Molecular dynamics studies on the denaturation of polyalanine in the presence of guanidinium chloride at low concentration

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Molecular dynamic simulation is a powerful method that monitors all variations in the atomic level in explicit solvent. By this method we can calculate many chemical and biochemical properties of large scale biological systems. In this work all-atom molecular dynamics simulation of polyalanine (PA) was investigated in the presence of 0.224, 0.448, 0.673, 0.897 and 1.122 M of guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) at 273-395 K by molecular dynamics simulation. Analysis of surface area, radial distribution function, radius of gyration, heat capacity, hydrogen bond, helix, coil and beta contents showed that an intermediate appears on the way of helix to coil transition. GdmCl at low concentration increases the midpoint of transition temperature (Tm), number of solvent molecules in the hydration layer and interapeptide hydrogen bond as well as decreases in rate of helix to coil transition. Thus, the role of guanidine at low concentration is same as osmolytes which decreases the beta form, increases hydration layer and the polypeptide thermal stability.