Search Results (13)

Alzheimer’s disease and Type 2 diabetes are two epidemiologically linked diseases which are closely associated with the misfolding and aggregation of amyloid proteins amyloid-β (Aβ) and human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP), respectively. The co-aggregation of the two amyloid proteins is regarded as the fundamental molecular mechanism underlying their pathological association. The green tea extract epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has been extensively demonstrated to inhibit the amyloid aggregation of Aβ and hIAPP proteins. However, its potential role in amyloid co-aggregation has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we employed the enhanced-sampling replica exchange molecular dynamics simulation (REMD) method to investigate the effect of EGCG on the co-aggregation of Aβ and hIAPP. We found that EGCG molecules substantially diminish the β-sheet structures within the amyloid core regions of Aβ and hIAPP in their co-aggregates. Through hydrogen-bond, π–π and cation–π interactions targeting polar and aromatic residues of Aβ and hIAPP, EGCG effectively attenuates both inter-chain and intra-chain interactions within the co-aggregates. All these findings indicated that EGCG can effectively inhibit the co-aggregation of Aβ and hIAPP. Our study expands the potential applications of EGCG as an anti-amyloidosis agent and provides therapeutic options for the pathological association of amyloid misfolding disorders. Full article

Development of biocomposite scaffolds has gained tremendous attention due to their potential for tissue regeneration. However, most scaffolds often contain animal-derived collagen that may elicit an immunological response, necessitating the development of new biomaterials. Herein, we developed a new collagen-like peptide,(Pro-Ala-His)₁₀ (PAH)₁₀, and explored its ability to be utilized as a functional biomaterial by incorporating it with a newly synthesized peptide-based self-assembled gel. The gel was prepared by conjugating a pectin derivative, galataric acid, with a pro-angiogenic peptide (LHYQDLLQLQY) and further functionalized with a cortistatin-derived peptide, (Phe-Trp-Lys-Thr)₄ (FWKT)₄, and the bio-ionic liquid choline acetate. The self-assembly of (PAH)₁₀ and its interactions with the galactarate-peptide conjugates were examined using replica exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations. Results revealed the formation of a multi-layered scaffold, with enhanced stability at higher temperatures. We then synthesized the scaffold and examined its physicochemical properties and its ability to integrate with aortic smooth muscle cells. The scaffold was further utilized as a bioink for bioprinting to form three-dimensional cell-scaffold matrices. Furthermore, the formation of actin filaments and elongated cell morphology was observed. These results indicate that the (PAH)₁₀ hybrid scaffold provides a suitable environment for cell adhesion, proliferation and growth, making it a potentially valuable biomaterial for tissue engineering. Full article

The pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is highly related to the abnormal self-assembly of the human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) into amyloid aggregates. To inhibit hIAPP aggregation is considered a promising therapeutic strategy for T2D treatment. Melatonin (Mel) was reported to effectively impede the accumulation of hIAPP aggregates and dissolve preformed fibrils. However, the underlying mechanism at the atomic level remains elusive. Here, we performed replica-exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations to investigate the inhibitory effect of Mel on hIAPP oligomerization by using hIAPP_20–29 octamer as templates. The conformational ensemble shows that Mel molecules can significantly prevent the β-sheet and backbone hydrogen bond formation of hIAPP_20–29 octamer and remodel hIAPP oligomers and transform them into less compact conformations with more disordered contents. The interaction analysis shows that the binding behavior of Mel is dominated by hydrogen bonding with a peptide backbone and strengthened by aromatic stacking and CH–π interactions with peptide sidechains. The strong hIAPP–Mel interaction disrupts the hIAPP_20–29 association, which is supposed to inhibit amyloid aggregation and cytotoxicity. We also performed conventional MD simulations to investigate the influence and binding affinity of Mel on the preformed hIAPP_1–37 fibrillar octamer. Mel was found to preferentially bind to the amyloidogenic region hIAPP_20–29, whereas it has a slight influence on the structural stability of the preformed fibrils. Our findings illustrate a possible pathway by which Mel alleviates diabetes symptoms from the perspective of Mel inhibiting amyloid deposits. This work reveals the inhibitory mechanism of Mel against hIAPP_20–29 oligomerization, which provides useful clues for the development of efficient anti-amyloid agents. Full article

