表皮生长因子受体酪氨酸激酶结构域与其抑制剂染料木素的模拟对接

染料木素是表皮生长因子受体酪氨酸激酶结构域(EGFR-TK)高度特异的非竞争性抑制剂.本研究采用AUTODOCK3.05分子对接软件包对EGFR-TK与染料木素进行了模拟对接研究,探究了二者的相互作用机制,为染料木素的抗肿瘤机制提供理论依据.对接结果表明,染料木素结合在EGFR-TK的活性腔中,与EGFR-TK发生了强烈的相互作用,结合自由能△G为-31.2 kJ/mol;染料木素通过干扰TK催化活性结构中Lys721/Glu738离子对的形成而抑制了EGFR-TK的活性,属于非竞争性结合和抑制作用;在结合中,疏水力和氢键发挥了重要作用.     

HIV-1跨膜蛋白gp41与N-取代吡咯衍生物的结合模式研究

采用分子对接,分子动力学(MD)模拟和分子力学/泊松-波尔兹曼溶剂可有面积方法与分子力学/广义伯恩溶剂可及面积方法(MM-PBSA/MM-GBSA),预测两种N-取代吡咯衍生物与HIV-1 跨膜蛋白gp41疏水口袋的结合模式与作用机理．分子对接采用多种受体构象,并从结果中选取几种可能的结合模式进行MD 模拟,然后通过MM-PBSA计算结合能的方法识别最优的结合模式. MM-PBSA计算结果表明,范德华相互作用是结合的主要驱动力,而极性相互作用决定了配体在结合过程中的取向．进一步的结合能分解显示,配体的羧基与gp41残基Arg579的静电相互作用对结合有重要贡献．上述工作为进一步优化N-取代吡咯衍生物类的HIV-1融合抑制剂建立了良好的理论基础．     

基于体外分子进化技术提高弯曲芽孢杆菌CCTCC 2015368 β-淀粉酶的热稳定性

运用体外分子进化技术易错PCR方法,高通量筛选热稳定性提高的弯曲芽孢杆菌Bacillus flexus CCTCC2015368β-淀粉酶突变体。利用LB琼脂淀粉板显色、96-孔板DNS法测酶活和酶标仪检测等,最终筛选到了一株热稳定性显著提高的突变体D476N。野生型和突变体D476N分别纯化后,酶学性质测定表明:突变体D476N的最适pH为6.5,与野生型相比降低了0.5。突变体D476N和野生型的最适温度均为55℃,突变体D476N在55℃下的半衰期为35 min,比野生型提高了95%。突变体D476N的T_(50)值比野生型提高4℃。突变体D476N的K_m值为97.98μmol/L,是野生型(85.86μmol/L)1.14倍;突变体稳定性提高的同时,催化活力相对于野生型有略微下降。通过SWISS-MODEL同源模拟野生型和突变体D476N的三维结构,并通过PyMol软件分析,发现突变后的氨基酸残基Asn476位于蛋白质表面的loop环上,通过MOE软件计算,D476N的分子自由能(ΔG)为106.01kcal/mol,比野生酶降低10.3%,这一结果与蛋白质分子自由能和热稳定性呈负相关的理论相符。     

花青素主要成分与HER-2激酶区的分子对接

用分子对接方法预测天然植物化学物质与受体蛋白的相互作用位点并探究作用机制。利用MVD(Molecular Virtual Docker 5.5)软件,以HER-2激酶区为受体模板建立活性位点,与12种花青素成分进行分子对接。结果表明12种化合物均能在同一活性腔中与HER-2激酶区对接(MolDock Score:苷元–105 kJ/mol,单葡糖苷–130 kJ/mol),主要作用力是疏水作用和氢键;该活性腔也是ATP与HER-2激酶区的结合(MolDock Score=–161 kJ/mol)位点,花青素的结合可能会干扰ATP与HER-2之间氢键的形成。提示花青素可能以竞争性结合方式阻碍ATP与HER-2的结合,抑制HER-2磷酸化激活及下游信号通路的激活,从而发挥抑癌活性。     

