This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplement All Versions of this Article: biophysj.108.131581v1 94/12/L87    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Google Scholar Articles by Shih, A. Y. Articles by Schulten, K. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Shih, A. Y. Articles by Schulten, K.

Molecular Models Need to be Tested: The Case of a Solar Flares Discoidal HDL Model

Amy Y. Shih ^*, Stephen G. Sligar ^*  and Klaus Schulten ^* 

^* Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Engineering, Department of Biochemistry, and Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois

Correspondence: Address reprint requests and inquiries to Klaus Schulten, Tel.: 217-244-1604; E-mail: kschulte{at}ks.uiuc.edu.

In the absence of atomic structures of high-density lipoproteins in their lipid-bound states, many molecular models have been produced based on experimental data. Using molecular dynamics, we show that a recently proposed "solar-flares" model of discoidal high-density lipoprotein is implausible. Our simulations show a collapse of the protruding solar-flare loops and a notable protein rearrangement due to an energetically unfavorable orientation of the hydrophobic protein surface toward the aqueous solvent.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. J. Thomas, S. Bhat, and M. G. Sorci-Thomas Three-dimensional models of HDL apoA-I: implications for its assembly and function J. Lipid Res., September 1, 2008; 49(9): 1875 - 1883. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]