1
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Jahn R, Cafiso DC, Tamm LK. Mechanisms of SNARE proteins in membrane fusion. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2024; 25:101-118. [PMID: 37848589 DOI: 10.1038/s41580-023-00668-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
Soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs) are a family of small conserved eukaryotic proteins that mediate membrane fusion between organelles and with the plasma membrane. SNAREs are directly or indirectly anchored to membranes. Prior to fusion, complementary SNAREs assemble between membranes with the aid of accessory proteins that provide a scaffold to initiate SNARE zippering, pulling the membranes together and mediating fusion. Recent advances have enabled the construction of detailed models describing bilayer transitions and energy barriers along the fusion pathway and have elucidated the structures of SNAREs complexed in various states with regulatory proteins. In this Review, we discuss how these advances are yielding an increasingly detailed picture of the SNARE-mediated fusion pathway, leading from first contact between the membranes via metastable non-bilayer intermediates towards the opening and expansion of a fusion pore. We describe how SNARE proteins assemble into complexes, how this assembly is regulated by accessory proteins and how SNARE complexes overcome the free energy barriers that prevent spontaneous membrane fusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reinhard Jahn
- Laboratory of Neurobiology, Max-Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - David C Cafiso
- Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Lukas K Tamm
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
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2
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Konar S, Arif H, Allolio C. Mitochondrial membrane model: Lipids, elastic properties, and the changing curvature of cardiolipin. Biophys J 2023; 122:4274-4287. [PMID: 37798880 PMCID: PMC10645570 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2023.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Revised: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Mammalian and Drosophila melanogaster model mitochondrial membrane compositions are constructed from experimental data. Simplified compositions for inner and outer mitochondrial membranes are provided, including an asymmetric inner mitochondrial membrane. We performed atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of these membranes and computed their material properties. When comparing these properties to those obtained by extrapolation from their constituting lipids, we find good overall agreement. Finally, we analyzed the curvature effect of cardiolipin, considering ion concentration effects, oxidation, and pH. We draw the conclusion that cardiolipin-negative curvature is most likely due to counterion effects, such as cation adsorption, in particular of H3O+. This oft-neglected effect might account for the puzzling behavior of this lipid.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sukanya Konar
- Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Mathematical Institute, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Hina Arif
- Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Mathematical Institute, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Christoph Allolio
- Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Mathematical Institute, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
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3
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Aleksanyan M, Grafmüller A, Crea F, Georgiev VN, Yandrapalli N, Block S, Heberle J, Dimova R. Photomanipulation of Minimal Synthetic Cells: Area Increase, Softening, and Interleaflet Coupling of Membrane Models Doped with Azobenzene-Lipid Photoswitches. ADVANCED SCIENCE (WEINHEIM, BADEN-WURTTEMBERG, GERMANY) 2023; 10:e2304336. [PMID: 37653602 PMCID: PMC10625111 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202304336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