Due to its tensile strength and excellent biocompatibility, titanium (Ti) is commonly used as an implant material in medicine and dentistry. The success of dental implants depends on the formation of a contact between the oxidized surface of Ti implant and the surrounding bone tissue. The adsorption of proteins and peptides to the implant surface allows the bone-forming osteoblast cells to adhere to such modified surfaces. Recently, it has been observed that tetrapeptide KRSR (Lys-Arg-Ser-Arg) functionalization could promote osteoblast adhesion to implant surfaces. This may facilitate the establishment of an efficient bone-to implant contact and improve implant stability during the healing process. GROMACS, a molecular dynamics software package was used to perform a 200 ns simulation of adsorption of the KRSR peptide to the TiO₂ (anatase) surface in an aqueous environment. The molecule conformations were mapped with Replica Exchange Molecular Dynamics (REMD) simulations to assess the possible peptide conformations on the anatase surface, and the umbrella sampling method was used to calculate the binding energy of the most common conformation. The simulations have shown that the KRSR peptide migrates and attaches to the surface in a stable position. The dominant amino acid residue interacting with the TiO₂ surface was the N-terminal charged lysine (K) residue. REMD indicated that there is a distinct conformation that is taken by the KRSR peptide. In this conformation the surface interacts only with the lysine residue while the ser (S) and arg (R) residues interact with water molecules farther from the surface. The binding free energy of the most common conformation of KRSR peptide to the anatase (100) surface was ΔG = −8.817 kcal/mol. Our result suggests that the N-terminal lysine residue plays an important role in the adhesion of KRSR to the TiO₂ surface and may influence the osseointegration of dental implants. Full article

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are linear anionic periodic polysaccharides participating in a number of biologically relevant processes in the extracellular matrix via interactions with their protein targets. Due to their periodicity, conformational flexibility, pseudo-symmetry of the sulfation pattern, and the key role of electrostatics, these molecules are challenging for both experimental and theoretical approaches. In particular, conventional molecular docking applied for GAGs longer than 10-mer experiences severe difficulties. In this work, for the first time, 24- and 48-meric GAGs were docked using all-atomic repulsive-scaling Hamiltonian replica exchange molecular dynamics (RS-REMD), a novel methodology based on replicas with van der Waals radii of interacting molecules being scaled. This approach performed well for proteins complexed with oligomeric GAGs and is independent of their length, which distinguishes it from other molecular docking approaches. We built a model of long GAGs in complex with a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) prebound to its receptors, the B cell maturation antigen and the transmembrane activator and calcium modulator and cyclophilin ligand interactor (TACI). Furthermore, the prediction power of the RS-REMD for this tertiary complex was evaluated. We conclude that the TACI–GAG interaction could be potentially amplified by TACI’s binding to APRIL. RS-REMD outperformed Autodock3, the docking program previously proven the best for short GAGs. Full article

2-Hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) has unique properties to enhance the stability and the solubility of low water-soluble compounds by inclusion complexation. An understanding of the structural properties of HPβCD and its derivatives, based on the number of 2-hydroxypropyl (HP) substituents at the α-d-glucopyranose subunits is rather important. In this work, replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the conformational changes of single- and double-sided HP-substitution, called 6-HPβCDs and 2,6-HPβCDs, respectively. The results show that the glucose subunits in both 6-HPβCDs and 2,6-HPβCDs have a lower chance of flipping than in βCD. Also, HP groups occasionally block the hydrophobic cavity of HPβCDs, thus hindering drug inclusion. We found that HPβCDs with a high number of HP-substitutions are more likely to be blocked, while HPβCDs with double-sided HP-substitutions have an even higher probability of being blocked. Overall, 6-HPβCDs with three and four HP-substitutions are highlighted as the most suitable structures for guest encapsulation, based on our conformational analyses, such as structural distortion, the radius of gyration, circularity, and cavity self-closure of the HPβCDs. Full article

The human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) is an intrinsically disordered protein that can self-assemble into fibrillar aggregates that play a key role in the pathogenesis of the type II diabetes mellitus. hIAPP can transiently adopt $\mathsf{\alpha }$ -helix and $\mathsf{\beta }$ -strand conformations that could be important intermediate species on the fibrillization pathway. However, experimental studies of the monomeric peptide conformations are limited due to its high aggregation propensity, and the early steps of the hIAPP association are not clearly characterized. In particular, the question of whether the aggregation-prone conformation is $\mathsf{\alpha }$ -helical or $\mathsf{\beta }$ -strand-rich is still debated. In this study, combining extensive all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) and replica exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations in explicit water, we shed some light on the differences between the amidated and non-amidated hIAPP conformational ensembles. Our study shows that, when compared to the amidated monomer, the non-amidation of hIAPP induces a significantly lower propensity to form $\mathsf{\beta }$ -strands, especially aggregation-prone $\mathsf{\beta }$ -hairpins. Since the fibrillization of the non-amidated hIAPP is significantly slower than that of the amidated peptide, this indicates that the early steps of the peptide oligomerization involve the association of $\mathsf{\beta }$ -hairpins or $\mathsf{\beta }$ -strands structures. Full article

As they are not subjected to natural selection process, de novo designed proteins usually fold in a manner different from natural proteins. Recently, a de novo designed mini-protein DS119, with a βαβ motif and 36 amino acids, has folded unusually slowly in experiments, and transient dimers have been detected in the folding process. Here, by means of all-atom replica exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations, several comparably stable intermediate states were observed on the folding free-energy landscape of DS119. Conventional molecular dynamics (CMD) simulations showed that when two unfolded DS119 proteins bound together, most binding sites of dimeric aggregates were located at the N-terminal segment, especially residues 5–10, which were supposed to form β-sheet with its own C-terminal segment. Furthermore, a large percentage of individual proteins in the dimeric aggregates adopted conformations similar to those in the intermediate states observed in REMD simulations. These results indicate that, during the folding process, DS119 can easily become trapped in intermediate states. Then, with diffusion, a transient dimer would be formed and stabilized with the binding interface located at N-terminals. This means that it could not quickly fold to the native structure. The complicated folding manner of DS119 implies the important influence of natural selection on protein-folding kinetics, and more improvement should be achieved in rational protein design. Full article

