Investigating the dynamics of human skeletal troponin C: A computational study
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Date
2017-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Skletal muscle contraction is induced by calcium binding to the troponin C subunit of the troponin-tropomyosin complex. Studies suggest that this binding induces a structural transition that opens a hydrophobic binding patch on troponin C. Models of both apo and calcium-bound human skeletal troponin were constructed using the Rosetta Comparative Modelling program and simulated for 800 ns using the NAMD molecular dynamics simulation program. Results showed that even with calcium, the troponin C was rarely found in the "open" conformation, suggesting that the presence of calcium may simply induce a change in dynamics of the protein. This contradicts experimental structural studies of the protein, calling into question either the time-scale of the contraction or the simulation methods and conditions for this particular model
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Keywords
troponin, computational biochemistry, protein, muscle contraction