Issue 3, 2019

Molecular dynamics simulation of protein-mediated biomineralization of amorphous calcium carbonate

Abstract

The protein-mediated biomineralization of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in living organisms is primarily governed by critical interactions between the charged amino acids of the protein, solvent, calcium (Ca2+) and carbonate (CO32−) ions. The present article investigates the molecular mechanism of lysozyme-mediated nucleation of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) using molecular dynamics and metadynamics simulations. The results reveal that, by acting as nucleation sites, the positively charged side chains of surface-exposed arginine residues form hydrogen bonds with carbonates and promote aggregation of ions around them leading to the formation and growth of ACC on the protein surface. The newly formed ACC patches were found to be less hydrated due to ion aggregation-induced expulsion of water from the nucleation sites. Despite favorable electrostatic interactions of the negatively charged side chains of aspartate and glutamate with calcium ions, these residues contribute minimally to the growth of ACC on protein surface. The activation barrier for the growth of partially hydrated ACC patches on lysozymes was determined from the free energy profiles obtained from metadynamics simulations.

Graphical abstract: Molecular dynamics simulation of protein-mediated biomineralization of amorphous calcium carbonate

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Oct 2018
Accepted
21 Dec 2018
First published
16 Jan 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2019,9, 1653-1663

Molecular dynamics simulation of protein-mediated biomineralization of amorphous calcium carbonate

R. S. Rani and M. Saharay, RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 1653 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA08459A

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