Proteins aggregate and precipitate from high concentration solutions in a wide variety of problems of natural and technological interest. Consequently, there is a broad interest in developing new ways to model the thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of protein stability in these crowded cellular or solution environments. We use a coarse-grained modeling approach to study the effects of different crowding agents on the conformational equilibria of proteins and the thermodynamic phase behavior of their solutions. At low to moderate protein concentrations, we find that crowding species can either stabilize or destabilize the native state, depending on the strength of their attractive interaction with the proteins. At high protein concentrations, crowders tend to stabilize the native state due to excluded volume effects, irrespective of the strength of the crowder-protein attraction. Crowding agents reduce the tendency of protein solutions to undergo a liquid-liquid phase separation driven by strong protein-protein attractions. The aforementioned equilibrium trends represent, to our knowledge, the first simulation predictions for how the properties of crowding species impact the global thermodynamic stability of proteins and their solutions.
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e-mail: vincent.shen@nist.gov
e-mail: jason.cheung@spcorp.com
e-mail: jerring@buffalo.edu
e-mail: truskett@che.utexas.edu
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July 2009
Research Papers
Insights Into Crowding Effects on Protein Stability From a Coarse-Grained Model
Vincent K. Shen,
Vincent K. Shen
Physical and Chemical Properties Division,
e-mail: vincent.shen@nist.gov
National Institute of Standards and Technology
, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8380
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Jason K. Cheung,
Jason K. Cheung
Biological and Sterile Product Development,
e-mail: jason.cheung@spcorp.com
Schering-Plough Research Institute
, Summit, NJ 07091
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Jeffrey R. Errington,
Jeffrey R. Errington
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering,
e-mail: jerring@buffalo.edu
The State University of New York at Buffalo
, Buffalo, NY 14260-4200
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Thomas M. Truskett
Thomas M. Truskett
Department of Chemical Engineering, and Institute for Theoretical Chemistry,
e-mail: truskett@che.utexas.edu
The University of Texas at Austin
, Austin, TX 78712
Search for other works by this author on:
Vincent K. Shen
Physical and Chemical Properties Division,
National Institute of Standards and Technology
, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8380e-mail: vincent.shen@nist.gov
Jason K. Cheung
Biological and Sterile Product Development,
Schering-Plough Research Institute
, Summit, NJ 07091e-mail: jason.cheung@spcorp.com
Jeffrey R. Errington
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering,
The State University of New York at Buffalo
, Buffalo, NY 14260-4200e-mail: jerring@buffalo.edu
Thomas M. Truskett
Department of Chemical Engineering, and Institute for Theoretical Chemistry,
The University of Texas at Austin
, Austin, TX 78712e-mail: truskett@che.utexas.edu
J Biomech Eng. Jul 2009, 131(7): 071002 (7 pages)
Published Online: June 5, 2009
Article history
Received:
September 25, 2008
Revised:
January 8, 2009
Published:
June 5, 2009
Citation
Shen, V. K., Cheung, J. K., Errington, J. R., and Truskett, T. M. (June 5, 2009). "Insights Into Crowding Effects on Protein Stability From a Coarse-Grained Model." ASME. J Biomech Eng. July 2009; 131(7): 071002. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3127259
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