Differentiation of β-Sheet-Forming Structures: Ab Initio-Based Simulations of IR Absorption and Vibrational CD for Model Peptide and Protein β-Sheets

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Abstract
Ab initio quantum mechanical computations of force fields (FF) and atomic polar and axial tensors (APT and AAT) were carried out for triamide strands Ac-A-A-NH-CH3 clustered into single-, double-, and triple-strand β-sheet-like conformations. Models with φ, ψ, and ω angles constrained to values appropriate for planar antiparallel and parallel as well as coiled antiparallel (two-stranded) and twisted antiparallel and parallel sheets were computed. The FF, APT, and AAT values were transferred to corresponding larger oligopeptide β-sheet structures of up to five strands of eight residues each, and their respective IR and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra were simulated. The antiparallel planar models in a multiple-stranded assembly give a unique IR amide I spectrum with a high-intensity, low-frequency component, but they have very weak negative amide I VCD, both reflecting experimental patterns seen in aggregated structures. Parallel and twisted β-sheet structures do not develop a highly split amide I, their IR spectra all being similar. A twist in the antiparallel β-sheet structure leads to a significant increase in VCD intensity, while the parallel structure was not as dramatically affected by the twist. The overall predicted VCD intensity is quite weak but predominantly negative (amide I) for all conformations. This intrinsically weak VCD can explain the high variation seen experimentally in β-forming peptides and proteins. An even larger variation was predicted in the amide II VCD, which had added complications due to non-hydrogen-bonded residues on the edges of the model sheets.