@article {2018|2090, title = {Water permeation across artificial I-quartet membrane channels: from structure to disorder.}, journal = {Faraday Discuss}, volume = {209}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 09 28}, pages = {125-148}, abstract = {

Artificial water channels (AWCs) have been designed for water transport across membranes with the aim to mimic the high water permeability observed for biological systems such as aquaporins (\∼108-109 water molecules per s per channel), as well as their selectivity to reject ion permeation at the same time. Recent works on designed self-assembling alkylureido-ethylimidazole compounds forming imidazole-quartet channels (I-quartets), have shown both high water permeability and total ionic-rejection. I-quartets are thus promising candidates for further development of AWCs. However, the molecular mechanism of water permeation as well as I-quartet organization and stability in a membrane environment need to be fully understood to guide their optimal design. Here, we use a wide range of all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and their analysis to understand the structure/activity relationships of the I-quartet channels. Four different types with varying alkyl chain length or chirality have been studied in a complex fully hydrated lipid bilayer environment at both microsecond and nanosecond scale. Microsecond simulations show two distinct behaviors; (i) two out of four systems maintain chiral dipolar oriented water wires, but also undergo a strong reorganization of the crystal shape, (ii) the two other I-quartet channels completely lose the initial organization, nonetheless keeping a water transport activity. Short MD simulations with higher time resolution were conducted to characterize the dynamic properties of water molecules in these model channels and provided a detailed hypothesis on the molecular mechanism of water permeation. The ordered confined water was characterized with quantitative measures of hydrogen-bond life-time and single particle dynamics, showing variability among I-quartet channels. We will further discuss the underlying assumptions, currently based on self-aggregation simulations and crystal patches embedded in lipid bilayer simulations and attempt to describe possible alternative approaches to computationally capture the water permeation mechanism and the self-assembly process of these AWCs.

}, issn = {1364-5498}, doi = {10.1039/c8fd00046h}, author = {Murail, Samuel and Vasiliu, Tudor and Neamtu, Andrei and Barboiu, Mihail and Sterpone, Fabio and Marc Baaden} } @article {2017|2030, title = {Why Is Research on Amyloid-β Failing to Give New Drugs for Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s Disease?}, journal = {ACS Chem Neurosci}, volume = {8}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Jul 19}, pages = {1435-1437}, abstract = {

The two hallmarks of Alzheimer\&$\#$39;s disease (AD) are the presence of neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) made of aggregates of the hyperphosphorylated tau protein and of amyloid plaques composed of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides, primarily Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42. Targeting the production, aggregation, and toxicity of Aβ with small molecule drugs or antibodies is an active area of AD research due to the general acceptance of the amyloid cascade hypothesis, but thus far all drugs targeting Aβ have failed. From a review of the recent literature and our own experience based on in vitro, in silico, and in vivo studies, we present some reasons to explain this repetitive failure.

}, keywords = {Alzheimer Disease, Amyloid beta-Peptides, Animals, Drug Discovery, Humans, Neuroprotective Agents}, issn = {1948-7193}, doi = {10.1021/acschemneuro.7b00188}, author = {Doig, Andrew J and Del Castillo-Frias, Maria P and Berthoumieu, Olivia and Tarus, Bogdan and Nasica-Labouze, Jessica and Sterpone, Fabio and Phuong Hoang Nguyen and Hooper, Nigel M and Faller, Peter and Philippe Derreumaux} } @article {2016|1633, title = {Water Determines the Structure and Dynamics of Proteins}, journal = {Chem. Rev.}, volume = {116}, year = {2016}, pages = {7673{\textendash}7697}, author = {M-C. Bellissent-Funel and A. Hassanali and M. Havenith and R. Henchman and P. Pohl and Fabio Sterpone and D. van der Spoel and Y. Xu and A. E. Garcia} } @article {2012, title = {Water Jump Reorientation: From Theoretical Prediction to Experimental Observation}, journal = {Acc. Chem. Res.}, volume = {45}, number = {1}, year = {2012}, pages = {53{\textendash}62}, doi = {10.1021/ar200075u}, author = {Laage, Damien and Guillaume Stirnemann and Sterpone, Fabio and Hynes, James T.} } @article {2010|1445, title = {Water around thermophilic proteins: the role of charged and apolar atoms}, journal = {J Phys: Cond Matt}, volume = {22}, number = {28}, year = {2010}, pages = {284113}, author = {Fabio Sterpone and Claudia Bertonati and Giuseppe Briganti and Simone Melchionna} } @article {2010|1832, title = {Water hydrogen-bond dynamics around amino acids: the key role of hydrophilic hydrogen-bond acceptor groups}, journal = {J. Phys. Chem. B}, volume = {114}, number = {5}, year = {2010}, pages = {2083{\textendash}9}, abstract = {

Water hydrogen-bond (HB) dynamics around amino acids in dilute aqueous solution is investigated through molecular dynamics simulations and analytic modeling. We especially highlight the critical role played by hydrophilic HB acceptors: the strength of the HB formed with water has a pronounced effect on the HB dynamics, in accord with several experimental observations. In contrast, we evidence that hydrophilic HB donors induce a moderate slowdown in the water HB exchange dynamics due to an excluded volume effect, similar to that of hydrophobic groups. We present an analytic model which rationalizes the effect of all examined amino acid sites on the HB dynamics and whose predictions are in excellent agreement with the numerical simulations. This model provides the acceleration or retardation in the HB exchange time with respect to the bulk through the combination of the solute excluded volume factor with the solute-water HB strength factor, both referring to the HB exchange transition state.

}, author = {Sterpone, Fabio and Guillaume Stirnemann and Hynes, James T and Laage, Damien} } @article {2008|1678, title = {Water-water hydrogen bond studied by QMC}, journal = {J. Chem. Theory. Comput.}, volume = {4}, year = {2008}, pages = {1428{\textendash}1432}, author = {Fabio Sterpone and L. Spanu and L. Ferraro and S. Sorella and L. Guidoni} } @article {2002|1817, title = {Water rotational relaxation and diffusion in hydrated lysozyme}, journal = {J. Am. Chem. Soc.}, volume = {124}, number = {23}, year = {2002}, month = {jun}, pages = {6787{\textendash}91}, abstract = {This paper is concerned with the dynamics of water around a small globular protein. Dipolar second-rank relaxation time and diffusion properties of surface water were computed by extensive molecular dynamics simulations of lysozyme in water which lasted a total of 28 ns. Our results indicate that the rotational relaxation of water in the vicinity of lysozyme is 3-7 times slower than that in the bulk depending on how the hydration shell is defined in the calculation. We have also verified that the dynamics of water translational diffusion in the vicinity of lysozyme have retardations similar to rotational relaxation. This is a common assumption in nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (NMRD) studies to derive residence times. In contrast to bulk water dynamics, surface water is in a dispersive diffusion regime or subdiffusion. Very good agreement of dipolar second-rank relaxation time with NMRD estimates is obtained by using appropriate dimensions of the hydration shell. Although our computed second-rank dipolar retardations are independent of the water model, SPC/E describes more realistically the time scale of the water dynamics around lysozyme than does TIP3P.}, author = {Marchi, Massimo and Sterpone, Fabio and Ceccarelli, Matteo} }