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Molecular structure of low density lipoprotein: current status and future challenges

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Abstract

This review highlights recent advances in structural studies on low density lipoprotein (LDL) with particular emphasis on the apolipoprotein moiety of LDL, apolipoprotein B100 (apoB100). Various molecular aspects of LDL are outlined and obstacles to structure determination are addressed. In this context, the prevailing conceptions of the molecular assembly of LDL and how the synergy of complementary biochemical, biophysical and molecular simulation approaches has lead to the current structural model of LDL are discussed. Evidence is presented that structural heterogeneity and the intrinsic dynamics of LDL are key determinants of the functionality of LDL in both health and disease. Some key research directions, remaining open questions and rapidly emerging new concepts for medical applications of LDL, are furthermore outlined. The article concludes by providing an outlook concerning promising future strategies for the clarification of the molecular details of LDL, in particular of apoB100, combining recent advances in molecular modeling with developments of novel experimental techniques. Although new insights into the molecular organization of LDL are forthcoming, many open questions remain unanswered. The major challenge of the next decade will certainly be the elucidation of the molecular structural and dynamic features of apoB100.

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Abbreviations

LDL:

Low density lipoprotein

apoB100:

Apolipoprotein B100

SAXS:

Small angle X-ray scattering

SANS:

Small angle neutron scattering

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

VLDL:

Very low density lipoprotein

IDL:

Intermediate density lipoprotein

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the Austrian Science Funds (P16479 and P20455 apart from Seegen Stiftung of the Austrian Acad Sci.). The author would like to thank Heinz Amenitsch and Manfred Kriechbaum for scientific support in SAXS experiments and Christopher Wrighton for text editing.

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  1. Institute of Biophysics and Nanosystems Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstr. 6, 8042, Graz, Austria

    Ruth Prassl & Peter Laggner

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  1. Ruth Prassl
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Correspondence to Ruth Prassl.

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Prassl, R., Laggner, P. Molecular structure of low density lipoprotein: current status and future challenges. Eur Biophys J 38, 145–158 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-008-0368-y

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