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Canna~Fangled Abstracts

Dissimilar interaction of CB1/CB2 with lipid bilayers as revealed by molecular dynamics simulation

By March 7, 2011No Comments
2011 Mar 7;13(9):3660-8. doi: 10.1039/c0cp01456g. Epub 2010 Dec 21.


Dissimilar
 interaction of CB1/CB2 with lipid

bilayers as revealed by moleculardynamics simulation.

Abstract

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Cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 are a striking class of transmembrane proteins involved in a high number of important biological processes. In spite of the inherent similarity (40% in aminoacid sequence) these receptors are found in different cell environments. In addition to this, CB1 activity has been intimately associated with lipid rafts whereas CB2 has not. In this work we have performed a 50 nanosecond molecular dynamics simulation of the inactive conformations of both receptors inserted in a POPC lipidbilayer. Although in both cases the overall protein structure is maintained along the entire simulation we have found important differences in the protein-lipid interaction. While CB1 tends to distort the lipid bilayer regularity, especially in the extracellular moiety, CB2 has a minor influence on the lipid distribution along the plane of the bilayer. This observation is consistent with some experimental facts observed in these cannabinoid receptors with regard to lipid/protein interaction.
Graphical abstract: Dissimilar interaction of CB1/CB2 with lipid bilayers as revealed by molecular dynamics simulation