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Title: Computational Study of Symmetric Methylation on Histone Arginine Catalyzed by Protein Arginine Methyltransferase PRMT5 through QM/MM MD and Free Energy Simulations

Journal Article · · Molecules
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Dalian Univ. of Technology (China)
  3. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) catalyze the transfer of the methyl group from S-adenosyl-l-methionine (AdoMet) to arginine residues. There are three types of PRMTs (I, II and III) that produce different methylation products, including asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) and monomethylarginine (MMA). Since these different methylations can lead to different biological consequences, understanding the origin of product specificity of PRMTs is of considerable interest. In this article, the quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) molecular dynamics (MD) and free energy simulations are performed to study SDMA catalyzed by the Type II PRMT5 on the basis of experimental observation that the dimethylated product is generated through a distributive fashion. The simulations have identified some important interactions and proton transfers during the catalysis. Similar to the cases involving Type I PRMTs, a conserved Glu residue (Glu435) in PRMT5 is suggested to function as general base catalyst based on the result of the simulations. Moreover, our results show that PRMT5 has an energetic preference for the first methylation on N-1 followed by the second methylation on a different -guanidino nitrogen of arginine (N-2).The first and second methyl transfers are estimated to have free energy barriers of 19-20 and 18-19 kcal/mol respectively. The computer simulations suggest a distinctive catalytic mechanism of symmetric dimethylation that seems to be different from asymmetric dimethylation.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1336584
Journal Information:
Molecules, Vol. 20, Issue 6; ISSN 1420-3049
Publisher:
MDPICopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 11 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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The nucleophilic amino group of lysine is central for histone lysine methyltransferase catalysis journal September 2019

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