Light can effectively interrogate biological systems in a reversible and physiologically compatible manner with high spatiotemporal precision. Understanding the biophysics of photo-induced processes in bio-systems is crucial for achieving relevant clinical applications. Employing membranes doped with the photolipid azobenzene-phosphatidylcholine (azo-PC), a holistic picture of light-triggered changes in membrane kinetics, morphology, and material properties obtained from correlative studies on cell-sized vesicles, Langmuir monolayers, supported lipid bilayers, and molecular dynamics simulations is provided. Light-induced membrane area increases as high as ≈25% and a ten-fold decrease in the membrane bending rigidity is observed upon trans-to-cis azo-PC isomerization associated with membrane leaflet coupling and molecular curvature changes. Vesicle electrodeformation measurements and atomic force microscopy reveal that trans azo-PC bilayers are thicker than palmitoyl-oleoyl phosphatidylcholine (POPC) bilayers but have higher specific membrane capacitance and dielectric constant suggesting an increased ability to store electric charges across the membrane. Lastly, incubating POPC vesicles with azo-PC solutions results in the insertion of azo-PC in the membrane enabling them to become photoresponsive. All these results demonstrate that light can be used to finely manipulate the shape, mechanical and electric properties of photolipid-doped minimal cell models, and liposomal drug carriers, thus, presenting a promising therapeutic alternative for the repair of cellular disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mina Aleksanyan
- Max Planck Institute of Colloids and InterfacesScience Park Golm14476PotsdamGermany
- Institute for Chemistry and BiochemistryFreie Universität Berlin14195BerlinGermany
| | - Andrea Grafmüller
- Max Planck Institute of Colloids and InterfacesScience Park Golm14476PotsdamGermany
| | - Fucsia Crea
- Department of PhysicsFreie Universität Berlin14195BerlinGermany
| | - Vasil N. Georgiev
- Max Planck Institute of Colloids and InterfacesScience Park Golm14476PotsdamGermany
| | - Naresh Yandrapalli
- Max Planck Institute of Colloids and InterfacesScience Park Golm14476PotsdamGermany
| | - Stephan Block
- Institute for Chemistry and BiochemistryFreie Universität Berlin14195BerlinGermany
| | - Joachim Heberle
- Department of PhysicsFreie Universität Berlin14195BerlinGermany
| | - Rumiana Dimova
- Max Planck Institute of Colloids and InterfacesScience Park Golm14476PotsdamGermany
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4
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Doktorova M, Khelashvili G, Ashkar R, Brown MF. Molecular simulations and NMR reveal how lipid fluctuations affect membrane mechanics. Biophys J 2023; 122:984-1002. [PMID: 36474442 PMCID: PMC10111610 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.12.007] [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: 09/03/2022] [Revised: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Lipid bilayers form the main matrix of functional cell membranes, and their dynamics underlie a host of physical and biological processes. Here we show that elastic membrane properties and collective molecular dynamics (MD) are related by the mean-square amplitudes (order parameters) and relaxation rates (correlation times) of lipid acyl chain motions. We performed all-atom MD simulations of liquid-crystalline bilayers that allow direct comparison with carbon-hydrogen (CH) bond relaxations measured with NMR spectroscopy. Previous computational and theoretical approaches have assumed isotropic relaxation, which yields inaccurate description of lipid chain dynamics and incorrect data interpretation. Instead, the new framework includes a fixed bilayer normal (director axis) and restricted anisotropic motion of the CH bonds in accord with their segmental order parameters, enabling robust validation of lipid force fields. Simulated spectral densities of thermally excited CH bond fluctuations exhibited well-defined spin-lattice (Zeeman) relaxations analogous to those in NMR measurements. Their frequency signature could be fit to a simple power-law function, indicative of nematic-like collective dynamics. Moreover, calculated relaxation rates scaled as the squared order parameters yielding an apparent κC modulus for bilayer bending. Our results show a strong correlation with κC values obtained from solid-state NMR studies of bilayers without and with cholesterol as validated by neutron spin-echo measurements of membrane elasticity. The simulations uncover a critical role of interleaflet coupling in membrane mechanics and thus provide important insights into molecular sites of emerging elastic properties within lipid bilayers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milka Doktorova
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia.
