Sparsely populated folding intermediates of the Fyn SH3 domain: matching native-centric essential dynamics and experiment.

A complete description of how a protein folds requires the characterization of intermediate conformations traversed during the folding transition. We have calculated dynamics trajectories of a simplified model of the Fyn SH3 domain with a native-centric potential energy function. Analysis of the resulting site-resolved energy trajectory identifies an ensemble of intermediate conformations for folding and another for unfolding. The model's folding intermediate is structured in the three beta-strands that make up the protein's core and is strikingly similar to intermediates detected in a recent NMR study of Fyn SH3 folding and to folding transition states elucidated in mutagenesis studies of SH3 domains. The unfolding intermediate is formed by dissociation of the folded protein's two terminal beta-strands from its core. The presence of such an intermediate is consistent with the results of a protein-engineering study on the src SH3 domain showing that these strands separate before the rate-limiting step of unfolding. Despite the presence of these conformations intermediate between the native and fully unfolded states, the computed heat capacity vs. temperature profile of the model protein indicates that its thermodynamics satisfies the usual calorimetric criterion for two-state folding. This observation highlights the fact that, if not properly interpreted, methods such as calorimetry that do not probe multiple sites in a molecule can lead to an oversimplified view of folding. The close agreement between results from this simplified model and experimental work underscores the important contributions that computational methods can make in providing insights into protein folding.