{"title":"Effective patchiness from critical points of a coarse-grained protein model with explicit shape and charge anisotropy","authors":"Jens Weimar, Frank Hirschmann and Martin Oettel","doi":"10.1039/D4SM00867G","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p >Colloidal model systems are successful in rationalizing emergent phenomena like aggregation, rheology and phase behaviour of protein solutions. Colloidal theory in conjunction with isotropic interaction models is often employed to estimate the stability of such solutions. In particular, a universal criterion for the reduced second virial coefficient at the critical point <img> is frequently invoked which is based on the behavior of short-range attractive fluids (Noro–Frenkel rule, <img>). However, if anisotropic models for the protein–protein interaction are considered, <em>e.g.</em> the Kern–Frenkel (KF) patchy particle model, the value of the <img> criterion is shifted to lower values and explicitly depends on the number of patches. If an explicit shape anisotropy is considered, as <em>e.g.</em> in a coarse-grained protein model, the normalization of <img> becomes ambiguous to some extent, as no unique exclusion volume can be defined anymore. Here, we investigate a low-resolution, coarse-grained model for the globular protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) and study effects of charge-anisotropy on the phase diagram (determined by simulations) at the isoelectric point. We present methods of assigning an “effective patchiness” to our protein model by comparing its critical properties to the KF model. We find that doubling the native charges increases the critical temperature <em>T</em><small><sub>c</sub></small> by ≈14% and that our BSA model can be compared to a 3 to 5 patch KF model. Finally, we argue that applying existing <img> criteria from colloidal theory should be done with care, due to multiple, physically plausible ways of how to assign effective diameters to shape-anisotropic models.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 42","pages":" 8455-8467"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2024/sm/d4sm00867g?page=search","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Soft Matter","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/sm/d4sm00867g","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Colloidal model systems are successful in rationalizing emergent phenomena like aggregation, rheology and phase behaviour of protein solutions. Colloidal theory in conjunction with isotropic interaction models is often employed to estimate the stability of such solutions. In particular, a universal criterion for the reduced second virial coefficient at the critical point is frequently invoked which is based on the behavior of short-range attractive fluids (Noro–Frenkel rule, ). However, if anisotropic models for the protein–protein interaction are considered, e.g. the Kern–Frenkel (KF) patchy particle model, the value of the criterion is shifted to lower values and explicitly depends on the number of patches. If an explicit shape anisotropy is considered, as e.g. in a coarse-grained protein model, the normalization of becomes ambiguous to some extent, as no unique exclusion volume can be defined anymore. Here, we investigate a low-resolution, coarse-grained model for the globular protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) and study effects of charge-anisotropy on the phase diagram (determined by simulations) at the isoelectric point. We present methods of assigning an “effective patchiness” to our protein model by comparing its critical properties to the KF model. We find that doubling the native charges increases the critical temperature Tc by ≈14% and that our BSA model can be compared to a 3 to 5 patch KF model. Finally, we argue that applying existing criteria from colloidal theory should be done with care, due to multiple, physically plausible ways of how to assign effective diameters to shape-anisotropic models.
期刊介绍:
Soft Matter is an international journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry using Engineering-Materials Science: A Synthesis as its research focus. It publishes original research articles, review articles, and synthesis articles related to this field, reporting the latest discoveries in the relevant theoretical, practical, and applied disciplines in a timely manner, and aims to promote the rapid exchange of scientific information in this subject area. The journal is an open access journal. The journal is an open access journal and has not been placed on the alert list in the last three years.