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Surfactant protein C (SP-C) has several functions in pulmonary surfactant. These include the transfer of lipids between different membrane structures, a role in surfactant recycling and homeostasis, and involvement in modulation of the innate defense system. Despite these important functions, the structures of functional SP-C complexes have remained unclear. SP-C is known to exist as a primarily α-helical structure with an apparently unstructured N-terminal region, yet there is recent evidence that the functions of SP-C could be associated with the formation of SP-C dimers and higher oligomers. In this work, we used molecular dynamics simulations, two-dimensional umbrella sampling, and well-tempered metadynamics to study the details of SP-C dimerization. The results suggest that SP-C dimerizes in pulmonary surfactant membranes, forming dimers of different topologies. The simulations identified a dimerization motif region V21xxxVxxxGxxxM33 that is much larger than the putative A30xxxG34 motif that is commonly assumed to control the dimerization of some α-helical transmembrane domains. The results provide a stronger basis for elucidating how SP-C functions in concert with other surfactant proteins.
Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Proteins, pulmonary surfactant, Science, Bioquímica (Biología), metadynamics, Surface-Active Agents, 2302 Bioquímica, membrane, Biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, Pulmonary surfactant protein C, dimerization, 577.112, SP-C, Q, R, Pulmonary Surfactants, umbrella sampling, Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein C, molecular dynamics, Medicine, Dimerization, Research Article, clustering
Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Proteins, pulmonary surfactant, Science, Bioquímica (Biología), metadynamics, Surface-Active Agents, 2302 Bioquímica, membrane, Biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, Pulmonary surfactant protein C, dimerization, 577.112, SP-C, Q, R, Pulmonary Surfactants, umbrella sampling, Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein C, molecular dynamics, Medicine, Dimerization, Research Article, clustering
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