How hydrophobic drying forces impact the kinetics of molecular recognition.

ABSTRACT: A model of protein-ligand binding kinetics, in which slow solvent dynamics results from hydrophobic drying transitions, is investigated. Molecular dynamics simulations show that solvent in the receptor pocket can fluctuate between wet and dry states with lifetimes in each state that are long enough for the extraction of a separable potential of mean force and wet-to-dry transitions. We present a diffusive surface hopping model that is represented by a 2D Markovian master equation. One dimension is the standard reaction coordinate, the ligand-pocket separation, and the other is the solvent state in the region between ligand and binding pocket which specifies whether it is wet or dry. In our model, the ligand diffuses on a dynamic free-energy surface which undergoes kinetic transitions betwe

SUBMITTER: Mondal J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3746852 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature