Desmosterol replaces cholesterol for ligand binding function of the serotonin(1A) receptor in solubilized hippocampal membranes: support for nonannular binding sites for cholesterol?

Synergistic and Competitive Lipid Interactions in the Serotonin1A Receptor Microenvironment

The interaction of lipids with G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) has been shown to modulate and dictate several aspects of GPCR organization and function. Diverse lipid interaction sites have been identified from structural biology, bioinformatics, and molecular dynamics studies. For example, multiple cholesterol interaction sites have been identified in the serotonin_1A receptor, along with distinct and overlapping sphingolipid interaction sites. How these lipids interact with each other and what is the resultant effect on the receptor is still not clear. In this work, we have analyzed lipid-lipid crosstalk at the receptor of the serotonin_1A receptor embedded in a membrane bilayer that mimics the neuronal membrane composition by long coarse-grain simulations. Using a set of similarity coefficients, we classified lipids that bind at the receptor together as synergistic cobinding, and those that bind individually as competitive. Our results show that certain lipids interact with the serotonin_1A receptor in synergy with each other. Not surprisingly, the ganglioside GM1 and cholesterol show a synergistic cobinding, along with the relatively uncommon GM1-phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and cholesterol-PE synergy. In contrast, certain lipid pairs such as cholesterol and sphingomyelin appear to be in competition at several sites, despite their coexistence in lipid nanodomains. In addition, we observed intralipid competition between two lipid tails, with the receptor exhibiting increased interactions with the unsaturated lipid tails. We believe our work represents an important step in understanding the diversity of GPCR-lipid interactions and exploring synergistic cobinding and competition in natural membranes.

Influence of Cholesterol and Its Stereoisomers on Members of the Serotonin Receptor Family

Despite the ubiquity of cholesterol within the cell membrane, the mechanism by which it influences embedded proteins remains elusive. Numerous G-protein coupled receptors exhibit dramatic responses to membrane cholesterol with regard to the ligand-binding affinity and functional properties, including the 5-HT receptor family. Here, we use over 25 μs of unbiased atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to identify cholesterol interaction sites in the 5-HT_1B and 5-HT_2B receptors and evaluate their impact on receptor structure. Susceptibility to membrane cholesterol is shown to be subtype dependent and determined by the quality of interactions between the extracellular loops. Charged residues are essential for maintaining the arrangement of the extracellular surface in 5-HT_2B; in the absence of such interactions, the extracellular surface of the 5-HT_1B is malleable, populating a number of distinct conformations. Elevated cholesterol density near transmembrane helix 4 is considered to be conducive to the conformation of extracellular loop 2. Occupation of this site is also shown to be stereospecific, illustrated by differential behavior of nat-cholesterol isomers, ent- and epi-cholesterol. In simulations containing the endogenous agonist, serotonin, cholesterol binding at transmembrane helix 4 biases bound serotonin molecules toward an unexpected binding mode in the extended binding pocket. The results highlight the capability of membrane cholesterol to influence the mobility of the extracellular surface in the 5-HT₁ receptor family and manipulate the architecture of the extracellular ligand-binding pocket.

A Critical Analysis of Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Membrane Cholesterol Sensitivity of GPCRs

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest and a diverse family of proteins involved in signal transduction across biological membranes. GPCRs mediate a wide range of physiological processes and have emerged as major targets for the development of novel drug candidates in all clinical areas. Since GPCRs are integral membrane proteins, regulation of their organization, dynamics, and function by membrane lipids, in particular membrane cholesterol, has emerged as an exciting area of research. Cholesterol sensitivity of GPCRs could be due to direct interaction of cholesterol with the receptor (specific effect). Alternately, GPCR function could be influenced by the effect of cholesterol on membrane physical properties (general effect). In this review, we critically analyze the specific and general mechanisms of the modulation of GPCR function by membrane cholesterol, taking examples from representative GPCRs. While evidence for both the proposed mechanisms exists, there appears to be no clear-cut distinction between these two mechanisms, and a combination of these mechanisms cannot be ruled out in many cases. We conclude that classifying the mechanism underlying cholesterol sensitivity of GPCR function merely into these two mutually exclusive classes could be somewhat arbitrary. A more holistic approach could be suitable for analyzing GPCR-cholesterol interaction.

