The Alzheimer's disease Aβ peptide binds to the anionic DMPS lipid bilayer

•Replica exchange molecular dynamics probes binding of Aβ monomer to DMPS bilayer.•Aβ interactions with anionic DMPS and zwitterionic DMPC bilayers are compared.•Binding of Aβ monomer fails to disrupt the structure of DMPS bilayer in both leaflets.

We have applied isobaric–isothermal replica exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) and the all-atom explicit water model to study binding of Aβ10–40 peptide to the anionic DMPS bilayer. To provide comparison with a zwitterionic bilayer, we used our previous REMD simulations probing binding of the same peptide to the DMPC bilayer. Using two sets of simulations, we comparatively analyzed the equilibrium Aβ conformational ensemble, peptide–bilayer interactions, and changes in the bilayer structure induced by Aβ binding. Our results are six-fold. (1) Binding to the DMPS bilayer triggers the formation of stable helix in the Aβ C-terminal, although the helix-inducing effect caused by DMPS lipids is weaker than that of DMPC. (2) Compared to the DMPC-bound Aβ monomer, the anionic bilayer weakens intrapeptide interactions, particularly, formed by charged amino acids. (3) Binding of Aβ peptide to the DMPS bilayer is primarily governed by electrostatic interactions between charged amino acids and charged lipid groups. In contrast, these interactions play minor role in Aβ binding to the DMPC bilayer. (4) Aβ peptide generally resides on the DMPS bilayer surface causing relatively minor bilayer thinning. The opposite scenario applies to Aβ binding to the DMPC bilayer. (5) In contrast to DMPC simulations, Aβ largely expels anionic lipids from its binding “footprint” forming a ring of charged amino acids mixed with charged lipid groups around the peptide. (6) Aβ binding disorders proximal DMPS lipids more strongly than their DMPC counterparts. Our simulations show that Aβ monomers fail to perturb anionic or zwitterionic bilayers across both leaflets.

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