Electrostatics of Cytochrome-c assemblies

Electrostatic potentials along with computational mutagenesis are used to obtain atomic level insights into Cytochrome-c in order to design efficient bionanosensors. The electrostatic properties of wild type and mutant Cytochrome-c are examined in the context of their assembly, i.e. are examined in the absence and presence of neighboring molecules from the assembly. An intense increase in the positive potential ensues when the neighboring molecules are taken into account. This suggests that in the extrapolation of electric field effects upon the design of assemblies, considering the properties of only the central molecule may not be sufficient. Additionally, the influence of the uncharged residues becomes quite diminished when the molecule is considered in an assembly. This could pave the way for making mutants that might be more soluble in different media used in the construction of devices.FigureThe electrostatic potential, calculated using the program DELPHI 20] mapped on to the surface of Cytochrome-c when it is considered by itself (in the left column) and in the presence of the electrostatic field generated by the presence of the surrounding 4 molecules on the right (see Fig. 3). The potentials range from –10kT in red to +10kT in blue. The central figure shows the regions that have been mutated to positively charged residues by placing a unit positive charge at the terminal atom of the respective side chain. The figures range from the wild type in the first row, followed by the Gln12, Asn70, Asp50, Glu90 and Ala83 mutants.