Announcement of Final Thesis Defense Crop and Soil Science M.S. Degree
April 7, 2026 10:00AM - 11:00AM
Please join us for the presentation:
Plant and Soil Sciences Building room A271
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS STUDIES OF PRION INTERACTIONS WITH METALS AND GEOSORBENT SURFACES
Candidate’s Name: Antryg Benedict
Members of the Examining Committee and their Department:
1. Dr. Wei Zhang - Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
2. Dr. Hui Li - Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
3. Dr. Brian Teppen - Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
4. Dr. Alex Dickson - Biochemistry & Molecular Biologyand Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering
ABSTRACT
Prions are infectious proteins that cause fatal, neurodegenerative diseases in animals and humans. Prions are resistant to degradation, bind strongly to some minerals and other surfaces in soils, and can persist and remain infectious for years in the environment. The goal of my studies was to expand knowledge of prion interactions and their fate in the environment by assessing prion binding of metals and adsorption to geosorbent surfaces. In the first study, adsorption of the 20 proteinogenic amino acids to graphene surface was analyzed using umbrella sampling molecular dynamics simulations. The free energies of adsorption of the 20 amino acids were determined at 0 M and 0.5 M NaCl. Ionic strength had little effect on amino acid adsorption, and the most strongly adsorbing amino acids were the aromatic amino acids and arginine. In the second study, molecular dynamics simulations were used to predict potential binding sites of copper, manganese, and iron ions in two prion strains (263K and ME7). Metal binding was assessed at three different pH of 5, 7, and 8 and two temperatures of 27 oC and 42 oC. Copper and manganese bound to prions at similar degrees, with several potential binding sites. There was very little iron binding. The third study used molecular dynamics simulations to assess adsorption of prion strains (263K, ME7, RML, a22L, and CWD) to model geosorbent surfaces including iron oxide, calcium hydroxide, kaolinite, montmorillonite, quartz, and graphene. Prions adsorbed most to graphene surfaces, followed by kaolinite, quartz, and calcium hydroxide. This research expands knowledge of prion interactions with several metals and geosorbent surfaces, which is key to understanding the fate, transport, and infectivity of prions in the environment.
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