Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biophysics, Institute of Biophysics, Dezhou University, Dezhou 253023, China.
College of Physics and Electronic Information, Dezhou University, Dezhou 253023, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Apr 13;19(4):1186. doi: 10.3390/ijms19041186.
Cathelicidins are a large family of cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) found in mammals with broad spectrum antimicrobial activity. LL-37 is the sole amphipathic α-helical AMP from human Cathelicidins family. In addition to its bactericidal capability, LL-37 has antiviral, anti-tumor, and immunoregulatory activity. Despite many experimental studies, its molecular mechanism of action is not yet fully understood. Here, we performed three independent molecular dynamics simulations (600 ns or more) of a LL-37 peptide in the presence of 256 lipid bilayers with 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl--glycero-3-phosphoglycerol (POPG) mimicking bacterial and 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl--glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) mimicking mammalian membranes. We found that LL-37 can be quickly absorbed onto the POPG bilayer without loss of its helical conformation in the core region and with the helix lying in parallel to the bilayer. The POPG bilayer was deformed. In contrast, LL-37 is slower in reaching the POPC surface and loss much of its helical conformation during the interaction with the bilayer. LL-37 only partially entered the POPC bilayer without significant deformation of the membrane. The observed difference for different bilayers is largely due to the fact that LL-37 is positively charged, POPG is negatively charged, and POPC is neutral. Our simulation results demonstrated the initial stage of disruption of the bacterial membrane by LL-37 in atomic details. Comparison to experimental results on LL-37 and simulation studies in other systems was made.
抗菌肽是哺乳动物中发现的一类阳离子抗菌肽(AMPs)大家族,具有广谱抗菌活性。LL-37 是人类抗菌肽家族中唯一的两亲性 α-螺旋 AMP。除了杀菌能力外,LL-37 还具有抗病毒、抗肿瘤和免疫调节活性。尽管进行了许多实验研究,但它的分子作用机制尚未完全了解。在这里,我们在存在 256 个脂质双层的情况下对 LL-37 肽进行了三次独立的分子动力学模拟(600 ns 或更长时间),其中 1-棕榈酰基-2-油酰基--甘油-3-磷酸甘油(POPG)模拟细菌,1-棕榈酰基-2-油酰基--甘油-3-磷酸胆碱(POPC)模拟哺乳动物膜。我们发现,LL-37 可以快速吸收到 POPG 双层膜上,而不会失去其核心区域的螺旋构象,并且螺旋与双层膜平行。POPG 双层膜被变形。相比之下,LL-37 在到达 POPC 表面时速度较慢,并且在与双层膜相互作用过程中失去了大部分螺旋构象。LL-37 仅部分进入 POPC 双层膜,而膜没有明显变形。不同双层膜之间的观察到的差异主要是由于 LL-37 带正电荷、POPG 带负电荷和 POPC 带中性。我们的模拟结果以原子细节展示了 LL-37 破坏细菌膜的初始阶段。比较了 LL-37 的实验结果和其他系统的模拟研究。