计算方法研究HIV-1蛋白酶及其变异与小分子GRL-0519的相互作用

艾滋病病毒在世界范围内的传播,严重地威胁到人们的身心健康.HIV-1蛋白酶的残基变异严重地削弱了药物的治疗效果.为了研究残基变异D30N、I54M和V82A对蛋白酶结合抑制剂GRL-0519的影响,本研究进行了4个30 ns的分子动力学(MD)模拟,并采用溶解相互自由能(SIE)方法计算了蛋白酶和抑制剂的结合能.计算结果表明,极性相互作用不利于变异的蛋白酶结合抑制剂,而对于野生型的蛋白酶(WT),极性相互作用有微弱的贡献,极性相互作用是残基变异抗药性的主要原因,计算得到的总结合能与实验的数据一致.为了说明每个残基在抗药性中的贡献,采用分子力场的方法计算了每一个残基与小分子作用的范德华作用能,并分析了抑制剂与蛋白酶形成的氢键.范德华作用分析表明,V82A残基变异对结合模式的影响较小,相对于WT,D30N有5个残基的范德华贡献差异大于0.4 kcal/mol,I54M残基变异的蛋白酶有6个残基.氢键的分析说明,D30N和I54M变异丢失了几个氢键;范德华作用和氢键的分析结果与SIE的计算结果一致.研究结果为设计新的更有效的抗HIV-1蛋白酶变异的抑制剂提供了理论指导.     

盐酸比哌立登与人血清蛋白的相互作用研究

目的:研究盐酸比哌立登(BH)与人血清蛋白(HSA)的相互作用,为阐明其在体外的代谢过程、作用机理提供理论依据。方法:本研究采用紫外-可见分光光度法、荧光光谱法、傅里叶变换红外光谱(FTIR)法及分子对接模拟等方法,在不同温度下,测定BH与HAS的紫外吸收光谱变化、结合常数、结合位点,蛋白质二级结构变化和分子模拟对接情况。结果:在25℃时,BH与HSA的结合常数KA为2.71×10~3 L/mol,结合位点数目是0.86;在37℃时,结合常数KA为1.58×10~3 L/mol,结合位点数目为0.82。BH使得HSA的荧光波长向短波长方向蓝移;BH可导致HSA的α-螺旋向无规卷曲的转变。结论:BH与HAS通过氢键和范德华力相互作用,导致HSA酪氨酸残基周围内环境被破坏,环境极性减弱,疏水性增加,同时还会导致HSA荧光静态猝灭。     

维甲酸结合蛋白的分子可及性与该蛋白和配体相互作用的关系的研究

从蛋白质可及性分析的角度研究了ＥＲＡＢＰ与ＲＡ的相互作用模式,在原子水平和残基水平上计算了四个与维甲酸结合蛋白（ＥＲＡＢＰ）有关的分子的可及性,这四个分子是ＥＰＡ（无配体结晶生成的ＥＲＡＢＰ）,ＥＰＢ—ＲＡ（ＥＲＡＢ和配体雏甲酸ＲＡ,并对其进行分析比较。分析结果表明,ＲＡ在结合蛋白中采取β－芷香酮环向里,羧基端向外的构象形式;围绕结合部位有２４个残基;在结合配体ＲＡ时,在结合配体ＲＡ时,结合蛋白将发生构象变化,变化的结果是结合部位空穴的暴露程度增大。     

G蛋白偶联受体的研究进展

G蛋白偶联受体（GPCRs）,是体内最大的蛋白质超家族。GPCRs的基本结构巳清楚,但高分辨率的三维结构还未得到。根据结构的同源性,GPCRs主要分为A、B、C3族。GPCRs配体的多样性决定配体结合域的多样性。受体分子内相互作用力的破坏,质子化,构象变化,与G蛋白的偶联以及受体二聚化参与了GPCRs的活化过程。GPCRs的活化模式有3种;二态模式、多态模式和顺序结合的构象选择模式。     

