%0 Journal Article %A Pesce, Luca %A Calandrini, Vania %A Marjault, Henri-Baptiste %A Lipper, Colin H. %A Rossetti, Giulia %A Mittler, Ron %A Jennings, Patricia Ann %A Nechushtai, Rachel %A Carloni, Paolo %A Bauer, Andreas %T Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the [2Fe-2S] Cluster-Binding Domain of NEET Proteins Reveal Key Molecular Determinants That Induce Their Cluster Transfer/Release %J The journal of physical chemistry / B %V 121 %N 47 %@ 1520-5207 %C Washington, DC %I Soc. %M FZJ-2017-07352 %P 10648–10656 %D 2017 %X The NEET proteins are a novel family of iron-sulfur proteins characterized by an unusual 3 cysteine and one histidine coordinated [2Fe-2S] cluster. Aberrant cluster release, dictated by the breakage of the Fe-N bond, is implicated in a variety of human diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Here molecular dynamics in the multi-μs timescale, along with quantum chemical calculations, on two representative members of the family (the human NAF-1 and mitoNEET proteins) show that the loss of the cluster is associated with a dramatic decrease of secondary and tertiary structure. In addition, the calculations provide a mechanism for cluster release and clarify, for the first time, crucial differences existing between the two proteins, which are reflected in the experimentally observed difference in pH-dependent cluster reactivity. The reliability of our conclusions is established by an extensive comparison with NMR data of the proteins in solution, in part measured in this work. %F PUB:(DE-HGF)16 %9 Journal Article %U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000417228600006 %R 10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b10584 %U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/838842