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| 2. |
- Heimdal, Jimmy, et al.
(författare)
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Reduction Potentials and Acidity Constants of Mn Superoxide Dismutase Calculated by QM/MM Free-Energy Methods.
- 2011
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Ingår i: ChemPhysChem. - : Wiley. - 1439-7641 .- 1439-4235. ; 12:Online: 29 SEP 2011, s. 3337-3347
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We used two theoretical methods to estimate reduction potentials and acidity constants in Mn superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), namely combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanics (QM/MM) thermodynamic cycle perturbation (QTCP) and the QM/MM-PBSA approach. In the latter, QM/MM energies are combined with continuum solvation energies calculated by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann equation (PB) or by the generalised Born approach (GB) and non-polar solvation energies calculated from the solvent-exposed surface area. We show that using the QTCP method, we can obtain accurate and precise estimates of the proton-coupled reduction potential for MnSOD, 0.30±0.01 V, which compares favourably with experimental estimates of 0.26-0.40 V. However, the calculated potentials depend strongly on the DFT functional used: The B3LYP functional gives 0.6 V more positive potentials than the PBE functional. The QM/MM-PBSA approach leads to somewhat too high reduction potentials for the coupled reaction and the results depend on the solvation model used. For reactions involving a change in the net charge of the metal site, the corresponding results differ by up to 1.3 V or 24 pK(a) units, rendering the QM/MM-PBSA method useless to determine absolute potentials. However, it may still be useful to estimate relative shifts, although the QTCP method is expected to be more accurate.
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| 3. |
- Kaukonen, Markus
(författare)
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Calculated reaction cycle of cytochrome c oxidase
- 2007
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Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry Part B. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1520-5207 .- 1520-6106. ; 111:43, s. 12543-12550
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The catalytic cycle of cytochrome c oxidase has been simulated by means of quantum mechanical calculations. The experimental energetics of the catalytic cycle is nearly reproduced. The atomic structures of the intermediates are suggested. In particular, the structures of nonactive "resting" intermediates are proposed.
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| 4. |
- Kaukonen, Markus, et al.
(författare)
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Proton transfer at metal sites in proteins studied by quantum mechanical free-energy perturbations
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1549-9618 .- 1549-9626. ; 4:6, s. 985-1001
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Catalytic metal sites in enzymes frequently have second-sphere carboxylate groups that neutralize the charge of the site and share protons with first-sphere ligands. This gives rise to an ambiguity concerning the position of this proton, which has turned out to be hard to settle with experimental, as well as theoretical, methods. We study three such proton-transfer reactions in two proteins and show that, in [Ni,Fe] hydrogenase, the bridging Cys-546 ligand is deprotonated by His-79, whereas in oxidized copper nitrite reductase, the His-100 ligand is neutral and the copper-bound water molecule is deprotonated by Asp-98. We show that these reactions strongly depend on the electrostatic interactions with the surrounding protein and solvent, because there is a large change in the dipole moment of the active site (2-6 D). Neither vacuum quantum mechanical (QM) calculations with large models, a continuum solvent, or a Poisson-Boltzmann treatment of the surroundings, nor combined QM and molecular mechanics (QM/MM) optimizations give reliable estimates of the proton-transfer energies (mean absolute deviations of over 20 kJ/mol). Instead, QM/MM free-energy perturbations are needed to obtain reliable estimates of the reaction energies. These calculations also indicate what interactions and residues are important for the energy, showing how the quantum system may be systematically enlarged. With such a procedure, results with an uncertainty of similar to 10 kJ/mol can be obtained, provided that a proper QM method is used.
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| 5. |
- Kaukonen, Markus, et al.
(författare)
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QM/MM-PBSA method to estimate free energies for reactions in proteins
- 2008
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Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry Part B. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1520-5207 .- 1520-6106. ; 112:39, s. 12537-12548
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have developed a method to estimate free energies of reactions in proteins, called QM/MM-PBSA. It estimates the internal energy of the reactive site by quantum mechanical (QM) calculations, whereas bonded, electrostatic, and van der Waals interactions with the surrounding protein are calculated at the molecular mechanics (MM) level. The electrostatic part of the solvation energy of the reactant and the product is estimated by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation, and the nonpolar part of the solvation energy is estimated from the change in solvent-accessible surface area (SA). Finally, the change in entropy is estimated from the vibrational frequencies. We test this method for five proton-transfer reactions in the active sites of [Ni,Fe] hydrogenase and copper nitrite. reductase. We show that QM/MM-PBSA reproduces the results of a strict QM/MM free-energy perturbation method with a mean absolute deviation (MAD) of 8-10 kJ/mol if snapshots from molecular dynamics simulations are used and 4-14 kJ/mol if a single QM/MM structure is used. This is appreciably better than the original QM/MM results or if the QM energies are supplemented with a point-charge model, a self-consistent reaction field, or a PB model of the protein and the solvent, which give MADs of 22-36 kJ/mol for the same test set.
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| 6. |
- Loponen, T., et al.
(författare)
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Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes under electron irradiation simulated with a tight-binding model
- 2006
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Ingår i: Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics). - 1098-0121. ; 74:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Experiments show that nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes subjected to the electron beam in a transmission electron microscope can easily lose dopant atoms and that overall they are less stable under electron irradiation than the pristine tubes. To understand the lower stability of nitrogen-doped nanotubes we use a density-functional-theory-based tight-binding model and simulate impacts of energetic electrons onto the nanotubes. We show that the dopant atom displacement energy and thus the electron threshold energy is lower for nanotubes with smaller diameter and that, independent of the nanotube diameter, the dopant nitrogen atoms can be displaced more easily than the host carbon atoms. Our results set a limit on the threshold electron energy for damage production in N-doped tubes and indicate that spatially localized electron irradiation of doped nanotubes can be used for local atomic and band structure engineering.
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