Plasma sterols and depressive symptom severity in a population-based cohort

Convergent evidence strongly suggests major depressive disorder is heterogeneous in its etiology and clinical characteristics. Depression biomarkers hold potential for identifying etiological subtypes, improving diagnostic accuracy, predicting treatment response, and personalization of treatment. Human plasma contains numerous sterols that have not been systematically studied. Changes in cholesterol concentrations have been implicated in suicide and depression, suggesting plasma sterols may be depression biomarkers. Here, we investigated associations between plasma levels of 34 sterols (measured by mass spectrometry) and scores on the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self Report (QIDS-SR₁₆) scale in 3117 adult participants in the Dallas Heart Study, an ethnically diverse, population-based cohort. We built a random forest model using feature selection from a pool of 43 variables including demographics, general health indicators, and sterol concentrations. This model comprised 19 variables, 13 of which were sterol concentrations, and explained 15.5% of the variation in depressive symptoms. Desmosterol concentrations below the fifth percentile (1.9 ng/mL, OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2–2.9) were significantly associated with depressive symptoms of at least moderate severity (QIDS-SR₁₆ score ≥10.5). This is the first study reporting a novel association between plasma concentrations cholesterol precursors and depressive symptom severity.

Structural Stringency of Cholesterol for Membrane Protein Function Utilizing Stereoisomers as Novel Tools: A Review

Cholesterol is an important lipid in the context of membrane protein function. The function of a number of membrane proteins, including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels, has been shown to be dependent on membrane cholesterol. However, the molecular mechanism underlying such regulation is still being explored. In some cases, specific interaction between cholesterol and the protein has been implicated. In other cases, the effect of cholesterol on the membrane properties has been attributed for the regulation of protein function. In this article, we have provided an overview of experimental approaches that are useful for determining the degree of structural stringency of cholesterol for membrane protein function. In the process, we have highlighted the role of immediate precursors in cholesterol biosynthetic pathway in the function of membrane proteins. Special emphasis has been given to the application of stereoisomers of cholesterol in deciphering the structural stringency required for regulation of membrane protein function. A comprehensive examination of these processes would help in understanding the molecular basis of cholesterol regulation of membrane proteins in subtle details.

Two classes of cholesterol binding sites for the β2AR revealed by thermostability and NMR

Cholesterol binding to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and modulation of their activities in membranes is a fundamental issue for understanding their function. Despite the identification of cholesterol binding sites in high-resolution x-ray structures of the ?2 adrenergic receptor (β2AR) and other GPCRs, the binding affinity of cholesterol for this receptor and exchange rates between the free and bound cholesterol remain unknown. In this study we report the existence of two classes of cholesterol binding sites in β2AR. By analyzing the β2AR unfolding temperature in lipidic cubic phase (LCP) as a function of cholesterol concentration we observed high-affinity cooperative binding of cholesterol with sub-nM affinity constant. In contrast, saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR experiments revealed the existence of a second class of cholesterol binding sites, in fast exchange on the STD NMR timescale. Titration of the STD signal as a function of cholesterol concentration provided a lower limit of 100 mM for their dissociation constant. However, these binding sites are specific for both cholesterol and β2AR, as shown with control experiments using ergosterol and a control membrane protein (KpOmpA). We postulate that this specificity is mediated by the high-affinity bound cholesterol molecules and propose the formation of transient cholesterol clusters around the high-affinity binding sites.

Using Sterol Substitution to Probe the Role of Membrane Domains in Membrane Functions

Ordered membrane lipid domains rich in sphingolipids and sterols ("lipid rafts") are thought to be important in many biological processes.  However, it is often difficult to distinguish domain-dependent biological functions from ones that have a specific dependence on sterol, e.g. are dependent upon a protein with a function that is dependent upon its binding to sterol.  Removing cholesterol and replacing it with various sterols with varying abilities to form membrane domains or otherwise alter membrane properties has the potential to help distinguish these cases.  This review describes this strategy, and how it has been applied by various investigators to understand cellular functions.

Stereospecific requirement of cholesterol in the function of the serotonin1A receptor

The serotonin1A receptor is an important member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family. It is involved in the generation and modulation of a variety of cognitive and behavioral functions and serves as a drug target. Previous work from our laboratory has established the sensitivity of the function of the serotonin1A receptor to membrane cholesterol. Solubilization of the hippocampal serotonin1A receptor utilizing the zwitterionic detergent CHAPS is accompanied by loss of cholesterol and results in reduction in specific ligand binding. Replenishment of cholesterol to solubilized membranes restores specific ligand binding to the receptor. We utilized this strategy of sterol replenishment of solubilized membranes to explore the stereospecific stringency of cholesterol for receptor function. We used two stereoisomers of cholesterol, ent-cholesterol (enantiomer of cholesterol) and epi-cholesterol (a diastereomer of cholesterol), for this purpose. Importantly, we show here that while ent-cholesterol could replace cholesterol in supporting receptor function, epi-cholesterol could not. These results imply that the requirement of membrane cholesterol for the serotonin1A receptor function is diastereospecific, yet not enantiospecific. Our results extend and help define specificity of the interaction of membrane cholesterol with the serotonin1A receptor, and represent the first report utilizing ent-cholesterol to examine stereospecificity of GPCR-cholesterol interaction.