Dimerization and Structural Stability of Amyloid Precursor Proteins Affected by the Membrane Microenvironments

The lipid raft microenvironment is implicated in the generation of the pathological amyloid-β (Aβ) species in amyloid precursor protein (APP) that is associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Evidence shows that APP forms a transmembrane homodimer with changeable structures as a function of the membrane compositions. However, the molecular responsibility of the dimerization and structural alteration for the amyloidogenic process in segregated membranes remains largely unclear. Here, we performed multiple coarse grained (CG) simulations to explore the behavioral preference of the transmembrane domain of APP (called C99) that is affected by the lipid raft microenvironment. The results showed that C99 was anchored at the boundary of the lipid raft relying on the conserved hydrophobic motif of V₇₁₀xxA₇₁₃xxxV₇₁₇xxxV₇₂₁. Moreover, the dimerization of C99 was greatly destabilized by the lipid raft, which led to a susceptible switching packing conformation. The molecular driving forces were derived from the combined regulation of the saturated lipids and cholesterols rather than from the simple binding competition of cholesterol in the C99 dimerization. The molecular details of the differential dimerization in the raft-forming and bulk fluid bilayer environments were compared, and the structural information was helpful for further understanding the enzymolysis responsiveness of APP.