炎症反应中选择素粘附分子与配体间相互作用的研究

在炎症反应中,白细胞在内皮细胞上滚动由选择素分子与其配体分子相互作用所导致,选择素分子有3种,P选择素分子（P—selectin）、E选择素分子（E—selectin）、L选择素分子（L—selectin）,选择素分子与其对应的P-选择素糖蛋白配体-1（PSGL-1）的相互作用起着重要的作用。用等离子共振、流动腔、原子力显微镜等技术能定量分析选择素分子与其配体分子相互作用的动力学反应。     

蛋白质-蛋白质分子对接方法研究进展

蛋白质分子间相互作用与识别是21世纪生命科学研究的前沿和热点.分子对接方法是研究这一课题有效的计算机模拟手段.通常,蛋白质-蛋白质分子对接包括四个阶段:搜索受体与配体分子间的结合模式,过滤对接结构以排除不合理的结合模式,优化结构,用精细的打分函数评价、排序对接模式并挑选近天然构象.结合国内外研究蛋白质-蛋白质分子对接方法进展和本研究小组的工作,对以上四个环节做了详细的综述.另外,还分析了目前存在的主要问题,并提出对未来工作的展望.     

Accurate prediction of the binding free energy and analysis of the mechanism of the interaction of replication protein A (RPA) with ssDNA

The eukaryotic replication protein A (RPA) has several pivotal functions in the cell metabolism, such as chromosomal replication, prevention of hairpin formation, DNA repair and recombination, and signaling after DNA damage. Moreover, RPA seems to have a crucial role in organizing the sequential assembly of DNA processing proteins along single stranded DNA (ssDNA). The strong RPA affinity for ssDNA, K(A) between 10(-9)-10(-10) M, is characterized by a low cooperativity with minor variation for changes on the nucleotide sequence. Recently, new data on RPA interactions was reported, including the binding free energy of the complex RPA70AB with dC(8) and dC(5), which has been estimated to be -10 ± 0.4 kcal mol(-1) and -7 ± 1 kcal mol(-1), respectively. In view of these results we performed a study based on molecular dynamics aimed to reproduce the absolute binding free energy of RPA70AB with the dC(5) and dC(8) oligonucleotides. We used several tools to analyze the binding free energy, rigidity, and time evolution of the complex. The results obtained by MM-PBSA method, with the use of ligand free geometry as a reference for the receptor in the separate trajectory approach, are in excellent agreement with the experimental data, with ±4 kcal mol(-1) error. This result shows that the MM-PB(GB)SA methods can provide accurate quantitative estimates of the binding free energy for interacting complexes when appropriate geometries are used for the receptor, ligand and complex. The decomposition of the MM-GBSA energy for each residue in the receptor allowed us to correlate the change of the affinity of the mutated protein with the ΔG(gas+sol) contribution of the residue considered in the mutation. The agreement with experiment is optimal and a strong change in the binding free energy can be considered as the dominant factor in the loss for the binding affinity resulting from mutation.     

Thermodynamic penalty arising from burial of a ligand polar group within a hydrophobic pocket of a protein receptor

Here, we examine the thermodynamic penalty arising from burial of a polar group in a hydrophobic pocket that forms part of the binding-site of the major urinary protein (MUP-I). X-ray crystal structures of the complexes of octanol, nonanol and 1,8 octan-diol indicate that these ligands bind with similar orientations in the binding pocket. Each complex is characterised by a bridging water molecule between the hydroxyl group of Tyr120 and the hydroxyl group of each ligand. The additional hydroxyl group of 1,8 octan-diol is thereby forced to reside in a hydrophobic pocket, and isothermal titration calorimetry experiments indicate that this is accompanied by a standard free energy penalty of +21 kJ/mol with respect to octanol and +18 kJ/mol with respect to nonanol. Consideration of the solvation thermodynamics of each ligand enables the "intrinsic" (solute-solute) interaction energy to be determined, which indicates a favourable enthalpic component and an entropic component that is small or zero. These data indicate that the thermodynamic penalty to binding derived from the unfavourable desolvation of 1,8 octan-diol is partially offset by a favourable intrinsic contribution. Quantum chemical calculations suggest that this latter contribution derives from favourable solute-solute dispersion interactions.     

