Molecular dynamics simulation of a high-affinity antibody-protein complex

One nanosecond molecular dynamic (MD) simulation of anti-hen egg white lysozyme (HEL) antibody HyHEL63 (HH63) complexed with HEL reveals rigid and flexible regions of the HH63 binding site. Fifty conformations, extracted from the MD trajectory at regular time intervals were superimposed on HH63-HEL X-ray crystal structure, and the root mean squared deviations (RMSDs) and deviations in Calpha atom positions between the X-ray structure and the MD conformer were measured. Residue positions showing the large deviations in both light chain and heavy chain of the antibody were same in all the MD conformers. The residue positions showing smallest deviations were same for all the conformers in the case of light chain, whereas relatively variable in the heavy chain. Positions of large and small deviations fell in the complementarity determining regions (CDRs), for both heavy and light chains. The larger deviations were in CDR-2 of light and CDR-1 of heavy chain. Smaller deviations were in CDR-3 of light and CDR-2 and CDR-3 of heavy chains. The large and small deviating regions highlight flexible and rigid regions of HH63 binding site and suggest a mosaic binding mechanism, including both "induced fit" and preconfigured "lock-and-key" type of binding. Combined "induced fit" and "lock-and-key" binding would be a better definition for the formation of large complexes, which bury larger surface area on binding, as in the case of antibody-HEL complex. We further show that flexible regions, comprising mostly charged and polar residues, form intermolecular interactions with HEL, whereas rigid regions do not. Electrostatic complementarity between HH63 and HEL also imply optimized binding affinity. Flexible and rigid regions of a high-affinity antibody are selected during the affinity maturation of the antibody and have specific functional significance. The functional importance of local inherently flexible regions is to establish intermolecular contacts or they play a key role in molecular recognition, whereas local rigid regions provide the structural framework.