1
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Lihan M, Tajkhorshid E. Improved Highly Mobile Membrane Mimetic Model for Investigating Protein-Cholesterol Interactions. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:4822-4834. [PMID: 38844760 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/25/2024]
Abstract
Cholesterol (CHL) plays an integral role in modulating the function and activity of various mammalian membrane proteins. Due to the slow dynamics of lipids, conventional computational studies of protein-CHL interactions rely on either long-time scale atomistic simulations or coarse-grained approximations to sample the process. A highly mobile membrane mimetic (HMMM) has been developed to enhance lipid diffusion and thus used to facilitate the investigation of lipid interactions with peripheral membrane proteins and, with customized in silico solvents to replace phospholipid tails, with integral membrane proteins. Here, we report an updated HMMM model that is able to include CHL, a nonphospholipid component of the membrane, henceforth called HMMM-CHL. To this end, we had to optimize the effect of the customized solvents on CHL behavior in the membrane. Furthermore, the new solvent is compatible with simulations using force-based switching protocols. In the HMMM-CHL, both improved CHL dynamics and accelerated lipid diffusion are integrated. To test the updated model, we have applied it to the characterization of protein-CHL interactions in two membrane protein systems, the human β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR) and the mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channel 1 (VDAC-1). Our HMMM-CHL simulations successfully identified CHL binding sites and captured detailed CHL interactions in excellent consistency with experimental data as well as other simulation results, indicating the utility of the improved model in applications where an enhanced sampling of protein-CHL interactions is desired.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muyun Lihan
- Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Visualization, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Emad Tajkhorshid
- Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Visualization, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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2
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Fábián B, Javanainen M. Energetics of the Transmembrane Peptide Sorting by Hydrophobic Mismatch. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:5344-5349. [PMID: 38738950 PMCID: PMC11129306 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c00651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2024] [Revised: 04/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024]
Abstract
Hydrophobic mismatch between a lipid membrane and embedded transmembrane peptides or proteins plays a role in their lateral localization and function. Earlier studies have resolved numerous mechanisms through which the peptides and membrane proteins adapt to mismatch, yet the energetics of lateral sorting due to hydrophobic mismatch have remained elusive due to the lack of suitable computational or experimental protocols. Here, we pioneer a molecular dynamics simulation approach to study the sorting of peptides along a membrane thickness gradient. Peptides of different lengths tilt and diffuse along the membrane to eliminate mismatch with a rate directly proportional to the magnitude of mismatch. We extract the 2-dimensional free energy profiles as a function of local thickness and peptide orientation, revealing the relative contributions of sorting and tilting, and suggesting their thermally accessible regimes. Our approach can readily be applied to study other membrane systems of biological interest where hydrophobic mismatch, or membrane thickness in general, plays a role.
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Affiliation(s)
- Balázs Fábián
- Department
of Theoretical Biophysics, MPI Biophysics, DE-60438 Frankfurt
am Main, Germany
| | - Matti Javanainen
- Institute
of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, FI-00790 Helsinki, Finland
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3
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Park S, Pastor RW, Im W. Binary bilayer simulations for partitioning within membranes. Methods Enzymol 2024; 701:123-156. [PMID: 39025570 DOI: 10.1016/bs.mie.2024.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Membrane proteins (MPs) often show preference for one phase over the other, which is characterized by the partition coefficient, Kp. The physical mechanisms underlying Kp have been only inferred indirectly from experiments due to the unavailability of detailed structures and compositions of ordered phases. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can complement these details and thus, in principle, provide further insights into the partitioning of MPs between two phases. However, the application of MD has remained difficult due to long time scales required for equilibration and large system size for the phase stability, which have not been fully resolved even in free energy simulations. This chapter describes the recently developed binary bilayer simulation method, where the membrane is composed of two laterally attached membrane patches. The binary bilayer system (BBS) is designed to preserve the lateral packing of both phases in a significantly smaller size compared to that required for macroscopic phase separation. These characteristics are advantageous in partitioning simulations, as the length scale for diffusion across the system can be significantly smaller. Hence the BBS can be efficiently employed in both conventional MD and free energy simulations, though sampling in ordered phases remains difficult due to slow diffusion. Development of efficient lipid swapping methods and its combination with the BBS would be a useful approach for partitioning in coexisting phases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soohyung Park
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, United States
| | - Richard W Pastor
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Wonpil Im
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, United States.
