Soybean Hydrophobic Protein Response to External Electric Field: A Molecular Modeling Approach

Abstract

The molecular dynamic (MD) modeling approach was applied to evaluate the effect of an external electric field on soybean hydrophobic protein and surface properties. Nominal electric field strengths of 0.002 V/nm and 0.004 V/nm had no major effect on the structure and surface properties of the protein isolate but the higher electric field strength of 3 V/nm significantly affected the protein conformation and solvent accessible surface area. The response of protein isolate to various external field stresses demonstrated that it is necessary to gain insight into protein dynamics under electromagnetic fields in order to be able to develop the techniques utilizing them for food processing and other biological applications.

Keywords

• molecular dynamic modeling
• soybean hydrophobic protein
• electromagnetic fields