An anharmonic vibrational Hamiltonian for the amide I, II, III, and A modes of N-methyl acetamide (NMA), recast in terms of the 19 components of an external electric field and its first and second derivative tensors (electrostatic DFT map), is calculated at the DFT(BPW91/6-31G(d,p)) level. Strong correlations are found between NMA geometry and the amide frequency fluctuations calculated using this Hamiltonian together with the fluctuating solvent electric field obtained from the MD simulations in TIP3 water. The amide I and A frequencies are strongly positively correlated with the CdO and N-H bond lengths. The CdO and C-N amide bond lengths are negatively correlated, suggesting the solvent-induced fluctuations of the contribution of zwitterionic resonance form. Sampling the global electric field in the entire region of the transition charge densities (TCDs) is required for accurate infrared line shape simulations. Collective electrostatic solvent coordinates which represent the fluctuations of the 10 lowest amide fundamental and overtone states are reported. Normal-mode analysis of an NMA-3H 2 O cluster shows that the 660 cm -1 to 1100 cm -1 oscillation found in the frequency autocorrelation functions of the amide modes may be ascribed to the two bending vibrations of intermolecular hydrogen bonds with the amide oxygen of NMA.

Two algorithms for simulating the response of peptides to sequences of IR pulses are developed and applied to N-methyl acetamide (NMA) and a 17 residue alpha-helical peptide (YKKKH17) in D(2)O. A fluctuating vibrational-exciton Hamiltonian for the amide I mode is constructed from molecular dynamics trajectories. Coupling with the environment is described using a density functional theory electrostatic map. The cumulant expansion of Gaussian fluctuation incorporates motional narrowing due to fast frequency fluctuations and is adequate for NMA and for isotopically labeled bands in large peptides. Real-space truncation of the scattering matrix of the nonlinear exciton equations significantly reduces the computational cost, making it particularly attractive for slow fluctuations in large globular proteins.

The response of complex molecules to sequences of femtosecond infrared pulses provides a unique window into their structure, dynamics and fluctuating environments, as projected into the vibrational degrees of freedom. In this review we survey the basic principles of these novel two dimensional infrared (2DIR) analogues of multidimensional NMR. The perturbative approach for computing the nonlinear optical response of coupled localized chromophores is introduced and applied to the amide backbone transitions of protein, liquid water, membrane lipids, and amyloid fibrils. The signals are analyzed using classical MD simulations combined with an effective fluctuating Hamiltonian for coupled localized anharmonic vibrations whose dependence on the local electrostatic environment is parameterized by an ab initio map. Several simulation protocols. Including the Cumulant expansion of Gaussian Fluctuation (CGF), a quasiparticle scattering approach (NEE), the Stochastic Liouville Equations (SLE), and Direct Numerical Propagation are surveyed. These are implemented in a code SPECTRON that interfaces with standard electronic structure and molecular mechanisms MD codes. Chirality-induced techniques which dramatically enhance the resolution are demonstrated. Signatures of conformational and hydrogen bonding fluctuations, protein folding, and chemical exchange processes are discussed.

An ab initio MP2 vibrational Hamiltonian of HOD in an external electrostatic potential parametrized by the electric field and its gradient-tensor is constructed. By combining it with the fluctuating electric field induced by the D 2 O solvent obtained from molecular dynamics simulations, we calculate the infrared absorption of the O-H stretch. The resulting solvent shift and infrared line shape for three force fields (TIP4P, SPC/E, and SW) are in good agreement with the experiment. A collective coordinate response for the solvent effect is constructed by identifying the main electrostatic field and gradient components contributing to the line shape. This allows a realistic stochastic Liouville equation simulation of the line shapes which is not restricted to Gaussian frequency fluctuations.

The couplings between all amide fundamentals and their overtones and combination vibrational states are calculated. Combined with the level energies reported previously (Hayashi, T.; Zhuang, W.; Mukamel, S. J. Phys. Chem. A 2005, 109, 9747), we obtain a complete effective vibrational Hamiltonian for the entire amide system. Couplings between neighboring peptide units are obtained using the anharmonic vibrational Hamiltonian of glycine dipeptide (GLDP) at the BPW91/6-31G(d,p) level. Electrostatic couplings between non-neighboring units are calculated by the fourth rank transition multipole coupling (TMC) expansion, including 1/R 3 (dipoledipole), 1/R 4 (quadrupole-dipole), and 1/R 5 (quadrupole-quadrupole and octapole-dipole) interactions. Exciton delocalization length and its variation with frequency in the various amide bands are calculated. The simulated infrared amide I and II absorptions and CD spectra of 24 residue R-helical motifs (SPE 3 ) are in good agreement with experiment.

NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) plays a central role in the respiratory electron transport chain by coupling the transfer of electrons from NADH to ubiquinone to the creation of the proton gradient across the membrane necessary for ATP synthesis. Here the atomistic details of electronic wiring of all Fe/S clusters in complex I are revealed by using the tunneling current theory and computer simulations; both density functional theory and semiempirical electronic structure methods were used to examine antiferromagnetically coupled spin states and corresponding tunneling wave functions. Distinct electron tunneling pathways between neighboring Fe/S clusters are identified; the pathways primarily consist of two cysteine ligands and one additional key residue. Internal water between protein subunits is identified as an essential mediator enhancing the overall electron transfer rate by almost three orders of magnitude to achieve a physiologically significant value. The identified key residues are further characterized by sensitivity of electron transfer rates to their mutations, examined in simulations, and their conservation among complex I homologues. The unusual electronic structure properties of Fe 4 S 4 clusters in complex I explain their remarkable efficiency of electron transfer.electron transfer in proteins | respiratory chain | iron-sulfur clusters N ADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) is a large L-shaped membrane-bound enzyme involved in cellular respiration that catalyzes the oxidation of NADH and the reduction of ubiquinone in mitochondria and respiring bacteria (1-3). This reaction involves the transfer of electrons over approximately 90 Å from NADH bound to the hydrophilic domain to ubiquinone in or near the hydrophobic membrane-bound domain of complex I (4). In turn, the reaction provides the driving force for translocation of four protons across the membrane, thus generating, in part, the proton gradient necessary for ATP synthesis (5). Complex I defects are the cause of several neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington disease (6).The transfer of electrons from NADH to ubiquinone is facilitated by flavin mononucleotide (FMN), two binuclear (2Fe-2S) iron-sulfur clusters (N1a and N1b), and six tetranuclear (4Fe-4S) iron-sulfur clusters (N3, N4, N5, N6a, N6b, and N2) (Fig. 1A). NADH, a two-electron donor, initially passes both electrons, as hydride, to the FMN cofactor. From FMN one electron enters a transport chain leading to the ubiquinone-binding site; the second electron enters a side path to N1a that appears to serve as a control mechanism to prevent generation of superoxide ions (4).The crystal structure of hydrophilic domain of complex I from Thermus thermophilus was reported in 2006 (4), and recently the whole architecture of the enzyme has been revealed (7); however, until now, the atomistic details of electron transfer along the chain of Fe/S metal clusters have remained unknown. Recently, a hopping (stepwise) electron transfer (...

Background & Aims: Recent evidence suggests that hepatocellular carcinoma can be classified into certain molecular subtypes with distinct prognoses based on the stem/maturational status of the tumor. We investigated the transcription program deregulated in hepatocellular carcinomas with stem cell features. Methods: Gene and protein expression profiles were obtained from 238 (analyzed by microarray), 144 (analyzed by immunohistochemistry), and 61 (analyzed by qRT-PCR) hepatocellular carcinoma cases. Activation/suppression of an identified transcription factor was used to evaluate its role in cell lines. The relationship of the transcription factor and prognosis was statistically examined. Results: The transcription factor SALL4, known to regulate stemness in embryonic and hematopoietic stem cells, was found to be activated in a hepatocellular carcinoma subtype with stem cell features. SALL4-positive hepatocellular carcinoma patients were associated with high values of serum alpha fetoprotein, high frequency of hepatitis B virus infection, and poor prognosis after surgery compared with SALL4-negative patients. Activation of SALL4 enhanced spheroid formation and invasion capacities, key characteristics of cancer stem cells, and up-regulated the hepatic stem cell markers KRT19, EPCAM, and CD44 in cell lines. Knockdown of SALL4 resulted in the down-regulation of these stem cell markers, together with attenuation of the invasion capacity. The SALL4 expression status was associated with histone deacetylase activity in cell lines, and the histone deacetylase inhibitor successfully suppressed proliferation of SALL4-positive hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Conclusions: SALL4 is a valuable biomarker and therapeutic target for the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with stem cell features. Ó

Two-dimensional infrared photon echo and pump probe studies of the OH stretch vibration provide a sensitive probe of the correlations and couplings in the hydrogen bond network of liquid water. The nonlinear response is simulated using numerical integration of the Schrodinger equation with a Hamiltonian constructed to explicitly treat intermolecular coupling and nonadiabatic effects in the highly disordered singly and doubly excited vibrational exciton manifolds. The simulated two-dimensional spectra are in close agreement with our recent experimental results. The high sensitivity of the OH stretch vibration to the bath dynamics is found to arise from intramolecular mixing between states in the two-dimensional anharmonic OH stretch potential. Surprisingly small intermolecular couplings reproduce the experimentally observed intermolecular energy transfer times.