Molecular dynamics of amicyanin reveals a conserved dynamical core for blue copper proteins

Molecular dynamics simulation has been carried out for the blue copper protein amicyanin from two different sources, Paracoccus denitrificans and Paraccocus versutus, to investigate the structural and dynamical properties common to the two molecules and to identify prominent features shared with proteins of the same family, the monomeric cupredoxins. The two amicyanins have almost identical secondary and tertiary structure. In the simulation, they differ for the number of hydrogen bonds in the main chain and the conformation of some β-strands. However, they strictly maintain the arrangement of the portions of the β-barrel that are conserved in the folding architecture of the blue copper proteins. Paracoccus versutus amicyanin equilibrates more rapidly, shows lower atomic deviation values and is less rigid with respect to Paracoccus denitrificans amicyanin. Principal component analysis reveals that the conformational subspaces corresponding to eigenvectors with the same index for each of the two molecules are not necessarily equivalent. Nevertheless, a core scaffold with constrained dynamics exist for both amicyanins. In addition, two fairly flexible regions that are located on the opposite side with respect to the interaction sites with the partner molecules in the redox process have been evidenced in the protein structure. This description of amicyanin, with a few mobile regions remote from the active site and a rigid scaffold including most of the protein β-barrel, has a close similarity with that of azurin and plastocyanin, two other cupredoxins previously investigated in simulation. Further similarities in the distribution of the atomic fluctuations indicate that amicyanin, azurin and plastocyanin possess common dynamical features, in spite of differences in their structure. Based on these findings, we suggest that topological constraints imposed by the folding in correspondence of protein regions that are the most conserved determine the protein dynamics of the cupredoxin family. The dynamical properties of the cupredoxins might be controlled for functional advantages that include the binding mechanism with the biological partners and the collective inner motions of the protein matrix required for the electron transfer, whereas long-range conformational changes in the redox reaction should be excluded.