Role of Cholesterol on Binding of Amyloid Fibrils to Lipid Bilayers
Cristiano L. Dias, Sharareh Jalali, Yanxing Yang, Luis Cruz
Abstract
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to provide insights into the molecular mechanisms accounting for binding of amyloid fibrils to lipid bilayers and to study the effect of cholesterol in this process. We show that electrostatic interactions play an important role in fibril-bilayer binding and cholesterol modulates this interaction. In particular, the interaction between positive residues and lipid head groups becomes more favorable in the presence of cholesterol. Consistent with experiments, we find that cholesterol enhances fibril-membrane binding.
Topics & Concepts
Lipid bilayerFibrilAmyloid fibrilBiophysicsCholesterolChemistryMolecular dynamicsAmyloid (mycology)MembraneBilayerBiochemistryAmyloid βBiologyComputational chemistryMedicineInternal medicineInorganic chemistryDiseaseAlzheimer's disease research and treatmentsLipid Membrane Structure and BehaviorProtein Structure and Dynamics