Applications of simulated annealing to the conformational analysis of flexible molecules

We describe in this article our solution to the global minimum problem which uses the simulated annealing algorithm of Kirkpatrick. This method is a Metropolis (e-ΔE/kT) Monte Carlo sampling of conformation space with simultaneous constraint of the search by lowering the temperature T so that the search converges on the global minimum. The Anneal-Conformer program has been extensively tested with peptides and organic molecules using either the Amber or MM2 force fields. A history file of the simulated annealing process allows reconstruction of the random walk in conformation space for subsequent examination. Thus plots of distance and dihedral angle changes during the search for the global minimum can be examined to deduce molecular shape and flexibility. A separate program Conf-Gen reads the history file and extracts all low energy conformations visited during the run.     

Search strategy and data compression for a retrieval system with binary-coded mass spectra

A retrieval system for binary-coded mass spectra is described. The data base used contains 9628 low-resolution mass spectra from the Aldermaston Mass Spectra Data Collection. These spectra are reduced to 106 preselected binary-coded m/z values each. Storage of the compound names and formulae is minimized by using a special set of characters and file organization. The search strategy permits fast generation of the N- nearest neighbours. Depending on the number of best matches generated, an average search requires access to only 24—33% of the spectra contained in the data base. Because of its limited storage requirements, this search system can be used even on microcomputers.l]     

A window fourier domain search system

A search system is presented that utilizes Fourier domain data. This system removes dominating features from the infrared absorbance data, transforms the data into the Fourier domain and performs a complete library search. The actual matching algorithm is very simple and excellent search results were attained using 16 cm^–1 resolution infrared absorbance spectra before transformation. This method can be used to distinguish very similar spectra that cannot be distinguished by many other search methods.     

Some dimension problems in molecular databases

Molecular databases obtained either by combinatorial chemistry tools or by more traditional methods are usually organized according to a set of molecular properties. A database may be regarded as a multidimensional collection of points within a space spanned by the various molecular properties of interest, the property space. Some properties are likely to be more important than others, those considered important form the essential dimensions of the molecular database. How many properties are essential, this depends on the molecular problem addressed, however, the search in property space is usually limited to a few dimensions. Two types of search strategies are related either to search by property or search by lead compound. The first case corresponds to a lattice model, where the search is based on sets of adjacent blocks, usually hypercubes in property space, whereas lead-based searches in databases can be regarded as search around a center in property space. A natural model for lead-based searches involves a hyperspherical model. In this contribution a theoretical optimum dimension is determined that enhances the effectiveness of lead-based searches in property space of molecular databases.     

Data self-recalibration and mixture mass fingerprint searching (DASER-MMF) to enhance protein identification within complex mixtures

A novel algorithm based on Data Self-Recalibration and a subsequent Mixture Mass Fingerprint search (DASER-MMF) has been developed to improve the performance of protein identification from online 1D and 2D-LC-MS/MS experiments conducted on high-resolution mass spectrometers. Recalibration of 40% to 75% of the MS spectra in a human serum dataset is demonstrated with average errors of 0.3±0.3 ppm, regardless of the original calibration quality. With simple protein mixtures, the MMF search identifies new proteins not found in the MS/MS based search and increases the sequence coverage for identified proteins by six times. The high mass accuracy allows proteins to be identified with as little as three peptide mass hits. When applied to very complex samples, the MMF search shows less dramatic performance improvements. However, refinements such as additional discriminating factors utilized within the search space provide significant gains in protein identification ability and indicate that further enhancements are possible in this realm.     

Rapid subgraph search using parallelism

A new parallel processing algorithm is reported for subgraph matching. Parallelism is achieved for the first time within the process of node-by-node matching of two individual graphs. A SIMULA program is described for simulating this parallel subgraph search algorithm. Simulation results from a series of chemical substructure search problems show an average utilization of 84% on a 25-processor machine and up to a 24-fold speed enhancement over a single processor. Potential applications include starting material selections for synthesis as well as general substructure search problems.     

Immobilization of proteins on plates of Dacron

Dacron (polyethylenetherephthalate) in the form of plates if proposed as a maxtrix to immobilized proteins. A three-step procedure is used to activate this support and to fix the protein on it. Amyloglucosidase was used as a model to test this method, and it showed advantages compared to the powder form of Dacron.     