| | - George Khelashvili
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York; Institute of Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York
| | - Rana Ashkar
- Department of Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia; Center for Soft Matter and Biological Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
| | - Michael F Brown
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona; Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona; Program in Applied Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
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5
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Schachter I, Harries D. Capturing Lipid Nanodisc Shape and Properties Using a Continuum Elastic Theory. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:1360-1369. [PMID: 36724052 PMCID: PMC9979604 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c01054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Lipid nanodiscs are nanometric bilayer patches enveloped by confining structures, commonly composed of membrane scaffolding proteins (MSPs). To resolve the interplay between MSP geometry, lipid confinement, and membrane material properties on the nanodisc shape, we apply a continuum elastic theory accounting for lipid bending, tilting, and area deformations. The equilibrium nanodisc shape is then determined by minimizing the elastic free energy functional. Analytic expressions derived under simplifying assumptions demonstrate that the nanodisc shape is sensitive to its size, lipid density, and the lipid tilt and thickness imposed at the contact with the MSP. Under matching physical parameters, these expressions quantitatively reproduce the shape of nanodiscs seen in molecular dynamics simulations, but only if lipid tilt is explicitly considered. We further demonstrate how the bending rigidity can be extracted from the membrane shape profile by fitting the numerically minimized full elastic functional to the membrane shape found in simulations. This fitting procedure faithfully informs on the bending rigidity of nanodiscs larger than ca. 5 nm in radius. The fitted profiles accurately reproduce the increase in bending modulus found using real-space fluctuation analysis of simulated nanodiscs and, for large nanodiscs, also accurately resolve its spatial variations. Our study shows how deformations in lipid patches confined in nanodiscs can be well described by a continuum elastic theory and how this fit can be used to determine local material properties from shape analysis of nanodiscs in simulations. This methodology could potentially allow direct determination of lipid properties from experiments, for example cryo-electron microscopy images of lipid nanodiscs, thereby allowing to guide the development of future nanodisc formulations with desired properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Itay Schachter
- Institute
of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Flemingovo nám. 542/2, CZ-16000Prague 6, Czech Republic,Institute
of Chemistry, the Fritz Haber Research Center, and the Harvey M. Kruger
Center for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem9190401, Israel
| | - Daniel Harries
- Institute
of Chemistry, the Fritz Haber Research Center, and the Harvey M. Kruger
Center for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem9190401, Israel,E-mail:
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6
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Doole FT, Gupta S, Kumarage T, Ashkar R, Brown MF. Biophysics of Membrane Stiffening by Cholesterol and Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2). ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2023; 1422:61-85. [PMID: 36988877 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-21547-6_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
Abstract
Cell membranes regulate a wide range of phenomena that are implicated in key cellular functions. Cholesterol, a critical component of eukaryotic cell membranes, is responsible for cellular organization, membrane elasticity, and other critical physicochemical parameters. Besides cholesterol, other lipid components such as phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) are found in minor concentrations in cell membranes yet can also play a major regulatory role in various cell functions. In this chapter, we describe how solid-state deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance (2H NMR) spectroscopy together with neutron spin-echo (NSE) spectroscopy can inform synergetic changes to lipid molecular packing due to cholesterol and PIP2 that modulate the bending rigidity of lipid membranes. Fundamental structure-property relations of molecular self-assembly are illuminated and point toward a length and time-scale dependence of cell membrane mechanics, with significant implications for biological activity and membrane lipid-protein interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fathima T Doole
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Sudipta Gupta
- Department of Physics and Center for Soft Matter and Biological Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Teshani Kumarage
- Department of Physics and Center for Soft Matter and Biological Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Rana Ashkar
- Department of Physics and Center for Soft Matter and Biological Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
| | - Michael F Brown
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
- Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
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7
