The influence of cell membrane and SNAP25 linker loop on the dynamics and unzipping of SNARE complex

PLoS One. 2017 Apr 20;12(4):e0176235. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176235. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

The soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complex is composed of three neuronal proteins VAMP2, Syntaxin and SNAP25, which plays a core role during the process of membrane fusion. The zipping assembly of the SNARE complex releases energies and drives the vesicle and cell membrane into close proximity. In this study, we use all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to probe the dynamics of SNARE and its unzipping process in the context of membrane at the atomistic details. Our results indicated that the NTD of SNARE core domain is relatively more stable than CTD, which is in agreement with previous experiments. More importantly, possible interactions between the linker loop (LL) region of SNAP25 and VAMP2 are observed, suggests that the LL region may facilitate VAMP2 binding and SNARE initiation. The forced unzipping of SNARE in the presence of membrane and LL of SNAP25 reveals the possible pathway for energy generation of SNARE zipping, provides information to understand how force may regulate the cooperativity between the membrane and the SNARE complex.

MeSH terms

  • Cell Membrane / metabolism*
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • SNARE Proteins / chemistry
  • SNARE Proteins / metabolism*
  • Synaptosomal-Associated Protein 25 / metabolism*

Substances

  • SNARE Proteins
  • Synaptosomal-Associated Protein 25

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China 2014CB910202(to JL) (program.most.gov.cn) and National Natural Science Foundation of China grants 31222022 (to JL) and 11302240 (to YZ) (isisn.nsfc.gov.cn). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.