Elucidating the Nature of Interactions in Collagen Triple-Helix Wrapping

Collagen is the most abundant protein family in the animal kingdom. Its structural motif envisages three polypeptide chains coiled in the so-called collagen triple helix. Depending on the triplet amino acid sequence of the chains, collagen has different helical arrangements. Such atomic-scale structural variations have a large impact on the large-scale structure of collagen. In this Letter, we elucidate the interactions that are responsible for a specific helical pattern of the collagen protein by means of DFT-D-based computer simulations. We demonstrate that interchain interactions and solvation effects stabilize compact helices over elongated ones. Conversely, elongated helices are stabilized by less geometrical strain and entropic factors. Our computational procedure predicts the collagen helical pattern in agreement with the experimental evidence.