6,018 research outputs found
Open Boundary Simulations of Proteins and Their Hydration Shells by Hamiltonian Adaptive Resolution Scheme
The recently proposed Hamiltonian Adaptive Resolution Scheme (H-AdResS)
allows to perform molecular simulations in an open boundary framework. It
allows to change on the fly the resolution of specific subset of molecules
(usually the solvent), which are free to diffuse between the atomistic region
and the coarse-grained reservoir. So far, the method has been successfully
applied to pure liquids. Coupling the H-AdResS methodology to hybrid models of
proteins, such as the Molecular Mechanics/Coarse-Grained (MM/CG) scheme, is a
promising approach for rigorous calculations of ligand binding free energies in
low-resolution protein models. Towards this goal, here we apply for the first
time H-AdResS to two atomistic proteins in dual-resolution solvent, proving its
ability to reproduce structural and dynamic properties of both the proteins and
the solvent, as obtained from atomistic simulations.Comment: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work
that appeared in final form in Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation,
copyright \c{opyright} American Chemical Society after peer review and
technical editing by the publishe
Inclusion of Enclosed Hydration Effects in the Binding Free Energy Estimation of Dopamine D3 Receptor Complexes
Confined hydration and conformational flexibility are some of the challenges
encountered for the rational design of selective antagonists of G-protein
coupled receptors. We present a set of C3-substituted (-)-stepholidine
derivatives as potent binders of the dopamine D3 receptor. The compounds are
characterized biochemically, as well as by computer modeling using a novel
molecular dynamics-based alchemical binding free energy approach which
incorporates the effect of the displacement of enclosed water molecules from
the binding site. The free energy of displacement of specific hydration sites
is obtained using the Hydration Site Analysis method with explicit solvation.
This work underscores the critical role of confined hydration and
conformational reorganization in the molecular recognition mechanism of
dopamine receptors and illustrates the potential of binding free energy models
to represent these key phenomena.Comment: This is the first report of using enclosed hydration in estimating
binding free energies of protein-ligand complexes using implicit solvatio
Variational Methods for Biomolecular Modeling
Structure, function and dynamics of many biomolecular systems can be
characterized by the energetic variational principle and the corresponding
systems of partial differential equations (PDEs). This principle allows us to
focus on the identification of essential energetic components, the optimal
parametrization of energies, and the efficient computational implementation of
energy variation or minimization. Given the fact that complex biomolecular
systems are structurally non-uniform and their interactions occur through
contact interfaces, their free energies are associated with various interfaces
as well, such as solute-solvent interface, molecular binding interface, lipid
domain interface, and membrane surfaces. This fact motivates the inclusion of
interface geometry, particular its curvatures, to the parametrization of free
energies. Applications of such interface geometry based energetic variational
principles are illustrated through three concrete topics: the multiscale
modeling of biomolecular electrostatics and solvation that includes the
curvature energy of the molecular surface, the formation of microdomains on
lipid membrane due to the geometric and molecular mechanics at the lipid
interface, and the mean curvature driven protein localization on membrane
surfaces. By further implicitly representing the interface using a phase field
function over the entire domain, one can simulate the dynamics of the interface
and the corresponding energy variation by evolving the phase field function,
achieving significant reduction of the number of degrees of freedom and
computational complexity. Strategies for improving the efficiency of
computational implementations and for extending applications to coarse-graining
or multiscale molecular simulations are outlined.Comment: 36 page
Molecular theory of solvation: Methodology summary and illustrations
Integral equation theory of molecular liquids based on statistical mechanics
is quite promising as an essential part of multiscale methodology for chemical
and biomolecular nanosystems in solution. Beginning with a molecular
interaction potential force field, it uses diagrammatic analysis of the
solvation free energy to derive integral equations for correlation functions
between molecules in solution in the statistical-mechanical ensemble. The
infinite chain of coupled integral equations for many-body correlation
functions is reduced to a tractable form for 2- or 3-body correlations by
applying the so-called closure relations. Solving these equations produces the
solvation structure with accuracy comparable to molecular simulations that have
converged but has a critical advantage of readily treating the effects and
processes spanning over a large space and slow time scales, by far not feasible
