Ab Initio MD Simulations of the Brønsted Acidity of Glutathione in Aqueous Solutions: Predicting p<i>K</i>_a Shifts of the Cysteine Residue

Abstract

The tripeptide glutathione (GSH) is one of the most abundant peptides and the major repository for nonprotein sulfur in both animal and plant cells. It plays a critical role in intracellular oxidative stress management by the reversible formation of glutathione disulfide with the thiol-disulfide pair acting as a redox buffer. The state of charge of the ionizable groups of GSH can influence the redox couple, and hence the pKa value of the cysteine residue of GSH is critical to its functioning. Here we report ab initio Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations of glutathione solvated by 200 water molecules, all of which are considered in the simulation. We show that the free-energy landscape for the protonation-deprotonation reaction of the cysteine residue of GSH computed using metadynamics sampling provides accurate estimates of the pKa and correctly predicts the shift in the dissociation constant values as compared with the isolated cysteine amino acid.