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A molecular dynamics study of the bee venom melittin in aqueous solution, in methanol, and inserted in a phospholipid bilayer

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Abstract

The structural properties of melittin, a small amphipathic peptide found in the bee venom, are investigated in three different environments by molecular dynamics simulation. Long simulations have been performed for monomeric melittin solvated in water, in methanol, and shorter ones for melittin inserted in a dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine bilayer. The resulting trajectories were analysed in terms of structural properties of the peptide and compared to the available NMR data. While in water and methanol solution melittin is observed to partly unfold, the peptide retains its structure when embedded in a lipid bilayer. The latter simulation shows good agreement with the experimentally derived 3J-coupling constants. Generally, it appears that higher the stability of the helical conformation of melittin, lower is the dielectric permittivity of the environment. In addition, peptide-lipid interactions were investigated showing that the C-terminus of the peptide provides an anchor to the lipid bilayer by forming hydrogen bonds with the lipid head groups.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support was obtained through the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Structural Biology of the Swiss National Science Foundation, which is gratefully acknowledged. A.G. thanks Dr. Bojan Zagrovic and Dr. Chris Oostenbrink for fruitful discussions.

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  1. Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Hönggerberg HCI, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland

    Alice Glättli, Indira Chandrasekhar & Wilfred F. van. Gunsteren

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  1. Alice Glättli
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  2. Indira Chandrasekhar
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  3. Wilfred F. van. Gunsteren
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Correspondence to Wilfred F. van. Gunsteren.

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Glättli, A., Chandrasekhar, I. & Gunsteren, W.F.v. A molecular dynamics study of the bee venom melittin in aqueous solution, in methanol, and inserted in a phospholipid bilayer. Eur Biophys J 35, 255–267 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-005-0033-7

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