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Porras-Gómez M, Kim H, Dronadula MT, Kambar N, Metellus CJB, Aluru NR, van der Zande A, Leal C. Multiscale compression-induced restructuring of stacked lipid bilayers: From buckling delamination to molecular packing. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0275079. [PMID: 36490254 PMCID: PMC9733850 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Lipid membranes in nature adapt and reconfigure to changes in composition, temperature, humidity, and mechanics. For instance, the oscillating mechanical forces on lung cells and alveoli influence membrane synthesis and structure during breathing. However, despite advances in the understanding of lipid membrane phase behavior and mechanics of tissue, there is a critical knowledge gap regarding the response of lipid membranes to micromechanical forces. Most studies of lipid membrane mechanics use supported lipid bilayer systems missing the structural complexity of pulmonary lipids in alveolar membranes comprising multi-bilayer interconnected stacks. Here, we elucidate the collective response of the major component of pulmonary lipids to strain in the form of multi-bilayer stacks supported on flexible elastomer substrates. We utilize X-ray diffraction, scanning probe microscopy, confocal microscopy, and molecular dynamics simulation to show that lipid multilayered films both in gel and fluid states evolve structurally and mechanically in response to compression at multiple length scales. Specifically, compression leads to increased disorder of lipid alkyl chains comparable to the effect of cholesterol on gel phases as a direct result of the formation of nanoscale undulations in the lipid multilayers, also inducing buckling delamination and enhancing multi-bilayer alignment. We propose this cooperative short- and long-range reconfiguration of lipid multilayered films under compression constitutes a mechanism to accommodate stress and substrate topography. Our work raises fundamental insights regarding the adaptability of complex lipid membranes to mechanical stimuli. This is critical to several technologies requiring mechanically reconfigurable surfaces such as the development of electronic devices interfacing biological materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marilyn Porras-Gómez
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Hyunchul Kim
- Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Mohan Teja Dronadula
- Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America
| | - Nurila Kambar
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Christopher J. B. Metellus
- Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Narayana R. Aluru
- Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America
| | - Arend van der Zande
- Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America,* E-mail: (AZ); (CL)
| | - Cecília Leal
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America,* E-mail: (AZ); (CL)
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8
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Dronadula MT, Aluru NR. Phospholipid Monolayer/Graphene Interfaces: Curvature Effect on Lipid Morphology and Dynamics. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:6261-6270. [PMID: 35951540 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c00896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Phospholipids are an important class of lipids that are widely used as model platforms for the study of biological processes and interactions. These lipids can form stable interfaces with solid substrates, such as graphene, and these interfaces have potential applications in biosensing and targeted drug delivery. In this paper, we perform molecular dynamics simulations of graphene-supported lipid monolayers to characterize the lipid properties of such interfaces. We observed substantial differences between the supported monolayer and free-standing bilayer in terms of the lipid properties, such as the tail order parameters, density profiles, diffusion rates, and so on. Furthermore, we studied these interfaces on sinusoidally deformed graphene substrates to understand the effect of curvature on the supported lipids. Here, we observed that the nature of the substrate curvature, that is, concave or convex, can locally affect the lipid/substrate adhesion strength and induce structural and dynamic changes in the adsorbed lipid monolayer. Together, these results help characterize the properties of lipid/graphene interfaces and provide insights into the substrate curvature effect on these interfaces, which can enable the tuning of lipid properties for various sensor devices and drug delivery applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohan Teja Dronadula
- Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - N R Aluru
- Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
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9
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Castillo SR, Rickeard BW, DiPasquale M, Nguyen MHL, Lewis-Laurent A, Doktorova M, Kav B, Miettinen MS, Nagao M, Kelley EG, Marquardt D. Probing the Link between Pancratistatin and Mitochondrial Apoptosis through Changes in the Membrane Dynamics on the Nanoscale. Mol Pharm 2022; 19:1839-1852. [PMID: 35559658 DOI: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.1c00926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Pancratistatin (PST) is a natural antiviral alkaloid that has demonstrated specificity toward cancerous cells and explicitly targets the mitochondria. PST initiates apoptosis while leaving healthy, noncancerous cells unscathed. However, the manner by which PST induces apoptosis remains elusive and impedes the advancement of PST as a natural anticancer therapeutic agent. Herein, we use neutron spin-echo (NSE) spectroscopy, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and supporting small angle scattering techniques to study PST's effect on membrane dynamics using biologically representative model membranes. Our data suggests that PST stiffens the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) by being preferentially associated with cardiolipin, which would lead to the relocation and release of cytochrome c. Second, PST has an ordering effect on the lipids and disrupts their distribution within the IMM, which would interfere with the maintenance and functionality of the active forms of proteins in the electron transport chain. These previously unreported findings implicate PST's effect on mitochondrial apoptosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart R Castillo
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada
| | - Brett W Rickeard
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada
| | - Mitchell DiPasquale
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada
| | - Michael H L Nguyen
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada
| | - Aislyn Lewis-Laurent
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada
| | - Milka Doktorova
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, United States
| | - Batuhan Kav
- Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam 14476, Germany.,Institute of Biological Information Processing: Structural Biochemistry (IBI-7), Forschungszentrum Julich, Julich 52428, Germany
