Xia_2019_Protein.Pept.Lett_26_702

OBJECTIVE: Dynamic communication caused by mutation affects protein stability. The main objective of this study is to explore how mutations affect communication and to provide further insight into the relationship between heat resistance and signal propagation of Bacillus subtilis lipase (Lip A). METHODS: The relationship between dynamic communication and Lip A thermostability is studied by long-time MD simulation and residue interaction network. The Dijkstra algorithm is used to get the shortest path of each residue pair. Subsequently, time-series frequent paths and spatio-temporal frequent paths are mined through an Apriori-like algorithm. RESULTS: Time-series frequent paths show that the communication between residue pairs, both in wild-type lipase (WTL) and mutant 6B, becomes chaotic with an increase in temperature; however, more residues in 6B can maintain stable communication at high temperature, which may be associated with the structural rigidity. Furthermore, spatio-temporal frequent paths reflect the interactions among secondary structures. For WTL at 300K, beta7, alphaC, alphaB, the longest loop, alphaA and alphaF contact frequently. The 310-helix between beta3 and alphaA is penetrated by spatio-temporal frequent paths. At 400K, only alphaC can be frequently transmitted. For 6B, when at 300K, alphaA and alphaF are in more tight contact by spatio-temporal frequent paths though I157M and N166Y. Moreover, the rigidity of the active site His156 and the C-terminal of Lip A are increased, as reflected by the spatio-temporal frequent paths. At 400K, alphaA and alphaF, 310-helix between beta3 and alphaA, the longest loop, and the loop where the active site Asp133 is located can still maintain stable communication. CONCLUSION: From the perspective of residue dynamic communication, it is obviously found that mutations cause changes in interactions between secondary structures and enhance the rigidity of the structure, contributing to the thermal stability and functional activity of 6B.