TY - JOUR AU - Pesce, Luca AU - Calandrini, Vania AU - Marjault, Henri-Baptiste AU - Lipper, Colin H. AU - Rossetti, Giulia AU - Mittler, Ron AU - Jennings, Patricia Ann AU - Nechushtai, Rachel AU - Carloni, Paolo AU - Bauer, Andreas TI - Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the [2Fe-2S] Cluster-Binding Domain of NEET Proteins Reveal Key Molecular Determinants That Induce Their Cluster Transfer/Release JO - The journal of physical chemistry / B VL - 121 IS - 47 SN - 1520-5207 CY - Washington, DC PB - Soc. M1 - FZJ-2017-07352 SP - 10648–10656 PY - 2017 AB - 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. LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)16 UR - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000417228600006 DO - DOI:10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b10584 UR - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/838842 ER -