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4
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Park S, Levental I, Pastor RW, Im W. Unsaturated Lipids Facilitate Partitioning of Transmembrane Peptides into the Liquid Ordered Phase. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:5303-5314. [PMID: 37417947 PMCID: PMC10413867 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
The affinity of single-pass transmembrane (TM) proteins for ordered membrane phases has been reported to depend on their lipidation, TM length, and lipid accessible surface area. In this work, the raft affinities of the TM domain of the linker for activation of T cells and its depalmitoylated variant are assessed using free energy simulations in a binary bilayer system composed of two laterally patched bilayers of ternary liquid ordered (Lo) and liquid disordered (Ld) phases. These phases are modeled by distinct compositions of distearoylphosphatidylcholine, palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC), and cholesterol, and the simulations were carried out for 4.5 μs/window. Both peptides are shown to preferentially partition into the Ld phase in agreement with model membrane experiments and previous simulations on ternary lipid mixtures but not with measurements on giant plasma membrane vesicles where the Lo is slightly preferred. However, the 500 ns average relaxation time of lipid rearrangement around the peptide precluded a quantitative analysis of free energy differences arising from peptide palmitoylation and two different lipid compositions. When in the Lo phase, peptides reside in regions rich in POPC and interact preferentially with its unsaturated tail. Hence, the detailed substructure of the Lo phase is an important modulator of peptide partitioning, in addition to the inherent properties of the peptide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soohyung Park
- Departments
of Biological Sciences and Chemistry, Lehigh
University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
| | - Ilya Levental
- Department
of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-1738, United States
| | - Richard W. Pastor
- Laboratory
of Computational Biology, National Heart,
Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
| | - Wonpil Im
- Departments
of Biological Sciences and Chemistry, Lehigh
University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
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5
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Feng S, Park S, Choi YK, Im W. CHARMM-GUI Membrane Builder: Past, Current, and Future Developments and Applications. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:2161-2185. [PMID: 37014931 PMCID: PMC10174225 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c01246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 04/06/2023]
Abstract
Molecular dynamics simulations of membranes and membrane proteins serve as computational microscopes, revealing coordinated events at the membrane interface. As G protein-coupled receptors, ion channels, transporters, and membrane-bound enzymes are important drug targets, understanding their drug binding and action mechanisms in a realistic membrane becomes critical. Advances in materials science and physical chemistry further demand an atomistic understanding of lipid domains and interactions between materials and membranes. Despite a wide range of membrane simulation studies, generating a complex membrane assembly remains challenging. Here, we review the capability of CHARMM-GUI Membrane Builder in the context of emerging research demands, as well as the application examples from the CHARMM-GUI user community, including membrane biophysics, membrane protein drug-binding and dynamics, protein-lipid interactions, and nano-bio interface. We also provide our perspective on future Membrane Builder development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shasha Feng
- Departments of Biological
Sciences and Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
| | - Soohyung Park
- Departments of Biological
Sciences and Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
| | - Yeol Kyo Choi
- Departments of Biological
Sciences and Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
| | - Wonpil Im
- Departments of Biological
Sciences and Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
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6
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Rice A, Zimmerberg J, Pastor RW. Initiation and evolution of pores formed by influenza fusion peptides probed by lysolipid inclusion. Biophys J 2023; 122:1018-1032. [PMID: 36575795 PMCID: PMC10111278 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.12.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The fusion peptide (FP) domain is necessary for the fusogenic activity of spike proteins in a variety of enveloped viruses, allowing the virus to infect the host cell, and is the only part of the protein that interacts directly with the target membrane lipid tails during fusion. There are consistent findings of poration by this domain in experimental model membrane systems, and, in certain conditions, the isolated FPs can generate pores. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the specifics of how these FP-induced pores form in membranes with different compositions of lysolipid and POPC. The simulations show that pores form spontaneously at high lysolipid concentrations via hybrid intermediates, where FP aggregates in the cis leaflet tilt to form a funnel-like structure that spans the leaflet and locally reduces the hydrophobic thickness that must be traversed by water to form a pore. By restraining a single FP within an FP aggregate to this tilted conformation, pores can be formed in lower-lysolipid-content membranes, including pure POPC, on the 100-ns timescale, much more rapidly than in unbiased simulations in bilayers with the same composition. The pore formation pathway is similar to the spontaneous formation in high lysolipid concentrations. Depending on the membrane composition, the pores can be metastable (as seen in POPC) or lead to membrane rupture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Rice
