Towards a model for charge-driven protein reconstitution using dynamical self-consistent field theory

In protein reconstitution, membrane proteins are extracted from their native membrane and inserted into an artificial membrane selected to have more desirable properties for a given application. Experiments found that adding opposite charge to the artificial membrane and protein has advantages over the neutral reconstitution, namely increased speed and reduced complexity of the reconstitution¹. We extend neutral polymeric dynamical self-consistent field theory (dSCFT) to include charge interactions, salt, and solvent. This enables us to consider together charge interactions, self-assembly, and the dynamics of polymers and solvent, which we believe are key elements in the charge-driven reconstitution mechanism. We apply this dSCFT to study the influence of charge on the kinetics of reconstitution of toy proteins, modeled as ABA triblock copolymers with anionic solvophilic A blocks, into a cationic ABA triblock copolymer membrane in solvent.

 1. D. Hua et. al., J.  Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 2354 (2011).