Hyaluronan lyase from Streptococcus pneumoniae can degrade hyaluronic acid, which is one of the major components in the extracellular matrix. Hyaluronan can regulate water balance, osmotic pressure, and act as an ion exchange resin. Followed by our recent work on the catalytic reaction mechanism and substrate binding mode, we in this work further investigate the functional role of active site arginine residue, R462, in the degradation of hyaluronan. The site directed mutagenesis simulation of R462A and R462Q were modeled using a combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical method. The overall substrate binding features upon mutations do not have significant changes. The energetic profiles for the reaction processes are essentially the same as that in wild type enzyme, but significant activation barrier height changes can be observed. Both mutants were shown to accelerate the overall enzymatic activity, e.g., R462A can reduce the barrier height by about 2.8 kcal mol–1, while R462Q reduces the activation energy by about 2.9 kcal mol–1. Consistent with the active site model calculated using density functional theory, our results can support that the positive charge on R462 guanidino side chain group plays a negative role in the catalysis. Finally, the functional role of R462 was proposed to facilitate the formation of initial enzyme-substrate complex, but not in the subsequent catalytic degradation reaction.
The c-ros oncogene 1 (ROS1) has proven to be an important cancer target for the treatment of various human cancers. The anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitor crizotinib has been granted approval for the treatment of patients with ROS1 positive metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer by the Food and Drug Administration on 2016. However, serious resistance due to the secondary mutation of glycine 2032 to arginine (G2032R) was developed in clinical studies. Loratinib (PF-06463922), a macrocyclic analog of crizotinib, showed significantly improved inhibitory activity against wild–type (WT) ROS1 and ROS1G2032R mutant. To provide insights into the inhibition mechanism, molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations were carried out for the complexes of loratinib with WT and G2032R mutated ROS1. The apo-ROS1WT and apo-ROS1G2032R systems showed similar RMSF distributions, while ROS1G2032R-loratinib showed significantly higher than that of WT ROS1-loratinib, which revealed that the binding of loratinib to ROS1G2032R significantly interfered the ?uctuation of protein. Calculations of binding free energies indicate that G2032R mutation significantly reduces the binding affinity of loratinib for ROS1, which arose mostly from the increase of conformation entropy and the decrease of solvation energy. Furthermore, detailed per-residue binding free energies highlighted the increased and decreased contributions of some residues in the G2032R mutated systems. The present study revealed the detailed inhibitory mechanism of loratinib as potent WT and G2032R mutated ROS1 inhibitor, which was expected to provide a basis for rational drug design. 相似文献
Herein we report a study of the switchable [3]rotaxane reported by Huang et al. (Appl Phys Lett 85(22):5391–5393, 1) that can be mounted to a surface to form a nanomechanical, linear, molecular motor. We demonstrate the application of semiempirical electronic structure theory to predict the average and instantaneous force generated by redox-induced ring shuttling. Detailed analysis of the geometric and electronic structure of the system reveals technical considerations essential to success of the approach. The force is found to be in the 100–200 pN range, consistent with published experimental estimates.
As one of the most important antiviral drugs against 2009 influenza A (H1N1), will zanamivir be effective for the possible drug resistant mutants? To answer this question, we combined multiple molecular dynamics simulations and molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) calculations to study the efficiency of zanamivir over the most frequent drug-resistant strains of neuraminidase including R293K, R152K, E119A/D and H275Y mutants. The calculated results indicate that the modeled mutants of the 2009-H1N1 strains except H275Y will be significantly resistant to zanamivir. The resistance to zanamivir is mainly caused by the loss of polar interactions. The identified potential resistance sites in this study will be useful for the development of new effective anti-influenza drugs and to avoid the occurrence of the state without effective drugs to new mutant influenza strains.
Determination of electrophilic and nucleophilic sites of a molecule is the primary task to find the active sites of the lead molecule. In the present study, the active sites of busulfan have been predicted by molecular electrostatic potential surface and Fukui function analysis with the help of dispersion corrected density functional theory. Similarly, the identification of active binding sites of the proteins against lead compound plays a vital role in the field of drug discovery. Rigid and flexible molecular docking approaches are used for this purpose. For rigid docking, Hex 8.0.0 software employing fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm has been used. The partial flexible blind docking simulations have been performed with AutoDock 4.2 software; where a Lamarckian genetic algorithm is employed. The results showed that the most electrophilic atoms of busulfan bind with the targets. It is clear from the docking studies that busulfan has inhibition capability toward the targets 12CA and 1BZM.
