Structures, dynamics, and energetics of protein membrane interactions: molecular dynamics studies
Structures, dynamics, and energetics of protein membrane interactions: molecular dynamics studies
Melittin, a very well-known membrane protein, is the major component of the venom of the European honeybees. Melittin consists of 26 amino acids and is lang enough to be inserted completely into the membrane. In addition, there is experimental evidence that melittin can form a pore with four molecu...
| Personal Name(s): | Lin, J.-H. (Corresponding author) |
|---|---|
| Contributing Institute: |
Publikationen vor 2000; PRE-2000; Retrocat |
| Imprint: |
Jülich
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbibliothek, Verlag
2000
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| Physical Description: |
III, 136 p. |
| Document Type: |
Report Book |
| Research Program: |
ohne Topic |
| Series Title: |
Berichte des Forschungszentrums Jülich
3762 |
| Link: |
OpenAccess OpenAccess |
| Publikationsportal JuSER |
|
Melittin, a very well-known membrane protein, is the major component of the venom of the European honeybees. Melittin consists of 26 amino acids and is lang enough to be inserted completely into the membrane. In addition, there is experimental evidence that melittin can form a pore with four molecules in the membrane. However, the kinetic mechanisms for the spontaneous transport of melittin from the aqueous phase into the membrane, and for the subsequent aggregation to the pore, are still not falle understood. Therefore atomic level molecular dynamics simulations have been conducted to elucidate open questions. Firstly simulations for the interaction of melittin with membrane surface were conducted as a prelirninary attempt to investigate the possible spontaneous transport into the membrane. One of the most important results was that the spontaneous transport of a single melittin molecule was not observed. According to an analysis of the interaction energies, dynamics, and structures, the tansportshould also not be observed at longer times. These results are in agreement, with experiments. The second part of the simulations investigated the structure and stability of a melittin pore. lt was found that under certain conditions pore growth can occur. Furthermore the collective motion of the four melittin molecules and the influence of the surface tension an the pore sizes were investigated. |