Binding orientation and interaction of bile salt in its ternary complex with pancreatic lipase-colipase system

The interfacial activity of pancreatic lipases (PL) depends on the presence of colipase and bile salt. The activity of PL is inhibited by micellar concentrations of bile salt which can be restored by the addition of colipase. Though the formation of 1:1:1 tertiary complex by lipase-colipase-bile salt micelle is well accepted, the residue-level interactions between lipase-colipase and bile salt are yet to be clearly understood. Molecular dynamic simulations of lipase-colipase complex, lipase and colipase were performed in the presence of a model bile salt, sodium taurocholate (NaTC), at its near-CMC and supra-micellar concentrations. From the interactions obtained from the molecular dynamic simulations, the ternary complex was modelled and compared with earlier reports. The analysis suggested that a micelle of NaTC consisting of nine monomers was formed at the concave groove between lipase and colipase chain and it mainly interacted with the fourth finger of colipase. This complex was mainly stabilized by van der Waals interactions. Interestingly, the C-terminal domain of lipase which holds the colipase did not show any significant role in formation or stabilization of NaTC micelle.