| | | | - Michihiro Nagao
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Center for Neutron Research, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States.,Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States.,Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - Elizabeth G Kelley
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Center for Neutron Research, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
| | - Drew Marquardt
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada.,Department of Physics, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada
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10
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Hernández-Muñoz J, Bresme F, Tarazona P, Chacón E. Bending Modulus of Lipid Membranes from Density Correlation Functions. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:3151-3163. [PMID: 35389648 PMCID: PMC9097289 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The bending modulus κ quantifies the elasticity of biological membranes in terms of the free energy cost of increasing the membrane corrugation. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations provide a powerful approach to quantify κ by analyzing the thermal fluctuations of the lipid bilayer. However, existing methods require the identification and filtering of non-mesoscopic fluctuation modes. State of the art methods rely on identifying a smooth surface to describe the membrane shape. These methods introduce uncertainties in calculating κ since they rely on different criteria to select the relevant fluctuation modes. Here, we present a method to compute κ using molecular simulations. Our approach circumvents the need to define a mesoscopic surface or an orientation field for the lipid tails explicitly. The bending and tilt moduli can be extracted from the analysis of the density correlation function (DCF). The method introduced here builds on the Bedeaux and Weeks (BW) theory for the DCF of fluctuating interfaces and on the coupled undulatory (CU) mode introduced by us in previous work. We test the BW-DCF method by computing the elastic properties of lipid membranes with different system sizes (from 500 to 6000 lipid molecules) and using coarse-grained (for POPC and DPPC lipids) and fully atomistic models (for DPPC). Further, we quantify the impact of cholesterol on the bending modulus of DPPC bilayers. We compare our results with bending moduli obtained with X-ray diffraction data and different computer simulation methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose Hernández-Muñoz
- Departamento
de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, IFIMAC
Condensed Matter Physics Center, Universidad
Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain
| | - Fernando Bresme
- Department
of Chemistry, Molecular Sciences Research Hub, Imperial College, W12 0BZ, London, United Kingdom
| | - Pedro Tarazona
- Departamento
de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, IFIMAC
Condensed Matter Physics Center, Universidad
Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain
- Instituto
Nicolás Cabrera de Ciencia de Materiales, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain
| | - Enrique Chacón
- Instituto
de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid 28049, Spain
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11
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Jiang W, Lin YC, Luo YL. Mechanical properties of anionic asymmetric bilayers from atomistic simulations. J Chem Phys 2021; 154:224701. [PMID: 34241213 DOI: 10.1063/5.0048232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Mechanotransduction, the biological response to mechanical stress, is often initiated by activation of mechanosensitive (MS) proteins upon mechanically induced deformations of the cell membrane. A current challenge in fully understanding this process is in predicting how lipid bilayers deform upon the application of mechanical stress. In this context, it is now well established that anionic lipids influence the function of many proteins. Here, we test the hypothesis that anionic lipids could indirectly modulate MS proteins by alteration of the lipid bilayer mechanical properties. Using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, we computed the bilayer bending rigidity (KC), the area compressibility (KA), and the surface shear viscosity (ηm) of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (PC) lipid bilayers with and without phosphatidylserine (PS) or phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate (PIP2) at physiological concentrations in the lower leaflet. Tensionless leaflets were first checked for each asymmetric bilayer model, and a formula for embedding an asymmetric channel in an asymmetric bilayer is proposed. Results from two different sized bilayers show consistently that the addition of 20% surface charge in the lower leaflet of the PC bilayer with PIP2 has minimal impact on its mechanical properties, while PS reduced the bilayer bending rigidity by 22%. As a comparison, supplementing the PIP2-enriched PC membrane with 30% cholesterol, a known rigidifying steroid lipid, produces a significant increase in all three mechanical constants. Analysis of pairwise splay moduli suggests that the effect of anionic lipids on bilayer bending rigidity largely depends on the number of anionic lipid pairs formed during simulations. The potential implication of bilayer bending rigidity is discussed in the framework of MS piezo channels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjuan Jiang
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California 91766, USA
| | - Yi-Chun Lin
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California 91766, USA
| | - Yun Lyna Luo
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California 91766, USA
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12
