Molecular dynamics simulations to decipher the structural and functional consequences of pathogenic missense mutations in the galactosylceramidase (GALC) protein causing Krabbe's disease

Krabbe disease (KD), also known as globoid cell leukodystrophy disease, is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage genetic disorder, which is caused by the deficiency of galactocerebrosidase (GALC) coding gene (GALC). This study aimed to use extensive computational pipelines in understanding the missense mutations in GALC. We retrieved 176 mutations from the public databases and subjected them to pathogenicity, stability, and conservation analyses. The PredictSNP, iStable, and ConSurf prediction tools predicted 45, 95, and 47 mutations to be deleterious, destabilizing, and highly conserved, respectively. The R396L and R396W were the most deleterious and destabilizing to GALC, and were therefore prioritized for further analysis. Systematic validation on the impact of the R396L and R396W mutations to the chaperone alpha lobeline was performed using the molecular docking approach. The docking analysis revealed that the mutant R396W interacted with minimal binding affinity compared with both the R396L mutant and native GALC. Furthermore, the repetitive molecular dynamics simulation analysis showed that the mutant R396W demonstrated less compactness and reduced number of intramolecular hydrogen bonds compared with the mutant R396L and the native GALC. Overall, we observed higher structural and functional modifications in R396W positioned in the substrate-binding site. This was highly supported by the MMPBSA and DSSP analysis of the GROMACS. DSSP showed the transformation of turns to bends, indicating a loss of stability due to the R396W mutation. This study is expected to serve as a platform for prioritizing mutant proteins that could be a platform for both drug and target therapeutics Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Automated summary

This study utilized computational pipelines to analyze missense mutations in the GALC gene, identifying R396L and R396W as the most deleterious and destabilizing to GALC. The impact of these mutations on the chaperone alpha lobeline was validated using molecular docking, showing R396W to have minimal binding affinity compared to R396L and native GALC.