETTERS, 581:91-95, AUG 21 2013

Conformational changes in proteins induced by metal-ions play extremely important role in various cellular processes and technological applications. Dihedral angles are suitable conformational variables to describe microscopic conformations of a biomacromolecule. Here, we use the histograms of the dihedral angles to study the thermodynamics of conformational changes of a protein upon metal-ion binding. Our method applied to Ca2+ ion binding to an important metalloprotein, Calmodulin, reveals different thermodynamic changes in different metal-binding sites. The ligands coordinating to Ca2+ ions also play different roles in stabilizing the metal-ion coordinated protein-structure. Metal-ion binding induce remarkable thermodynamic changes in distant part of the protein via modification of secondary structural elements. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1016/j.cplett.2013.07.022

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