Conformational stability of PCID2 upon DSS1 binding with molecular dynamics simulation.

DSS1 is a small acidic intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) that can fold upon binding with PCID2 TREX-2. The resulting complex plays a key role in mRNA export. However, the binding mechanism between DSS1 and PCID2 is unsolved. Here, three independent 500-ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to study the DSS1-PCID2 binding mechanism by comparing apo-PCID2 and bound PCID2. The results show that the conformational variation of bound PCID2 is smaller than that of apo-PCID2, especially in the binding domain of two helices (helix IV and VIII). The probability of coil formation between helix III and helix IV of bound PCID2 increases, and a short anti-parallel β-sheet forms upon DSS1 binding. The decomposition of binding free energy into protein and residue pairs suggests that electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions play key roles in the recognition between DSS1 and PCID2. There is a hydrophobic core of seven residues in DSS1 favorable to the binding of PCID2. These analytical methods can be used to reveal the recognition mechanisms of other IDPs and their partners.