Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute , National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , Maryland 20892 , United States.
J Phys Chem B. 2019 Feb 21;123(7):1554-1565. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b11884. Epub 2019 Feb 8.
Beryllium has multiple industrial applications but exposure to its dust during manufacturing is associated with developing chronic inflammation in lungs known as berylliosis. Besides binding to specific alleles of MHC-II, Be was recently found to compete with Ca for binding sites on phosphatidylserine-containing membranes and inhibit recognition of this lipid by phagocytes. Computational studies of possible molecular targets for this small toxic dication are impeded by the absence of a reliable force field. This study introduces parameters for Be for the CHARMM36 additive force field that represent interactions with water, including free energy of hydration and ion-monohydrate interaction energy and separation distance; and interaction parameters describing Be affinity for divalent ion binding sites on lipids, namely phosphoryl and carboxylate oxygens. Results from isothermal titration calorimetry experiments for the binding affinities of Be to dimethyl phosphate and acetate ions reveal that Be strongly binds to phosphoryl groups. Revised interaction parameters for Be with these types of oxygens reproduce experimental affinities in solution simulations. Surface tensions calculated from simulations of DOPS monolayers with varied concentrations of Be are compared with prior results from Langmuir monolayer experiments, verifying the compacting effect that produces greater surface tensions (lower pressures) for Be-bound monolayers at the same surface area in comparison with K. The new parameters will enable simulations that should reveal the mechanism of Be interference with molecular recognition and signaling processes.
铍具有多种工业应用,但在制造过程中接触其粉尘会导致肺部慢性炎症,即铍病。除了与 MHC-II 的特定等位基因结合外,最近还发现 Be 会与 Ca 竞争含有磷脂酰丝氨酸的膜上的结合位点,并抑制吞噬细胞识别这种脂质。由于缺乏可靠的力场,对这种小的有毒二价阳离子的可能分子靶标的计算研究受到阻碍。本研究为 CHARMM36 添加剂力场引入了铍的参数,这些参数代表了与水的相互作用,包括水合自由能和离子-一水合体能以及分离距离;以及描述 Be 与脂质上二价离子结合位点亲和力的相互作用参数,即磷酸酯和羧酸盐氧。等温滴定微量热实验中 Be 与二甲磷酸酯和乙酸盐离子结合亲和力的结果表明,Be 强烈结合到磷酸酯基团上。对这些类型的氧的 Be 相互作用参数的修订再现了溶液模拟中的实验亲和力。用不同浓度的 Be 模拟 DOPS 单层的表面张力与先前 Langmuir 单层实验的结果进行了比较,验证了压缩效应,即在相同的表面积下,与 K 相比,Be 结合的单层产生更大的表面张力(更低的压力)。新参数将能够进行模拟,这应该揭示 Be 干扰分子识别和信号转导过程的机制。