An Allosteric Mechanism Inferred from Molecular Dynamics Simulations on Phospholamban Pentamer in Lipid Membranes

Phospholamban functions as a regulator of Ca(2+) concentration of cardiac muscle cells by triggering the bioactivity of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase. In order to understand its dynamic mechanism in the environment of bilayer surroundings, we performed long time-scale molecular dynamic simulations based on the high-resolution NMR structure of phospholamban pentamer. It was observed from the molecular dynamics trajectory analyses that the conformational transitions between the “bellflower” and “pinwheel” modes were detected for phospholamban. Particularly, the two modes became quite similar to each other after phospholamban was phosphorylated at Ser16. Based on these findings, an allosteric mechanism was proposed to elucidate the dynamic process of phospholamban interacting with Ca(2+)-ATPase.