Molecular dynamics simulation of G-actin interacting with PAMAM dendrimers

Understanding the interactions of dendrimers as drug/gene delivery vectors with proteins is important for functional optimization. Here, atomistic molecular dynamics simulations are employed to study the interactions between six positively-charged polyamidoamine dendrimers of the second generation (G2 PAMAM) and G-actin. We find that the structure of G-actin is relatively stable after dendrimers' binding. PAMAM dendrimers also do not significantly change the secondary structure of G-actin. Furthermore, we find the formation of dendrimer-actin complex is mainly driven by electrostatic interactions. Moreover, we suggest the secondary structure change of local domains of G-actin is probably responsible to the inhibition of actin polymerization. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.