Prediction of reorganization free energies for biological electron transfer: a comparative study of Ru-modified cytochromes and a 4-helix bundle protein

Abstract

The acceleration of electron transfer (ET) rates in redox proteins relative to aqueous solutes can be attributed to the protein's ability to reduce the nuclear response or reorganization upon ET, while maintaining sufficiently high electronic coupling. Quantitative predictions of reorganization free energy remain a challenge, both experimentally and computationally. Using density functional calculations and molecular dynamics simulation with an electronically polarizable force field, we report reorganization free energies for intraprotein ET in four heme-containing ET proteins that differ in their protein fold, hydrophilicity, and solvent accessibility of the electron-accepting group. The reorganization free energies for ET from the heme cofactors of cytochrome c and b(5) to solvent exposed Ru-complexes docked to histidine residues at the surface of these proteins fall within a narrow range of 1.2-1.3 eV. Reorganization free energy is significantly lowered in a designed 4-helix bundle protein where both redox active cofactors are protected from the solvent. For all ET reactions investigated, the major components of reorganization are the solvent and the protein, with the solvent contributing close to or more than 50% of the total. In three out of four proteins, the protein reorganization free energy can be viewed as a collective effect including many residues, each of which contributing a small fraction. These results have important implications for the design of artificial electron transport proteins. They suggest that reorganization free energy may in general not be effectively controlled by single point mutations, but to a large extent by the degree of solvent exposure of the ionizable cofactors.