Theory for a Sequence-Specific "Fuzzy" Binding Mechanism Between a Pair of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins
Year: 2019
Type: preprint
Abstract: Many intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), proteins that do not fold into a unique tertiary structure in isolation because of their depletion in hydrophobicity whereas enrichment in charge and aromaticity, retain their structural disorderness when participating in IDP-IDP binding and IDP phase separation via a sequence-specific molecular recognition mechanism. We implement the cluster expansion method in statistical mechanics to develop an analytical theory for elucidating the nature of the fuzzy Coulomb interaction between two charged IDPs. We apply the theory to calculate binding affinities between various pairs of IDP sequences, and extract a parameter jSCD encompassing the sequence-specific IDP-IDP interaction. Our theory provides a general framework to investigate IDP-IDP interaction.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Alan N. Amin, Yi‐Hsuan Lin, Suman Das, Hue Sun Chan
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2982066351