Effects of macromolecular crowding on protein folding

Abstract

Folding of proteins in vivo is influenced by the presence of a high concentration of macromolecules in the cytosol. In this study we investigate the effects of macromolecular crowding on folding of proteins by using molecular dynamics simulation method with Langevin equations. The protein is considered in a Go-like model whereas crowders are modeled as soft spheres. In our simulations, protein and crowders are enclosed in a spherical container. It is shown that the crowders enhance the folding transition temperature as well as folding stability of protein. The effect of crowders on the folding free energy is found to agree with Minton's scaled particle theory.