The accurate and exhaustive description of the conformational ensemble sampled by small molecules in solution, possibly at different physiological conditions, is of primary interest in many fields of medicinal chemistry and computational biology. Recently, we have built an on-line database of compounds with antimicrobial properties, where we provide all-atom force-field parameters and a set of molecular properties, including representative structures extracted from cluster analysis over μs-long molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories. In the present work, we used a medium-sized antibiotic from our sample, namely ampicillin, to assess the quality of the conformational ensemble. To this aim, we compared the conformational landscape extracted from previous unbiased MD simulations to those obtained by means of Replica Exchange MD (REMD) and those originating from three freely-available conformer generation tools widely adopted in computer-aided drug-design. In addition, for different charge/protonation states of ampicillin, we made available force-field parameters and static/dynamic properties derived from both Density Functional Theory and MD calculations. For the specific system investigated here, we found that: (i) the conformational statistics extracted from plain MD simulations is consistent with that obtained from REMD simulations; (ii) overall, our MD-based approach performs slightly better than any of the conformer generator tools if one takes into account both the diversity of the generated conformational set and the ability to reproduce experimentally-determined structures. Full article

The dimeric structure of the N-terminal 12 residues drives the interaction of α-synuclein protein with membranes. Moreover, experimental studies indicated that the aggregation of α-synuclein is faster at low pH than neutral pH. Nevertheless, the effects of different pH on the structural characteristics of the α-syn12 dimer remain poorly understood. We performed 500 ns temperature replica exchange molecular dynamics (T-REMD) simulations of two α-syn12 peptides in explicit solvent. The free energy surfaces contain ten highly populated regions at physiological pH, while there are only three highly populated regions contained at acidic pH. The anti-parallel β-sheet conformations were found as the lowest free energy state. Additionally, these states are nearly flat with a very small barrier which indicates that these states can easily transit between themselves. The dimer undergoes a disorder to order transition from physiological pH to acidic pH and the α-syn12 dimer at acidic pH involves a faster dimerization process. Further, the Lys6–Asp2 contact may prevent the dimerization. Full article

We propose a protocol that provides a systematic definition of reaction coordinate and related free-energy profile as the function of temperature for the protein-folding simulation. First, using action-derived molecular dynamics (ADMD), we investigate the dynamic folding pathway model of a protein between a fixed extended conformation and a compact conformation. We choose the pathway model to be the reaction coordinate, and the folding and unfolding processes are characterized by the ADMD step index, in contrast to the common a priori reaction coordinate as used in conventional studies. Second, we calculate free-energy profile as the function of temperature, by employing the replica-exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) method. The current method provides efficient exploration of conformational space and proper characterization of protein folding/unfolding dynamics from/to an arbitrary extended conformation. We demonstrate that combination of the two simulation methods, ADMD and REMD, provides understanding on molecular conformational changes in proteins. The protocol is tested on a small protein, penta-peptide of met-enkephalin. For the neuropeptide met-enkephalin system, folded, extended, and intermediate sates are well-defined through the free-energy profile over the reaction coordinate. Results are consistent with those in the literature. Full article

The aim of this work is to investigate the effects of different force fields and temperatures on the structural character of Aβ (12–28) peptide in aqueous solution. Moreover, the structural character of Aβ (12–28) peptide is compared with other amyloid peptides (such as H1 and α-syn12 peptide). The two independent temperature replica exchange molecular dynamics (T-REMD) simulations were completed by using two different models (OPLS-AA/TIP4P and GROMOS 43A1/SPC). We compared the models by analyzing the distributions of backbone dihedral angles, the secondary structure propensity, the free energy surface and the formation of β-hairpin. The results show that the mostly populated conformation state is random coil for both models. The population of β-hairpin is below 8 percent for both models. However, the peptide modeled by GROMOS 43A1 form β-hairpin with turn located at residues F19-E22, while the peptide modeled by OPLS-AA form β-hairpin with turn located at residues L17-F20. Full article

Recent experiments with amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides indicate that the formation of toxic oligomers may be an important contribution to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The toxicity of Aβ oligomers depend on their structure, which is governed by assembly dynamics. However, a detailed knowledge of the structure of at the atomic level has not been achieved yet due to limitations of current experimental techniques. In this study, replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations are used to identify the expected diversity of dimer conformations of Aβ₁₀₋₃₅ monomers. The most representative dimer conformation has been used to track the dimer formation process between both monomers. The process has been characterized by means of the evolution of the decomposition of the binding free energy, which provides an energetic profile of the interaction. Dimers undergo a process of reorganization driven basically by inter-chain hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions and also solvation/desolvation processes. Full article