Microcystins (MCs) are potent toxins released during cyanobacterial blooms. Clay minerals are implicated in trapping MCs within soil particles in surface waters and sediments. In the absence of molecular characterization, the relevance of previously proposed adsorption mechanisms is lacking. Towards obtaining this characterization, we conducted Monte Carlo simulations combined with molecular dynamics relaxation of two MC variants, MC-leucine-arginine (MC-LR) and MC-leucine-alanine (MC-LA), adsorbed on hydrated montmorillonite with different electrolytes. The resulting adsorbate structures revealed how MC conformations and aqueous conditions dictate binding interactions at the mineral surface. Electrostatic coupling between the arginine residue and a carboxylate in MC-LR excluded the participation of arginine in mediating adsorption on montmorillonite in a NaCl solution. However, in a CaCl2 solution, the complexation of Ca by two carboxylate moieties in MC-LR changed the MC conformation, which allowed arginine to mediate electrostatic interaction with the mineral. By contrast, due to the lack of arginine in MC-LA, complexation of Ca by only one carboxylate in MC-LA was required to favor Ca-bridging interaction with the mineral. Multiple water-bridged H-bonding interactions were also important in anchoring MCs at the mineral surface. Our modeling results offer molecular insights into the structural and chemical factors that can control the fate of MCs at water-mineral interfaces.

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The complete degradation of cellulose to glucose is essential to carbon turnover in terrestrial ecosystems and to engineered biofuel production. A rate-limiting step in this pathway is catalyzed by beta-glucosidase (BG) enzymes, which convert cellulobiose into two glucose molecules. The activity of these enzymes has been shown to vary with solution pH. However, it is not well understood how pH influences the enzyme conformation required for catalytic action on the substrate. A structural understanding of this pH effect is important for predicting shifts in BG activity in bioreactors and environmental matrices, in addition to informing targeted protein engineering. Here we applied molecular dynamics simulations to explore conformational and substrate binding dynamics in two well-characterized BGs of bacterial (Clostridium cellulovorans) and fungal (Trichoderma reesei) origins as a function of pH. The enzymes were simulated in an explicit solvated environment, with NaCl as electrolytes, at their prominent ionization states obtained at pH 5, 6, 7, and 7.5. Our findings indicated that pH-dependent changes in the ionization states of non-catalytic residues localized outside of the immediate active site led to pH-dependent disruption of the active site conformation. This disruption interferes with favorable H-bonding interactions with catalytic residues required to initiate catalysis on the substrate. We also identified specific non-catalytic residues that are involved in stabilizing the substrate at the optimal pH for enzyme activity. The simulations further revealed the dynamics of water-bridging interactions both outside and inside the substrate binding cleft during structural changes in the enzyme-substrate complex. These findings provide new structural insights into the pH-dependent substrate binding specificity in BGs.