Force Distribution Analysis of Mechanochemically Reactive Dimethylcyclobutene
Internal molecular forces can guide chemical reactions, yet are not straightforwardly accessible within a quantum mechanical description of the reacting molecules. Here, we present a force-matching force distribution analysis (FM-FDA) to analyze internal forces in molecules. We simulated the ring opening of trans-3,4-dimethylcyclobutene (tDCB) with on-the-fly semiempirical molecular dynamics. The self-consistent density functional tight binding (SCC-DFTB) method accurately described the force-dependent ring-opening kinetics of tDCB, showing quantitative agreement with both experimental and computational data at higher levels. Mechanical force was applied in two different ways, namely, exter…
Two differential binding mechanisms of FG-nucleoporins and nuclear transport receptors
Summary Phenylalanine-glycine-rich nucleoporins (FG-Nups) are intrinsically disordered proteins, constituting the selective barrier of the nuclear pore complex (NPC). Previous studies showed that nuclear transport receptors (NTRs) were found to interact with FG-Nups by forming an “archetypal-fuzzy” complex through the rapid formation and breakage of interactions with many individual FG motifs. Here, we use single-molecule studies combined with atomistic simulations to show that, in sharp contrast, FG-Nup214 undergoes a coupled reconfiguration-binding mechanism when interacting with the export receptor CRM1. Association and dissociation rate constants are more than an order of magnitude lowe…