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Errico S, Lucchesi G, Odino D, Muscat S, Capitini C, Bugelli C, Canale C, Ferrando R, Grasso G, Barbut D, Calamai M, Danani A, Zasloff M, Relini A, Caminati G, Vendruscolo M, Chiti F. Making biological membrane resistant to the toxicity of misfolded protein oligomers: a lesson from trodusquemine. NANOSCALE 2020; 12:22596-22614. [PMID: 33150350 DOI: 10.1039/d0nr05285j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Trodusquemine is an aminosterol known to prevent the binding of misfolded protein oligomers to cell membranes and to reduce their toxicity in a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases. Its precise mechanism of action, however, remains unclear. To investigate this mechanism, we performed confocal microscopy, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements, which revealed a strong binding of trodusquemine to large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) and neuroblastoma cell membranes. Then, by combining quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), fluorescence quenching and anisotropy, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we found that trodusquemine localises within, and penetrates, the polar region of lipid bilayer. This binding behaviour causes a decrease of the negative charge of the bilayer, as observed through ζ potential measurements, an increment in the mechanical resistance of the bilayer, as revealed by measurements of the breakthrough force applied with AFM and ζ potential measurements at high temperature, and a rearrangement of the spatial distances between ganglioside and cholesterol molecules in the LUVs, as determined by FRET measurements. These physicochemical changes are all known to impair the interaction of misfolded oligomers with cell membranes, protecting them from their toxicity. Taken together, our results illustrate how the incorporation in cell membranes of sterol molecules modified by the addition of polyamine tails leads to the modulation of physicochemical properties of the cell membranes themselves, making them more resistant to protein aggregates associated with neurodegeneration. More generally, they suggest that therapeutic strategies can be developed to reinforce cell membranes against protein misfolded assemblies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Errico
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, Section of Biochemistry, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
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13
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Schachter I, Allolio C, Khelashvili G, Harries D. Confinement in Nanodiscs Anisotropically Modifies Lipid Bilayer Elastic Properties. J Phys Chem B 2020; 124:7166-7175. [PMID: 32697588 PMCID: PMC7526989 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c03374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
![]()
Lipid
nanodiscs are small synthetic lipid bilayer structures that
are stabilized in solution by special circumscribing (or scaffolding)
proteins or polymers. Because they create native-like environments
for transmembrane proteins, lipid nanodiscs have become a powerful
tool for structural determination of this class of systems when combined
with cryo-electron microscopy or nuclear magnetic resonance. The elastic
properties of lipid bilayers determine how the lipid environment responds
to membrane protein perturbations, and how the lipid in turn modifies
the conformational state of the embedded protein. However, despite
the abundant use of nanodiscs in determining membrane protein structure,
the elastic material properties of even pure lipid nanodiscs (i.e.,
without embedded proteins) have not yet been quantitatively investigated.
A major hurdle is due to the inherently nonlocal treatment of the
elastic properties of lipid systems implemented by most existing methods,
both experimental and computational. In addition, these methods are
best suited for very large “infinite” size lipidic assemblies,
or ones that contain periodicity, in the case of simulations. We have
previously described a computational analysis of molecular dynamics
simulations designed to overcome these limitations, so it allows quantification
of the bending rigidity (KC) and tilt
modulus (κt) on a local scale even for finite, nonperiodic
systems, such as lipid nanodiscs. Here we use this computational approach
to extract values of KC and κt for a set of lipid nanodisc systems that vary in size and
lipid composition. We find that the material properties of lipid nanodiscs
are different from those of infinite bilayers of corresponding lipid
composition, highlighting the effect of nanodisc confinement. Nanodiscs
tend to show higher stiffness than their corresponding macroscopic
bilayers, and moreover, their material properties vary spatially within
them. For small-size MSP1 nanodiscs, the stiffness decreases radially,
from a value that is larger in their center than the moduli of the
corresponding bilayers by a factor of ∼2–3. The larger
nanodiscs (MSP1E3D1 and MSP2N2) show milder spatial changes of moduli
that are composition dependent and can be maximal in the center or
at some distance from it. These trends in moduli correlate with spatially
varying structural properties, including the area per lipid and the
nanodisc thickness. Finally, as has previously been reported, nanodiscs
tend to show deformations from perfectly flat circular geometries
to varying degrees, depending on size and lipid composition. The modulations
of lipid elastic properties that we find should be carefully considered
when making structural and functional inferences concerning embedded
proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Itay Schachter
- Institute of Chemistry, the Fritz Haber Research Center, and the Harvey M. Kruger center for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Christoph Allolio
- Institute of Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague 18674, Czech Republic
| | - George Khelashvili
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 10065, United States.,Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Daniel Harries
- Institute of Chemistry, the Fritz Haber Research Center, and the Harvey M. Kruger center for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
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14
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Marzuoli I, Margreitter C, Fraternali F. Lipid Head Group Parameterization for GROMOS 54A8: A Consistent Approach with Protein Force Field Description. J Chem Theory Comput 2019; 15:5175-5193. [PMID: 31433640 PMCID: PMC7377650 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.9b00509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
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Membranes
are a crucial component of both bacterial and mammalian
cells, being involved in signaling, transport, and compartmentalization.
