Monosialogangliosides and their interaction with cholera toxin - investigation by molecular modeling and molecular mechanics

Molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics studies are performed to investigate the conformational preference of cell surface monosialogangliosides (GM3, GM2 and GM1) in aqueous environment. Water mediated hydrogen bonding network plays a significant role in the structural stabilization of GM3, GM2 and GM1. The spatial flexibility of NeuNAc of gangliosides at the binding site of cholera toxin reveals a limited allowed eulerian space of 2.4% with a much less allowed eulerian space (1.4%) for external galactose of GM1. The molecular mechanics of monosialoganglioside-cholera toxin complex reveals that cholera toxin can accommodate the monosialogangliosides in three different modes. Direct and water mediated hydrogen bonding interactions stabilize these binding modes and play an essential role in defining the order of specificity for different monosialogangliosides towards cholera toxin. This study identifies the NeuNAc binding site as a site for design of inhibitors that can restrict the pathogenic activity of cholera toxin.