PSI-DOCK: towards highly efficient and accurate flexible ligand docking

We have developed a new docking method, Pose-Sensitive Inclined (PSI)-DOCK, for flexible ligand docking. An improved SCORE function has been developed and used in PSI-DOCK for binding free energy evaluation. The improved SCORE function was able to reproduce the absolute binding free energies of a training set of 200 protein-ligand complexes with a correlation coefficient of 0.788 and a standard error of 8.13 kJ/mol. For ligand binding pose exploration, a unique searching strategy was designed in PSI-DOCK. In the first step, a tabu-enhanced genetic algorithm with a rapid shape-complementary scoring function is used to roughly explore and store potential binding poses of the ligand. Then, these predicted binding poses are optimized and compete against each other by using a genetic algorithm with the accurate SCORE function to determine the binding pose with the lowest docking energy. The PSI-DOCK 1.0 program is highly efficient in identifying the experimental binding pose. For a test dataset of 194 complexes, PSI-DOCK 1.0 achieved a 67% success rate (RMSD < 2.0 A) for only one run and a 74% success rate for 10 runs. PSI-DOCK can also predict the docking binding free energy with high accuracy. For a test set of 64 complexes, the correlation between the experimentally observed binding free energies and the docking binding free energies for 64 complexes is r = 0.777 with a standard deviation of 7.96 kJ/mol. Moreover, compared with other docking methods, PSI-DOCK 1.0 is extremely easy to use and requires minimum docking preparations. There is no requirement for the users to add hydrogen atoms to proteins because all protein hydrogen atoms and the flexibility of the terminal protein atoms are intrinsically taken into account in PSI-DOCK. There is also no requirement for the users to calculate partial atomic charges because PSI-DOCK does not calculate an electrostatic energy term. These features are not only convenient for the users but also help to avoid the influence of different preparation methods.     

Dipole-dipole interaction stabilizes the transition state of apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease--abasic site interaction

Human apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonuclease (hAPE) initiates the repair of an abasic site (AP site). To gain insight into the mechanisms of damage recognition of hAPE, we conducted surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy to study the thermodynamics and kinetics of its interaction with substrate DNA containing an abasic site (AP DNA). The affinity of hAPE binding toward DNA increased as much as 6-fold after replacing a single adenine (equilibrium dissociation constant, K(D), 5.3 nm) with an AP site (K(D), 0.87 nm). The enzyme-substrate complex formation appears to be thermodynamically stabilized and favored by a large change in Gibbs free energy, DeltaG degrees (-50 kJ/mol). The latter is supported by a high negative change in enthalpy, DeltaH degrees (-43 kJ/mol) and also positive change in entropy, DeltaS degrees (24 J/(K mol)), and thus the binding process is spontaneous at all temperatures. Analysis of kinetic parameters reveals small enthalpy of activation for association, DeltaH degrees++(ass) (-17 kJ/mol), and activation energy for association (E(a), -14 kJ/mol) when compared with the enthalpy of activation for dissociation, DeltaH degrees++(diss) (26 kJ/mol), and activation energy in the reverse direction (E(d), 28 kJ/mol). Furthermore, varying concentration of KCl showed an increase in binding affinity at low concentration but complete abrogation of the binding at higher concentration, implying the importance of hydrophobic, but predominantly ionic, forces in the Michaelis-Menten complex formation. Thus, low activation energy and the enthalpy of activation, which are perhaps a result of dipole-dipole interactions, play critical roles in AP site binding of APE.     

