Ion Effect of Apolipoprotein A1 Stabilization*

Our research furthered work on APOA1 protein and how its confirmation and stability is affected by ionic solutions. APOA1 was of particular interest to us due to it being a high density lipoprotein which plays a significant role in cholesterol efflux and therefore effect rates of heart disease. To study this protein we used GROMACS which is a Molecular Dynamic Simulation Program in which we can control the environment around APOA1. Protein confirmation and stabilization is key in the functionality of APOA1. From GROMACS we can create systems to compare the different ionic solutions and their effect on the stability and folding of the protein.  We calculate Radius of Gyration as well as root mean squared distribution to analyze the affect the ionic concentrations on our system. These values will be measured over 100 ns in order to show the protein progression over time in the various ionic solutions. We will also view the protein in VMD to visually back up GROMACS data.