Explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations of chaperonin-assisted rhodanese folding

Chaperonins are known to facilitate the productive folding of numerous misfolded proteins. Despite their established importance, the mechanism of chaperonin-assisted protein folding remains unknown. In the present article, all-atom explicit solvent molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed for the first time on rhodanese folding in a series of cavity-size and cavity-charge chaperonin mutants. A compromise between stability and flexibility of chaperonin structure during the substrate folding has been observed and the key factors affecting this dynamic process are discussed.