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Joshua Zimmerberg
- Section on Integrative Biophysics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Richard W Pastor
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
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7
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Elkins MR, Bandara A, Pantelopulos GA, Straub JE, Hong M. Direct Observation of Cholesterol Dimers and Tetramers in Lipid Bilayers. J Phys Chem B 2021; 125:1825-1837. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c10631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R. Elkins
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 170 Albany Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Asanga Bandara
- Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
| | - George A. Pantelopulos
- Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
| | - John E. Straub
- Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
| | - Mei Hong
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 170 Albany Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
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8
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van Hilten N, Stroh KS, Risselada HJ. Membrane Thinning Induces Sorting of Lipids and the Amphipathic Lipid Packing Sensor (ALPS) Protein Motif. Front Physiol 2020; 11:250. [PMID: 32372966 PMCID: PMC7177014 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2020.00250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2020] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Heterogeneities (e.g., membrane proteins and lipid domains) and deformations (e.g., highly curved membrane regions) in biological lipid membranes cause lipid packing defects that may trigger functional sorting of lipids and membrane-associated proteins. To study these phenomena in a controlled and efficient way within molecular simulations, we developed an external field protocol that artificially enhances packing defects in lipid membranes by enforcing local thinning of a flat membrane region. For varying lipid compositions, we observed strong thinning-induced depletion or enrichment, depending on the lipid's intrinsic shape and its effect on a membrane's elastic modulus. In particular, polyunsaturated and lysolipids are strongly attracted to regions high in packing defects, whereas phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) lipids and cholesterol are strongly repelled from it. Our results indicate that externally imposed changes in membrane thickness, area, and curvature are underpinned by shared membrane elastic principles. The observed sorting toward the thinner membrane region is in line with the sorting expected for a positively curved membrane region. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that the amphipathic lipid packing sensor (ALPS) protein motif, a known curvature and packing defect sensor, is effectively attracted to thinner membrane regions. By extracting the force that drives amphipathic molecules toward the thinner region, our thinning protocol can directly quantify and score the lipid packing sensing of different amphipathic molecules. In this way, our protocol paves the way toward high-throughput exploration of potential defect- and curvature-sensing motifs, making it a valuable addition to the molecular simulation toolbox.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niek van Hilten
- Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Kai Steffen Stroh
- Institute for Theoretical Physics, Georg August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Herre Jelger Risselada
- Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.,Institute for Theoretical Physics, Georg August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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9
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Park S, Yeom MS, Andersen OS, Pastor RW, Im W. Quantitative Characterization of Protein-Lipid Interactions by Free Energy Simulation between Binary Bilayers. J Chem Theory Comput 2019; 15:6491-6503. [PMID: 31560853 PMCID: PMC7076909 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.9b00815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Using a recently developed binary bilayer system (BBS) consisting of two patches of laterally contacting bilayers, umbrella sampling molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed for quantitative characterization of protein-lipid interactions. The BBS is composed of 1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLPC) and 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) with an embedded model membrane protein, a gramicidin A (gA) channel. The calculated free energy difference for the transfer of a gA channel from DLPC (hydrophobic thickness ≈ 21.5 Å) to DMPC (hydrophobic thickness ≈ 25.5 Å) bilayers, ΔG(DLPC → DMPC), is -2.2 ± 0.7 kcal/mol. This value appears at odds with the traditional view that the hydrophobic length of the gA channel is ∼22 Å. To understand this discrepancy, we first note that recent MD simulations by different groups have shown that lipid bilayer thickness profiles in the vicinity of a gA channel differ qualitatively from the deformation profile predicted from continuum elastic bilayer models. Our MD simulations at low and high gA:lipid molar ratios and different membrane compositions indicate that the gA channel's effective hydrophobic length is ∼26 Å. Using this effective hydrophobic length, ΔG(DLPC → DMPC) determined here is in excellent agreement with predictions based on continuum elastic models (-3.0 to -2.2 kcal/mol) where the bilayer deformation energy is approximated as a harmonic function of the mismatch between the channel's effective hydrophobic length and the hydrophobic thickness of the bilayer. The free energy profile for gA in the BBS includes a barrier at the interface between the two bilayers which can be attributed to the line tension at the interface between two bilayers with different hydrophobic thicknesses. This observation implies that translation of a peptide between two different regions of a cell membrane (such as between the liquid ordered and disordered phases) may include effects of a barrier at the interface in addition to the relative free energies of the species far from the interface. The BBS allows for direct transfer free energy calculations between bilayers without a need of a reference medium, such as bulk water, and thus provides an efficient simulation protocol for the quantitative characterization of protein-lipid interactions at all-atom resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soohyung Park
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering , Lehigh University , Bethlehem , Pennsylvania 18015 , United States
| | - Min Sun Yeom
- Korean Institute of Science and Technology Information , Daejeon , Korea
| | - Olaf S Andersen
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics , Weill Cornell Medicine , New York , New York 10065 , United States
| | - Richard W Pastor
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute , National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , Maryland 20892 , United States
| | - Wonpil Im
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering , Lehigh University , Bethlehem , Pennsylvania 18015 , United States.,School of Computational Sciences , Korea Institute for Advanced Study , Seoul 02455 , Republic of Korea
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10
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Qi Y, Lee J, Klauda JB, Im W. CHARMM-GUI Nanodisc Builder for modeling and simulation of various nanodisc systems. J Comput Chem 2019; 40:893-899. [PMID: 30677169 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.25773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2018] [Revised: 12/05/2018] [Accepted: 12/11/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Nanodiscs are discoidal protein-lipid complexes that have wide applications in membrane protein studies. Modeling and simulation of nanodiscs are challenging due to the absence of structures of many membrane scaffold proteins (MSPs) that wrap around the membrane bilayer. We have developed CHARMM-GUI Nanodisc Builder (http://www.charmm-gui.org/input/nanodisc) to facilitate the setup of nanodisc simulation systems by modeling the MSPs with defined size and known structural features. A total of 11 different nanodiscs with a diameter from 80 to 180 Å are made available in both the all-atom CHARMM and two coarse-grained (PACE and Martini) force fields. The usage of the Nanodisc Builder is demonstrated with various simulation systems. The structures and dynamics of proteins and lipids in these systems were analyzed, showing similar behaviors to those from previous all-atom and coarse-grained nanodisc simulations. We expect the Nanodisc Builder to be a convenient and reliable tool for modeling and simulation of nanodisc systems. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yifei Qi
- Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Molecular Therapeutics and New Drug Development, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Jumin Lee
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
| | - Jeffery B Klauda
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Biophysics Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
| | - Wonpil Im
- Departments of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
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11
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Park S, Im W. Analysis of Lipid Order States and Domains in Lipid Bilayer Simulations. J Chem Theory Comput 2018; 15:688-697. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.8b00828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Soohyung Park
- Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering Program, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
| | - Wonpil Im
- Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering Program, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, United States
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