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Muscle contraction is controlled by Ca2+ ions via regulatory proteins, troponin and tropomyosin, associated with thin actin filaments in sarcomeres. Depending on the Ca2+ concentration, the thin filament rearranges so that tropomyosin moves along its surface, opening or closing access to actin for the motor domains of myosin molecules, and causing contraction or relaxation, respectively. Numerous point amino acid substitutions in tropomyosin are known, leading to genetic pathologies — myo- and cardiomyopathies caused by changes in the structural and functional properties of the thin filament. The results of molecular dynamics modeling of a fragment of a thin filament of cardiac muscle sarcomeres formed by fibrillar actin and wildtype tropomyosin or with amino acid substitutions: the double stabilizing substitution D137L/G126R and the cardiomyopathic substitution S215L are presented. For numerical calculations, we used a new model of a thin filament fragment containing 26 actin monomers and 4 tropomyosin dimers, with a refined structure of the region of overlap of neighboring tropomyosin molecules in each of the two tropomyosin strands. The simulation results showed that tropomyosin significantly increases the bending stiffness of the thin filament, as previously found experimentally. The double stabilizing replacement D137L/G126R leads to a further increase in this rigidity, and the replacement S215L, on the contrary, leads to its decrease, which also corresponds to experimental data. At the same time, these substitutions have different effects on the angular mobility of the actin helix and only slightly modulate the angular mobility of tropomyosin cables relative to the actin helix and the population of hydrogen bonds between negatively charged tropomyosin residues and positively charged actin residues. The results of the verification of the new model demonstrate that its quality is sufficient for the numerical study of the effect of single amino acid substitutions on the structure and dynamics of thin filaments and study the effects leading to dysregulation of muscle contraction. This model can be used as a useful tool for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of some genetic diseases and assessing the pathogenicity of newly discovered genetic variants.

The transition from α-helices to β-strands under external mechanical force in fibrin molecule containing coiled-coils is studied and free energy landscape is resolved. The detailed theoretical modeling of each stage of coiled-coils fragment pulling process was performed. The plots of force (F) as a function of molecule expansion (X) for two symmetrical fibrin coiled-coils (each ∼17 nm in length) show three distinct modes of mechanical behaviour: (1) linear (elastic) mode when coiled-coils behave like entropic springs (F<100−125 pN and X<7−8 nm), (2) viscous (plastic) mode when molecule resistance force does not increase with increase in elongation length (F≈150 pN and X≈10−35 nm) and (3) nonlinear mode (F>175−200 pN and X>40−50 nm). In linear mode the coiled-coils unwind at 2π radian angle, but no structural transition occurs. Viscous mode is characterized by the phase transition from the triple α-spirals to three-stranded parallel β-sheet. The critical tension of α-helices is 0.25 nm per turn, and the characteristic energy change is equal to 4.9 kcal/mol. Changes in internal energy Δu, entropy Δs and force capacity c_f per one helical turn for phase transition were also computed. The observed dynamic behavior of α-helices and phase transition from α-helices to β-sheets under tension might represent a universal mechanism of regulation of fibrillar protein structures subject to mechanical stresses due to biological forces.

The results of homology modeling of HydSL, a NiFe-hydrogenase from purple sulphur bacterium Thiocapsa roseopersicina BBS are presented in this work. It is shown that the models have larger confidence level than earlier published ones; a full-size model of HydSL hydrogenase is presented for the first time. The C-end fragment of the enzyme is shown to have random orientation in relation to the main protein globule. The obtain models have a large number of ion pairs, as well as thermostable HydSL hydrogenase from Allochromatium vinosum, in contrast to thermolabile HydAB hydrogenase from Desulfovibrio vulgaris.