Reactive molecular dynamics simulations investigating ROS-mediated HIV damage from outer gp120 protein to internal capsid protein.

Molecular dynamics (MD) with the ReaxFF force field is used to study the structural damage to HIV capsid protein and gp120 protein mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Our results show that with an increase in ROS concentration, the structures of the HIV capsid protein and gp120 protein are more severely damaged, including dehydrogenation, increase in oxygen-containing groups, helix shortening or destruction, and peptide bond breaking. In particular, we noticed that extraction of H atoms from N atoms by ROS was significantly higher than that from C atoms.