Schiff bases have many chemical and biological applications in medicine and pharmaceuticals due to the presence of an imine group (?C=N?). These bases are used in many different fields of technology, and in photochemistry because of their photochromic properties. Here, the structural and electronic properties of the Schiff base formed by tacrine and saccharin (TacSac) were explored using density functional theory with the B3LYP, M06-2X, M06L, and ωB97XD functionals in combination with the 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The time-dependent formalism was used at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level to obtain electronic transitions. The calculations were repeated in an implicit solvent model mimicking water, using the polarizable continuum model in conjunction with a solvation model based on a density approach. The results indicate that TacSac cannot form spontaneously, but can be obtained in mild reactions. However, the resulting Schiff base displays different characteristics to its monomers. It also has the potential for use in photochemical intramolecular charge-transfer systems.
Polychlorinated dibenzothiophene (PCDT) and polychlorinated thianthrene (PCTA) are sulfur analogues of dioxins, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/F). In this work, we present a detailed mechanistic and kinetic analysis of PCDT and PCTA formation from the combustion of 2,4,5-trichlorothiophenol. It is shown that the formation of these persistent organic pollutants is more favourable, both kinetically and thermodynamically, than their analogous dioxin counterparts. This is rationalised in terms of the different influences of the S–H and O–H moieties in the 2,4,5-trichlorothiophenol and 2,4,5-trichlorophenol precursors. Kinetic parameters also indicate that the yield of PCDT should exceed that of PCDD. Finally, we demonstrate here that the degree and pattern of chlorination on the 2,4,5-trichlorothiophenol precursor leads to subtle thermodynamic and kinetic changes to the PCDT/PCTA formation mechanisms.
Graphical abstract Formation mechanisms of persistant organic pollutants, PCDT and PCTA, from 2,4,5-trichlorothiophenol combustion, has been investigated using density functional theory
The methylxanthines have attracted interest due to the changes on their biological activities and physicochemical properties in terms of the number and position of the methyl groups present in the xanthine moiety. We report a theoretical study of the influence of the methyl substituent in the basicity and reactivity of xanthine and its methylated derivatives. Our results provide that when the xanthine increases the number of methyl substituents, the gas phase basicity increases (reactivity to proton increases), and the global hardness decreases. The result is in agreement with the maximum hardness principle (MHP) that states, “at equilibrium, chemical systems are as hard as possible” (Pearson, R.G., J. Chem. Educ., 1987, 64, 561–567, and Parr R.G., Chattaraj P.K., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 1854–1855).
In order to reveal the mechanism of drug action and design of DNA/RNA-targeted drugs containing aromatic rings, the cooperativity effects between the intermolecular π???π and H-bonding interactions in curcumin(drug)???cytosine(DNA/RNA base)???H2O were investigated by the B3LYP-D3 and MP2(full) methods with the 6–311++G(2d,p) basis set. The π???π interaction plays an important role in stabilizing the linear ternary complexes with the cooperativity effects, and the cyclic structures suffer the anticooperativity effects. The cooperativity or anticooperativity effects are notable, which could lead to a possible significant change in drug activity. The hydration is essentially the cooperativity or anticooperativity effect. These results were confirmed by the atoms in molecules (AIM), reduced density gradient (RDG), and surface electrostatic potentials analyses. The cyclic complexes are more stable, from which it can be deduced that the drug always links with the DNA/RNA base and H2O by the π???π or H-bonding interactions, and only in this way can the drug activity be shown. Therefore, the designed DNA/RNA-targeted drugs should possess a certain number of hydrophilic groups in contact with the DNA/RNA base and H2O to reconcile drug activity by the cooperativity effect between the π???π and H-bonding interactions, as is in agreement with many of the drugs in use.
This paper presents a differential evolution algorithm that is adapted for the protein folding optimization on a three-dimensional AB off-lattice model. The proposed algorithm is based on a self-adaptive differential evolution that improves the algorithm efficiency and reduces the number of control parameters. A mutation strategy for the fast convergence is used inside the algorithm. A temporal locality is used in order to speed up the algorithm convergence additionally and to find amino-acid conformations with the lowest free energy values. Within this mechanism a new vector is calculated when the trial vector is better than the corresponding vector from the population. This new vector is likely better than the trial vector and this accelerates convergence speed. Because of the fast convergence the algorithm has some chance to be trapped into the local optima. To mitigate this problem the algorithm includes reinitialization. The proposed algorithm was tested on amino-acid sequences that are used frequently in literature. The obtained results show that the proposed algorithm is superior to the algorithms from the literature and the obtained amino-acid sequences have significantly lower free energy values.
