Computational multiscale studies of collagen tissues in the context of brittle bone disease osteogenesis imperfecta

Abstract

AbstractOsteogenesis imperfecta (abbreviated as OI) is a genetic disorder in collagen characterized by mechanically weakened tendon, fragile bones, skeletal deformities and in severe cases prenatal death. Even though many studies have attempted to associate specific mutation types with phenotypic severity, the molecular and mesoscale mechanisms by which a single point mutation influences the mechanical behavior of tissues at multiple length-scales remain unknown. Here we review results of a hierarchy of full atomistic and mesoscale simulations that demonstrated that OI mutations severely compromise the mechanical properties of collagenous tissues at multiple scales, from single molecules to collagen fibrils. Notably, mutations that lead to the most severe OI phenotype correlate with the strongest effects, leading to weakened intermolecular adhesion, increased intermolecular spacing, reduced stiffness, as well as a reduced failure strength of collagen fibrils (Gautieri et al., Biophys. J., 2009). Our study explains how single point mutations can control the breakdown of tissue at much larger length-scales, a question of great relevance for a broad class of genetic diseases. Furthermore, by extending the MARTINI coarse-grained force field, we provide a new modeling tool to study collagen molecules and fibrils at much larger scales than accessible to existing full atomistic models, while incorporating key chemical and mechanical features and thereby presents a powerful approach to computational materiomics (Gautieri et al., Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 2010). We describe the coarse-graining approach and present preliminary findings based on this model in applying it to large-scale models of molecular assemblies into fibrils.