Analysis of the structure and dynamics of human serum albumin

A computational approach to designing a peptide-based ligand for the purification of human serum albumin (HSA) was undertaken using molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. A three-step procedure was performed to design a specific ligand for HSA. Based on the candidate pocket structure of HSA (warfarin binding site), a peptide library was built. These peptides were then docked into the pocket of HSA using the GOLD program. The GOLDscore values were used to determine the affinity of peptides for HSA. Consequently, the dipeptide Trp–Trp, which shows a high GOLDscore value, was selected and linked to a spacer arm of LysCO(CH₂)₅NH] on the surface of ECH-lysine sepharose 4 gel. For further evaluation, the Autodock Vina program was used to dock the linked compound into the pocket of HSA. The docking simulation was performed to obtain a first guess of the binding structure of the spacer–Trp–Trp–HSA complex and subsequently analyzed by MD simulations to assess the reliability of the docking results. These MD simulations indicated that the ligand–HSA complex remains stable, and water molecules can bridge between the ligand and the protein by hydrogen bonds. Finally, absorption spectroscopic studies were performed to illustrate the appropriateness of the binding affinity of the designed ligand toward HSA. These studies demonstrate that the designed dipeptide can bind preferentially to the warfarin binding site. Graphical Abstract

Three-step computational approach to the design of a dipeptide ligand for human serum albumin purification exploiting structure-based docking and molecular dynamics simulation