Overcharging of zinc ion in the structure of zinc−finger protein is needed for DNA binding stability Ly H. Nguyen,z Tuyen T. Tran,z Truong Thi Ngoc Lien,x Mai Hong Hanh,z and Toan T. Nguyen∗,z zKey Laboratory for Multiscale Simulations of Complex Systems, VNU University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, 334 Nguyen Trai street, Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi, Vietnam xHanoi University of Science and Technology, 1 Dai Co Viet street, Bach Khoa, Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi, Vietnam E-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected] Running header Zinc−finger overcharging arXiv:1911.10452v2 [q-bio.BM] 22 Feb 2020 1 Abstract Zinc finger structure, where a Zn2+ ion binds to four 4 cysteines or histidines in a tetrahedral structure, is a very common motif of nucleic acid−binding proteins. The corresponding interaction model is present in 3% of the genes in human genome. As a result, zinc−finger has been extremely useful in various therapeutic and research capacities, and in biotechnology. In stable configuration of zinc−finger, the cysteine amino acids are deprotonated and become negatively charged. Thus, the Zn2+ ion is overscreened by four cysteine charges (overcharged). Whether this overcharged config- uration is also stable when such a negatively charged zinc−finger binds to a negatively charged DNA molecule is unknown. We investigated how the deprotonated state of cysteine influences its structure, dynamics, and function in binding to DNA molecules by using an all−atom molecular dynamics simulation up to microsecond range of an androgen receptor protein dimer. Our results showed that the deprotonated state of cysteine residues is essential for mechanical stabilization of the functional, folded con- formation.