RET (rearranged during transfection) tyrosine kinase is a promising target for several human cancers. Abt-348, Birb-796, Motesanib and Sorafenib are DFG-out multi-kinase inhibitors that have been reported to inhibit RET activity with good IC50 values. Although the DFG-out conformation has attracted great interest in the design of type II inhibitors, the structural requirements for binding to the RET DFG-out conformation remains unclear. Herein, the DFG-out conformation of RET was determined by homology modelling, the four inhibitors were docked, and the binding modes investigated by molecular dynamics simulation. Binding free energies were calculated using the molecular mechanics/Poisson-Bolzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) method. The trends in predicted binding free affinities correlated well with experimental data and were used to explain the activity difference of the studied inhibitors. Per-residue energy decomposition analyses provided further information on specific interaction properties. Finally, we also conducted a detailed e-pharmacophore modelling of the different RET-inhibitor complexes, explaining the common and specific pharmacophore features of the different complexes. The results reported herein will be useful in future rational design of novel DFG-out RET inhibitors.
Graphical AbstractLeft Ribbon representation of DFG-out RET tyrosine kinase structure showing key residues of RET interacting with inhibitors. Right e-Pharmacophore hypothesis for RET-Abt-348 generated from the complex structure
The adsorption processes of elemental lead on carbonaceous surfaces which adsorbed CO/CO2/NO flue gases were investigated to understand the effects of CO/CO2/NO on elemental lead adsorption on carbonaceous surfaces with density functional theory. All calculations including optimizations, energies, and frequencies were conducted at B3PW91 density functional theory level, utilizing SDD basis set for lead and 6-31G(d) Pople basis set for other atoms. The results indicate that CO, CO2, and NO can promote the adsorption of elemental lead on the carbonaceous surface, but probably compete for adsorption sites with elemental lead. The promotion effects on adsorption can be attributed to active sites on the carbonaceous surface rather than flue gas adsorption on the carbonaceous surface. In addition, the adsorption order of three kinds of flue gas on the carbonaceous surface is CO2?>?NO?>?CO?>?Pb on average. Furthermore, the enhancement order of three kinds of flue gas on the elemental lead adsorption on carbonaceous surfaces is CO-CS?>?CO2-CS?>?NO-CS?>?CS in general. In particular, atomic charge and adsorption energy have good linear relationship in the process of elemental lead adsorption.
This work is focused on the donor properties of cobalt-exchanged cationic sites in zeolites. It is based on cluster and periodic density functional theory modeling for relevant {[Co(II)(NH3)n]–NO} adducts, where Co(II) means a cobalt cation embedded either in a periodic model of chabasite (CHA) zeolite or in model clusters. NO stretching frequencies were derived from MD trajectories and compared to harmonic values from cluster calculations. By relating calculated NO frequencies to experimental FTIR spectra, it was shown that the forms of {Co(II)-NO} adducts comprising three or four ammonia co-ligands dominate the spectrum taken in ammonia-saturation conditions while forms with two NH3 ligands prevail under intermediate ammonia saturation. Finally, this work confirms the critical dependence of Co(II) activation ability towards NO upon the center donor properties, reinforced by ligation of strong donor ammonia ligands. However, strongly bound ligands appear also to compete with interaction of the center with the electron-rich framework, and a balance must be observed to maintain optimal activation ability.
Graphical abstract A snapshot from MD trajectory showing a fragment of periodic framework with twoCo(II)–NO centers, bound to one framework oxygen and strongly coordinating three ammonia ligands with four others forming the second coordination sphere
In this work, regular convergence patterns of the structural, harmonic, and VPT2-calculated anharmonic vibrational parameters of ethylene towards the Kohn–Sham complete basis set (KS CBS) limit are demonstrated for the first time. The performance of the VPT2 scheme implemented using density functional theory (DFT-BLYP and DFT-B3LYP) in combination with two Pople basis sets (6-311++G** and 6-311++G(3df,2pd)), the polarization-consistent basis sets pc-n, aug-pc-n, and pcseg-n (n?=?0, 1, 2, 3, 4), and the correlation-consistent basis sets cc-pVXZ and aug-cc-pVXZ (X?=?D, T, Q, 5, 6) was tested.The BLYP-calculated harmonic frequencies were found to be markedly closer than the B3LYP-calculated harmonic frequencies to the experimentally derived values, while the calculated anharmonic frequencies consistently underestimated the observed wavenumbers. The different basis set families gave very similar estimated values for the CBS parameters. The anharmonic frequencies calculated with B3LYP/aug-pc-3 were consistently significantly higher than those obtained with the pc-3 basis set; applying the aug-pcseg-n basis set family alleviated this problem. Utilization of B3LYP/aug-pcseg-n basis sets instead of B3LYP/aug-cc-pVXZ, which is computationally less expensive, is suggested for medium-sized molecules. Harmonic BLYP/pc-2 calculations produced fairly accurate ethylene frequencies.