This versatility requires a variety of lipid species to tailor the
membrane’s behavior as needed, increasing the complexity of
the system. Molecular dynamics simulations have been successfully
applied to study model membranes and their interactions with proteins,
elucidating some crucial mechanisms at the atomistic detail and thus
complementing experimental techniques. An accurate description of
the functional interplay of the diverse membrane components crucially
depends on the selected parameters that define the adopted force field.
A coherent parameterization for lipids and proteins is therefore needed.
In this work, we propose and validate new lipid head group parameters
for the GROMOS 54A8 force field, making use of recently published
parametrizations for key chemical moieties present in lipids. We make
use additionally of a new canonical set of partial charges for lipids,
chosen to be consistent with the parameterization of soluble molecules
such as proteins. We test the derived parameters on five phosphocholine
model bilayers, composed of lipid patches four times larger than the
ones used in previous studies, and run 500 ns long simulations of
each system. Reproduction of experimental data like area per lipid
and deuterium order parameters is good and comparable with previous
parameterizations, as well as the description of liquid crystal to
gel-phase transition. On the other hand, the orientational behavior
of the head groups is more realistic for this new parameter set, and
this can be crucial in the description of interactions with other
polar molecules. For that reason, we tested the interaction of the
antimicrobial peptide lactoferricin with two model membranes showing
that the new parameters lead to a weaker peptide–membrane binding
and give a more realistic outcome in comparing binding to antimicrobial
versus mammal membranes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Marzuoli
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biology , King's College London , London SE1 1UL , U.K
| | - Christian Margreitter
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biology , King's College London , London SE1 1UL , U.K
| | - Franca Fraternali
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biology , King's College London , London SE1 1UL , U.K
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15
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Allolio C, Haluts A, Harries D. A local instantaneous surface method for extracting membrane elastic moduli from simulation: Comparison with other strategies. Chem Phys 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chemphys.2018.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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16
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Doktorova M, Harries D, Khelashvili G. Determination of bending rigidity and tilt modulus of lipid membranes from real-space fluctuation analysis of molecular dynamics simulations. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2018. [PMID: 28627570 DOI: 10.1039/c7cp01921a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
We have recently developed a novel computational methodology (termed RSF for Real-Space Fluctuations) to quantify the bending rigidity and tilt modulus of lipid membranes from real-space analysis of fluctuations in the tilt and splay degrees of freedom as sampled in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In this article, we present a comprehensive study that combines results from the application of the RSF method to a wide range of lipid bilayer systems that encompass membranes of different fluidities and sizes, including lipids with saturated and unsaturated lipid tails, single and multi-component lipid systems, as well as non-standard lipids such as the four-tailed cardiolipin. By comparing the material properties calculated with the RSF method to those obtained from experimental data and from other computational methodologies, we rigorously demonstrate the validity of our approach and show its robustness. This should allow for future applications of even more complex lipidic assemblies, whose material properties are not tractable by other computational techniques. In addition, we discuss the relationship between different definitions of the tilt modulus appearing in current literature to address some important unresolved discrepancies in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Doktorova
- Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Computational Biology and Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA
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17
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Johner N, Harries D, Khelashvili G. Erratum to: Implementation of a methodology for determining elastic properties of lipid assemblies from molecular dynamics simulations. BMC Bioinformatics 2016; 17:236. [PMID: 27301431 PMCID: PMC4908771 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-016-1091-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2016] [Accepted: 05/23/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Niklaus Johner
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Klingelbergstrasse 50/70, Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Daniel Harries
- Institute of Chemistry and the Fritz Haber Research Center, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel
| | - George Khelashvili
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, 10065, USA
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