Molecular dynamics simulations reveal the disruption mechanism of a 2,4-thiazolidinedione derivative C30 against tau hexapeptide (PHF6) oligomer.

Abstract

Derivatives of 2,4-thiazolidinedione have been reported to inhibit the aggregation of tau protein, in which compound 30 (C30) not only inhibit 80% of paired helical filament 6 (PHF6) aggregation, but also inhibit K18 and full-length tau aggregation. However, its inhibitory mechanism is unclear. In this study, to investigate the effect of C30 on tau protein, all-atom molecular dynamics simulation was performed on the PHF6 oligomer with and without C30. The results show that C30 can cause significant conformational changes in the PHF6 oligomer. The nematic order parameter P2 and secondary structure analyses show that C30 destroys the ordered structure of PHF6 oligomer, reduces the content of β-sheet structure, and transforms β-sheet into random coil structure. By clustering analysis, it was found that C30 has four possible binding sites on the PFH6 oligomer, and the binding ability order is S1 > S2 > S4 > S3. Following a more in-depth analyses of each site, it was determined that the S1 site is the most possible binding site mainly located between layers of L1 and L3. The hydrophobic interaction is the driving force for the binding of C30 to PHF6 oligomer. In addition, L1P4_Y310, L1P5_Y310, L3P1_V309, and L3P2_V309 are key residues for C30 binding to oligomer. Moreover, π-π interaction formed by L1P4_Y310 and L1P5_Y310 with C30 and the hydrogen bonding interaction formed by C30 with L3P3_Q307 are beneficial to the combination of C30 and oligomer. The fully understanding disrupt the mechanism of 2,4-thiazolidinedione derivative on PHF6 oligomer and the identification of binding sites will help design and discover new AD inhibitors in the future.