The widespread application
of silver nanoparticles in medicinal
and daily life products increases the exposure to Ag(I) of thiol-rich
biological environments, which help control the cellular metallome.
A displacement of native metal cofactors from their cognate protein
sites is a known phenomenon for carcinogenic and otherwise toxic metal
ions. Here, we examined the interaction of Ag(I) with the peptide
model of the interprotein zinc hook (Hk) domain of Rad50 protein from Pyrococcus furiosus, a key player in DNA double-strand
break (DSB) repair. The binding of Ag(I) to 14 and 45 amino acid long
peptide models of apo- and Zn(Hk)2 was experimentally investigated
by UV–vis spectroscopy, circular dichroism, isothermal titration
calorimetry, and mass spectrometry. The Ag(I) binding to the Hk domain
was found to disrupt its structure via the replacement of the structural
Zn(II) ion by multinuclear Ag
x
(Cys)
y
complexes. The ITC analysis indicated that
the formed Ag(I)–Hk species are at least 5 orders of magnitude
stronger than the otherwise extremely stable native Zn(Hk)2 domain. These results show that Ag(I) ions may easily disrupt the
interprotein zinc binding sites as an element of silver toxicity at
the cellular level.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.