Investigating Lipid-Protein Interactions in a Complex Biological Membrane Model

Abstract

Biological membranes are crucial as they define essential compartments for cells. Cell membranes are heterogeneous mixtures of membrane proteins and lipids. Their structure and function are fundamentally dependent on lipid-lipid and lipid-protein interactions which play a crucial role in regulating cell protein functions and are involved in many diseases when altered. However, the exact properties and the relation among the distinct components that form the biological membrane are not completely understood due the limitations of experimental methods in studying the lipid-protein interactions in living cells. Lately, computer simulations have become a promising tool to understand and clarify experimental results. The goal of our research is to identify specific lipid-protein interactions of biological relevance and work towards large-scale modeling of realistic biological membranes. In this study, we placed ten main classes of eukaryotic membrane proteins with different ratios in a prototypical plasma membrane model, containing various lipid types found in the plasma membranes of eukaryotic cells. The protein-membrane system was prepared using Martini force field. Using molecular dynamic simulations, we intend to investigate how proteins sort lipids, and to identify specific binding partners and lipids of interest for more detailed studies.