Influenza viral hemagglutinin complicated shape is advantageous to its binding affinity for sialosaccharide receptor

Do the complexity and the bulkiness of a protein affect the affinity between protein and ligand? We attempted to investigate this problem by using ab initio fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method to calculate the binding energy between human influenza viral hemagglutinin (HA) and human oligo-saccharide receptor. We compared the binding energies of 4 different sizes of human A virus HA H3 subtype complexed with human receptor Neu5Ac(alpha2-6)Gal as a model. The full shape receptor binding domain complexed with Neu5Ac(alpha2-6)Gal had the highest binding energy 170.3kcal/mol at the FMO-HF/STO-3G level, which was 52.3kcal/mol higher than that of the smallest domain-receptor complex. These data provide the consideration of the backyard bulkiness beyond the binding site of protein to the protein-ligand stability.     

What determines the van der Waals coefficient beta in the LIE (linear interaction energy) method to estimate binding free energies using molecular dynamics simulations?

Recently a semiempirical method has been proposed by Aqvist et al. to calculate absolute and relative binding free energies. In this method, the absolute binding free energy of a ligand is estimated as deltaGbind = alpha + beta, where Vel(bound) and Vvdw(bound) are the electrostatic and van der Waals interaction energies between the ligand and the solvated protein from an molecular dynamics (MD) trajectory with ligand bound to protein and Vel(free) and Vel(free) and Vvdw(free) are the electrostatic and van der Waals interaction energies between the ligand and the water from an MD trajectory with the ligand in water. A set of values, alpha = 0.5 and beta = 0.16, was found to give results in good agreement with experimental data. Later, however, different optimal values of beta were found in studies of compounds binding to P450cam and avidin. The present work investigates how the optimal value of beta depends on the nature of binding sites for different protein-ligand interactions. By examining seven ligands interacting with five proteins, we have discovered a linear correlation between the value of beta and the weighted non-polar desolvation ratio (WNDR), with a correlation coefficient of 0.96. We have also examined the ability of this correlation to predict optimal values of beta for different ligands binding to a single protein. We studied twelve neutral compounds bound to avidin. In this case, the WNDR approach gave a better estimate of the absolute binding free energies than results obtained using the fixed value of beta found for biotin-avidin. In terms of reproducing the relative binding free energy to biotin, the fixed-beta value gave better results for compounds similar to biotin, but for compounds less similar to biotin, the WNDR approach led to better relative binding free energies.     

Predicting Ligand Binding Affinity with Alchemical Free Energy Methods in a Polar Model Binding Site

We present a combined experimental and modeling study of organic ligand molecules binding to a slightly polar engineered cavity site in T4 lysozyme (L99A/M102Q). For modeling, we computed alchemical absolute binding free energies. These were blind tests performed prospectively on 13 diverse, previously untested candidate ligand molecules. We predicted that eight compounds would bind to the cavity and five would not; 11 of 13 predictions were correct at this level. The RMS error to the measurable absolute binding energies was 1.8 kcal/mol. In addition, we computed “relative” binding free energies for six phenol derivatives starting from two known ligands: phenol and catechol. The average RMS error in the relative free energy prediction was 2.5 kcal/mol (phenol) and 1.1 kcal/mol (catechol). To understand these results at atomic resolution, we obtained x-ray co-complex structures for nine of the diverse ligands and for all six phenol analogs. The average RMSD of the predicted pose to the experiment was 2.0 Å (diverse set), 1.8 Å (phenol-derived predictions), and 1.2 Å (catechol-derived predictions). We found that predicting accurate affinities and rank-orderings required near-native starting orientations of the ligand in the binding site. Unanticipated binding modes, multiple ligand binding, and protein conformational change all proved challenging for the free energy methods. We believe that these results can help guide future improvements in physics-based absolute binding free energy methods.     