Graphical Abstract In this study, the performance of the VPT2 scheme implemented using density functional theory (DFT-BLYP and DFT-B3LYP) in combination with the polarization-consistent basis sets pc-n, aug-pc-n, and pcseg-n (n?=?0, 1, 2, 3, 4), and the correlation-consistent basis sets cc-pVXZ and aug-cc-pVXZ (X?=?D, T, Q, 5, and 6) was tested. For the first time, we demonstrated regular convergence patterns of the structural, harmonic, and VPT2-calculated anharmonic vibrational parameters of ethylene towards the Kohn–Sham complete basis set (KS CBS) limit
The density functional theory method using the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory was used to perform isoenergetic maps in order to determine the lower energy conformers of four disaccharides constituting alginic acids, which are based on β-D-mannuronic (M) and α-L-guluronic acid (G), called MM, GG, MG, and GM. The preferred structures are combined to monovalent (Li+, Na+, and K+) cations and further fully optimized, and an isoenergetic map corresponding to the complex (MG2?, 2Na+) was performed. Then, the reactivity of MG complexes with mono- and bivalent cations was studied using the global nucleophilic index. The position selectivity was also predicted using the local nucleophilic indices. It was demonstrated that experimental trends of relative reactivity and regioselectivity of the complexes are correctly predicted using these empirical indices of reactivity.
More than 20 coarse-grained (CG) DNA models have been developed for simulating the behavior of this molecule under various conditions, including those required for nanotechnology. However, none of these models reproduces the DNA polymorphism associated with conformational changes in the ribose rings of the DNA backbone. These changes make an essential contribution to the DNA local deformability and provide the possibility of the transition of the DNA double helix from the B-form to the A-form during interactions with biological molecules. We propose a CG representation of the ribose conformational flexibility. We substantiate the choice of the CG sites (six per nucleotide) needed for the ”sugar” GC DNA model, and obtain the potentials of the CG interactions between the sites by the ”bottom-up” approach using the all-atom AMBER force field. We show that the representation of the ribose flexibility requires one non-harmonic and one three-particle potential, the forms of both the potentials being different from the ones generally used. The model also includes (i) explicit representation of ions (in an implicit solvent) and (ii) sequence dependence. With these features, the sugar CG DNA model reproduces (with the same parameters) both the B- and A- stable forms under corresponding conditions and demonstrates both the A to B and the B to A phase transitions.
Graphical Abstract The proposed coarse-grained DNA model allows to reproduce both the B- and A- DNA forms and the transitions between them under corresponding conditions.
Thirteen X-ray crystal structures containing various non-covalent interactions such as halogen bonds, halogen–halogen contacts and hydrogen bonds (I?N, I?F, I?I, F?F, I?H and F?H) were considered and investigated using the DFT-D3 method (B97D/def2-QZVP). The interaction energies were calculated at MO62X/def2-QZVP and MP2/aug-cc-pvDZ level of theories. The higher interaction and dispersion energies (2nd crystal) of ?9.58 kcal mol?1 and ?7.10 kcal mol?1 observed for 1,4-di-iodotetrafluorobenzene bis [bis (2-phenylethyl) sulfoxide] structure indicates the most stable geometrical arrangement in the crystal packing. The electrostatic potential values calculated for all crystal structures have a positive σ-hole, which aids understanding of the nature of σ-hole bonds. The significance of the existence of halogen bonds in crystal packing environments was authenticated by replacing iodine atoms by bromine and chlorine atoms. Nucleus independent chemical shift analysis reported on the resonance contribution to the interaction energies of halogen bonds and halogen–halogen contacts. Hirshfeld surface analysis and topological analysis (atoms in molecules) were carried out to analyze the occurrence and strength of all non-covalent interactions. These analyses revealed that halogen bond interactions were more dominant than hydrogen bonding interactions in these crystal structures.
Graphical Abstract Molecluar structure of 1,4-Di-iodotetrafluorobenzene bis(thianthrene 5-oxide) moelcule and its corresponding molecular electrostatic potential map for the view of σ-hole.
<正>Dear Editor,Rift Valley fever(RVF)is an anthropozoonosis caused by Rift Valley fever virus(RVFV).RVFV belongs to the Phlebovirus genus in the family Bunyaviridae,which is circulating among ruminants.Human infection with RVFV is generally asymptomatic,however,minority of patients develop severe RVF diseases like encephalitis or 相似文献