for explicit solvent molecular simulations. One of the versions of this
formalism, the three-dimensional reference interaction site model (3D-RISM)
integral equation complemented with the Kovalenko-Hirata (KH) closure
approximation, yields the solvation structure in terms of 3D maps of
correlation functions, including density distributions, of solvent interaction
sites around a solute (supra)molecule with full consistent account for the
effects of chemical functionalities of all species in the solution. The
solvation free energy and the subsequent thermodynamics are then obtained at
once as a simple integral of the 3D correlation functions by performing
thermodynamic integration analytically.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, Revie
Solvation thermodynamics of organic molecules by the molecular integral equation theory : approaching chemical accuracy
The integral equation theory (IET) of molecular liquids has been an active area of academic research in theoretical and computational physical chemistry for over 40 years because it provides a consistent theoretical framework to describe the structural and thermodynamic properties of liquid-phase solutions. The theory can describe pure and mixed solvent systems (including anisotropic and nonequilibrium systems) and has already been used for theoretical studies of a vast range of problems in chemical physics / physical chemistry, molecular biology, colloids, soft matter, and electrochemistry. A consider- able advantage of IET is that it can be used to study speci fi c solute − solvent interactions, unlike continuum solvent models, but yet it requires considerably less computational expense than explicit solvent simulations
Hybrid Quantum Mechanical/ Molecular Mechanical Methods for Studying Energy Transduction in Biomolecular Machines
Hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods have become indispensable tools for the study of biomolecules. In this article, we briefly review the basic methodological details of QM/MM approaches and discuss their applications to various energy transduction problems in biomolecular machines, such as long-range proton transports, fast electron transfers, and mechanochemical coupling. We highlight the particular importance for these applications of balancing computational efficiency and accuracy. Using several recent examples, we illustrate the value and limitations of QM/MM methodologies for both ground and excited states, as well as strategies for calibrating them in specific applications. We conclude with brief comments on several areas that can benefit from further efforts to make QM/MM analyses more quantitative and applicable to increasingly complex biological problems
Doctor of Philosophy
dissertationThe coiled-coil is a common protein tertiary structural motif that is composed of two or more alpha helices intertwined together to formed a supercoil. In biological systems, the coiledcoil motif often forms the oligomerization domain of various proteins including DNA binding proteins, structural and transport proteins, and cellular transport and fusion proteins. It was first described by Crick in the 1950s while describing the structure of α-keratin and has since that time been the subject of numerous engineering and mutation studies. This versatile motif has been adapted to a number of nonbiological applications including environmentally responsive hydrogels, crosslinking agents, the construction of self-assembling fibers for tissue engineering, and biosensor surfaces. In this dissertation, we test the applicability of computational methods to understand the underlying energetics in coiled-coils as we apply molecular modeling approaches in the development of pharmaceutics. Two studies are described which test the limits of modern molecular dynamic force fields to understand the structural dynamics of the motif and to use energy calculation methodologies to predict favorable mutations for heterodimer formation and specificity. The first study considers the increasingly common use of fluorinated residues in protein pharmaceutics with regard to their incorporation in coiled-coils. Many studies find that fluorinated residues in the hydrophobic core increase protein stability against chemical and thermal denaturants. Often their incorporation fails to consider structural, energetic, and geometrical differences between these fluorinated residues and their nonfluorinated counterparts. To consider these differences, several variants of Hodges' very stable parallel heterodimer coiledcoil were constructed to examine the effect of salt bridge lengths and geometries with mixed fluorinated and nonfluorinated packed hydrophobic cores. In the second study, we collaborated with an experimental laboratory in the development of a mutant Bcr monomer with designed mutations to increase specificity and binding to the oncoprotein Bcr-Abl for use as an apoptosis inducing agent in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cells. The final chapters of this dissertation discuss challenges and limitations that were encountered using force fields and energetic methods in our attempts to use computational chemistry to model this protein motif
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