Calcium Directly Regulates Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-Bisphosphate Headgroup Conformation and Recognition

[Image: see text] The orchestrated recognition of phosphoinositides and concomitant intracellular release of Ca(2+) is pivotal to almost every aspect of cellular processes, including membrane homeostasis, cell division and growth, vesicle trafficking, as well as secretion. Although Ca(2+) is known to directly impact phosphoinositide clustering, little is known about the molecular basis for this or its significance in cellular signaling. Here, we study the direct interaction of Ca(2+) with phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P(2)), the main lipid marker of the plasma membrane. Electrokinetic potential measurements of PI(4,5)P(2) containing liposomes reveal that Ca(2+) as well as Mg(2+) reduce the zeta potential of liposomes to nearly background levels of pure phosphatidylcholine membranes. Strikingly, lipid recognition by the default PI(4,5)P(2) lipid sensor, phospholipase C delta 1 pleckstrin homology domain (PLC δ1-PH), is completely inhibited in the presence of Ca(2+), while Mg(2+) has no effect with 100 nm liposomes and modest effect with giant unilamellar vesicles. Consistent with biochemical data, vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy and atomistic molecular dynamics simulations reveal how Ca(2+) binding to the PI(4,5)P(2) headgroup and carbonyl regions leads to confined lipid headgroup tilting and conformational rearrangements. We rationalize these findings by the ability of calcium to block a highly specific interaction between PLC δ1-PH and PI(4,5)P(2), encoded within the conformational properties of the lipid itself. Our studies demonstrate the possibility that switchable phosphoinositide conformational states can serve as lipid recognition and controlled cell signaling mechanisms.