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Electrostatics of deformable lipid membranes.

ABSTRACT: It was recently demonstrated that significant local deformations of biological membranes take place due to the fields of charged peptides and ions, challenging the standard model of membrane electrostatics. The ability of ions to retain their immediate hydration environment, combined with the lack of sensitivity of permeability to ion type or even ion pairs, led us to question the extent to which hydration energetics and electrostatics control membrane ion permeation. Using the arginine analog methyl-guanidinium as a test case, we find that although hydrocarbon electronic polarizability causes dramatic changes in ion solvation free energy, as well as a significant change (approximately 0.4 V) in the membrane dipole potential, little change in membrane permeation energetics occurs. We attribute this to compensation of solvation terms from polar and polarizable nonpolar components within the membrane, and explain why the dipole potential is not fully sensed in terms of the locally deformed bilayer interface. Our descriptions provide a deeper understanding of the translocation process and allow predictions for poly-ions, ion pairs, charged lipids, and lipid flip-flop. We also report simulations of large hydrophobic-ion-like membrane defects and the ionophore valinomycin, which exhibit little membrane deformation, as well as hydrophilic defects and the ion channel gramicidin A, to provide parallels to membranes deformed by unassisted ion permeation.

SUBMITTER: Vorobyov I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2884252 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Electrostatics of deformable lipid membranes.

Vorobyov Igor I Bekker Borislava B Allen Toby W TW

Biophysical journal 20100601 12

It was recently demonstrated that significant local deformations of biological membranes take place due to the fields of charged peptides and ions, challenging the standard model of membrane electrostatics. The ability of ions to retain their immediate hydration environment, combined with the lack of sensitivity of permeability to ion type or even ion pairs, led us to question the extent to which hydration energetics and electrostatics control membrane ion permeation. Using the arginine analog m ...[more]

PMID: 20550903

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Project description:An amyloid form of the protein ?-synuclein is the major component of the intraneuronal inclusions called Lewy bodies, which are the neuropathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD). ?-Synuclein is known to associate with anionic lipid membranes, and interactions between aggregating ?-synuclein and cellular membranes are thought to be important for PD pathology. We have studied the molecular determinants for adsorption of monomeric ?-synuclein to planar model lipid membranes composed of zwitterionic phosphatidylcholine alone or in a mixture with anionic phosphatidylserine (relevant for plasma membranes) or anionic cardiolipin (relevant for mitochondrial membranes). We studied the adsorption of the protein to supported bilayers, the position of the protein within and outside the bilayer, and structural changes in the model membranes using two complementary techniques-quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring, and neutron reflectometry. We found that the interaction and adsorbed conformation depend on membrane charge, protein charge, and electrostatic screening. The results imply that ?-synuclein adsorbs in the headgroup region of anionic lipid bilayers with extensions into the bulk but does not penetrate deeply into or across the hydrophobic acyl chain region. The adsorption to anionic bilayers leads to a small perturbation of the acyl chain packing that is independent of anionic headgroup identity. We also explored the effect of changing the area per headgroup in the lipid bilayer by comparing model systems with different degrees of acyl chain saturation. An increase in area per lipid headgroup leads to an increase in the level of ?-synuclein adsorption with a reduced water content in the acyl chain layer. In conclusion, the association of ?-synuclein to membranes and its adsorbed conformation are of electrostatic origin, combined with van der Waals interactions, but with a very weak correlation to the molecular structure of the anionic lipid headgroup. The perturbation of the acyl chain packing upon monomeric protein adsorption favors association with unsaturated phospholipids preferentially found in the neuronal membrane.

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Electrostatics of deformable lipid membranes.

Publications

Electrostatics of deformable lipid membranes.

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