Hydrophobic Interactions Are a Key to MDM2 Inhibition by Polyphenols as Revealed by Molecular Dynamics Simulations and MM/PBSA Free Energy Calculations

p53, a tumor suppressor protein, has been proven to regulate the cell cycle, apoptosis, and DNA repair to prevent malignant transformation. MDM2 regulates activity of p53 and inhibits its binding to DNA. In the present study, we elucidated the MDM2 inhibition potential of polyphenols (Apigenin, Fisetin, Galangin and Luteolin) by MD simulation and MM/PBSA free energy calculations. All polyphenols bind to hydrophobic groove of MDM2 and the binding was found to be stable throughout MD simulation. Luteolin showed the highest negative binding free energy value of -173.80 kJ/mol followed by Fisetin with value of -172.25 kJ/mol. It was found by free energy calculations, that hydrophobic interactions (vdW energy) have major contribution in binding free energy.     

On the calculation of binding free energies using continuum methods: Application to MHC class I protein-peptide interactions

This paper describes a methodology to calculate the binding free energy (ΔG) of a protein-ligand complex using a continuum model of the solvent. A formal thermodynamic cycle is used to decompose the binding free energy into electrostatic and non-electrostatic contributions. In this cycle, the reactants are discharged in water, associated as purely nonpolar entities, and the final complex is then recharged. The total electrostatic free energies of the protein, the ligand, and the complex in water are calculated with the finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann (FDPB) method. The nonpolar (hydrophobic) binding free energy is calculated using a free energy-surface area relationship, with a single alkane/water surface tension coefficient (γ_aw). The loss in backbone and side-chain configurational entropy upon binding is estimated and added to the electrostatic and the nonpolar components of ΔG. The methodology is applied to the binding of the murine MHC class I protein H-2K^b with three distinct peptides, and to the human MHC class I protein HLA-A2 in complex with five different peptides. Despite significant differences in the amino acid sequences of the different peptides, the experimental binding free energy differences (ΔΔG_exp) are quite small (<0.3 and <2.7 kcal/mol for the H-2K^b and HLA-A2 complexes, respectively). For each protein, the calculations are successful in reproducing a fairly small range of values for ΔΔG_calc (<4.4 and <5.2 kcal/mol, respectively) although the relative peptide binding affinities of H-2K^b and HLA-A2 are not reproduced. For all protein-peptide complexes that were treated, it was found that electrostatic interactions oppose binding whereas nonpolar interactions drive complex formation. The two types of interactions appear to be correlated in that larger nonpolar contributions to binding are generally opposed by increased electrostatic contributions favoring dissociation. The factors that drive the binding of peptides to MHC proteins are discussed in light of our results.     

Absolute binding free energy calculations using molecular dynamics simulations with restraining potentials

The absolute (standard) binding free energy of eight FK506-related ligands to FKBP12 is calculated using free energy perturbation molecular dynamics (FEP/MD) simulations with explicit solvent. A number of features are implemented to improve the accuracy and enhance the convergence of the calculations. First, the absolute binding free energy is decomposed into sequential steps during which the ligand-surrounding interactions as well as various biasing potentials restraining the translation, orientation, and conformation of the ligand are turned "on" and "off." Second, sampling of the ligand conformation is enforced by a restraining potential based on the root mean-square deviation relative to the bound state conformation. The effect of all the restraining potentials is rigorously unbiased, and it is shown explicitly that the final results are independent of all artificial restraints. Third, the repulsive and dispersive free energy contribution arising from the Lennard-Jones interactions of the ligand with its surrounding (protein and solvent) is calculated using the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen separation. This separation also improves convergence of the FEP/MD calculations. Fourth, to decrease the computational cost, only a small number of atoms in the vicinity of the binding site are simulated explicitly, while all the influence of the remaining atoms is incorporated implicitly using the generalized solvent boundary potential (GSBP) method. With GSBP, the size of the simulated FKBP12/ligand systems is significantly reduced, from approximately 25,000 to 2500. The computations are very efficient and the statistical error is small ( approximately 1 kcal/mol). The calculated binding free energies are generally in good agreement with available experimental data and previous calculations (within approximately 2 kcal/mol). The present results indicate that a strategy based on FEP/MD simulations of a reduced GSBP atomic model sampled with conformational, translational, and orientational restraining potentials can be computationally inexpensive and accurate.