Key result
Molecular dynamics simulations of isolated myosin motor domains revealed that shifts in the balance between nucleotide-favorable and nucleotide-unfavorable P-loop conformations predict experimentally measured duty ratios and ADP release rates.
Why the study?
It remains unclear how myosin motor domain sequences encode functional differences despite having nearly indistinguishable crystal structures.
Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that the conformational ensemble of the myosin P-loop, rather than static crystal structures, predicts motor duty ratios and ADP release rates.
Does not guide clinical myosin therapies; leaves open P-loop dynamics for cardiac motor protein research.
Myosin motor domains perform an extraordinary diversity of biological functions despite sharing a common mechanochemical cycle. Motors are adapted to their function, in part, by tuning the thermodynamics and kinetics of steps in this cycle. However, it remains unclear how sequence encodes these differences, since biochemically distinct motors often have nearly indistinguishable crystal structures. We hypothesized that sequences produce distinct biochemical phenotypes by modulating the relative probabilities of an ensemble of conformations primed for different functional roles. To test this hypothesis, we modeled the distribution of conformations for 12 myosin motor domains by building Markov state models (MSMs) from an unprecedented two milliseconds of all-atom, explicit-solvent molecular dynamics simulations. Comparing motors reveals shifts in the balance between nucleotide-favorable and nucleotide-unfavorable P-loop conformations that predict experimentally measured duty ratios and ADP release rates better than sequence or individual structures. This result demonstrates the power of an ensemble perspective for interrogating sequence-function relationships.
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Porter et al. (2020) studied Myosin motor domain mechanochemical properties. Molecular dynamics simulations and Markov state models vs. Sequence or individual structures was evaluated on Correlation between P-loop conformational distributions and experimentally measured duty ratios and ADP release rates. Molecular dynamics simulations of isolated myosin motor domains revealed that shifts in the balance between nucleotide-favorable and nucleotide-unfavorable P-loop conformations predict experimentally measured duty ratios and ADP release rates.
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