Testing an alternative search algorithm for compound identification with the ‘Wiley Registry of Tandem Mass Spectral Data,MSforID’

A tandem mass spectral database system consists of a library of reference spectra and a search program. State‐of‐the‐art search programs show a high tolerance for variability in compound‐specific fragmentation patterns produced by collision‐induced decomposition and enable sensitive and specific ‘identity search’. In this communication, performance characteristics of two search algorithms combined with the ‘Wiley Registry of Tandem Mass Spectral Data, MSforID’ (Wiley Registry MSMS, John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ, USA) were evaluated. The search algorithms tested were the MSMS search algorithm implemented in the NIST MS Search program 2.0g (NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, USA) and the MSforID algorithm (John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ, USA). Sample spectra were acquired on different instruments and, thus, covered a broad range of possible experimental conditions or were generated in silico. For each algorithm, more than 30 000 matches were performed. Statistical evaluation of the library search results revealed that principally both search algorithms can be combined with the Wiley Registry MSMS to create a reliable identification tool. It appears, however, that a higher degree of spectral similarity is necessary to obtain a correct match with the NIST MS Search program. This characteristic of the NIST MS Search program has a positive effect on specificity as it helps to avoid false positive matches (type I errors), but reduces sensitivity. Thus, particularly with sample spectra acquired on instruments differing in their setup from tandem‐in‐space type fragmentation, a comparably higher number of false negative matches (type II errors) were observed by searching the Wiley Registry MSMS. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mass spectrometry fingerprinting coupled to National Institute of Standards and Technology Mass Spectral search algorithm for pattern recognition

A new analytical strategy based on mass spectrometry fingerprinting combined with the NIST-MS search program for pattern recognition is evaluated and validated. A case study dealing with the tracing of the geographical origin of virgin olive oils (VOOs) proves the capabilities of mass spectrometry fingerprinting coupled with NIST-MS search program for classification. The volatile profiles of 220 VOOs from Liguria and other Mediterranean regions were analysed by secondary electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (SESI-MS). MS spectra of VOOs were classified according to their origin by the freeware NIST-MS search v 2.0. The NIST classification results were compared to well-known pattern recognition techniques, such as linear discriminant analysis (LDA), partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), k-nearest neighbours (kNN), and counter-propagation artificial neural networks (CP-ANN). The NIST-MS search program predicted correctly 96% of the Ligurian VOOs and 92% of the non-Ligurian ones of an external independent data set; outperforming the traditional chemometric techniques (prediction abilities in the external validation achieved by kNN were 88% and 84% for the Ligurian and non-Ligurian categories respectively). This proves that the NIST-MS search software is a useful classification tool.     

Analysis of the genetic algorithm method of molecular conformation determination

Many important problems in chemistry require knowledge of the 3-D conformation of a molecule. A commonly used computational approach is to search for a variety of low-energy conformations. Here, we study the behavior of the genetic algorithm (GA) method as a global search technique for finding these low-energy conformations. Our test molecule is cyclic hexaglycine. The goal of this study is to determine how to best utilize GAs to find low-energy populations of conformations given a fixed amount of CPU time. Two measures are presented that help monitor the improvement in the GA populations and their loss of diversity. Different hybrid methods that combine coarse GA global search with local gradient minimization are evaluated. We present several specific recommendations about trade-offs when choosing GA parameters such as population size, number of generations, rate of interaction between subpopulations, and combinations of GA and gradient minimization. In particular, our results illustrate why approaches that emphasize convergence of the GA can actually decrease its effectiveness as a global conformation search method. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

MASSIS: a mass spectrum simulation system. 2: Procedures and performance

The use of the mass spectral simulation system, MASSIS, is reported and its performance has been evaluated. The search for substructures matching with fragments stored in four pivot databases was realised using the Ullmann algorithm. Special cleavage rules, such as the McLafferty rearrangement, the retro-Diels-Alder reaction, elimination of a neutral small molecule and oxygen migration, are processed through shortest path and depth-first search algorithms. For a search in the database of small fragments, the key step is to determine the tautomeric fragments; then a match can be obtained using a subgraph isomorphism algorithm. A string match is used to determine peak intensity. If the limited environment of an atom is the same as that found in the database of relationships between fragment and intensity, this intensity value is assigned to the query atom. Performance in a set of tests is very important in evaluating the system performance. A comparison of peaks with an intensity greater than 5% (relative) shows that our system has a very high performance figure (> 90% ) for routine organic compounds.     

Conformation of oxygen-containing heterocycles: Search of the isomerization paths

A method is proposed for the search of the conformational isomerization paths and barriers to interconversion. Use of this method in the study of the ring interconversion ofα-d-glucose gives the minimal barrier for 1C ? C 1 isomerization, which is in agreement with the experimental data.     

Recent trends in perfluorinated sulfoximines

The search for original perfluorinated moieties is a very modern and attractive challenge. Among the emergent groups, the S-perfluoroalkylated sulfoximines are very peculiar because of their structural diversity and promising properties. A literature survey shows that interest in these molecules is strongly increasing. This short review summarizes the recent works devoted to this topic.     

A comparison of heuristic search algorithms for molecular docking

This paper describes the implementation and comparison of four heuristic search algorithms (genetic algorithm, evolutionary programming, simulated annealing and tabu search) and a random search procedure for flexible molecular docking. To our knowledge, this is the first application of the tabu search algorithm in this area. The algorithms are compared using a recently described fast molecular recognition potential function and a diverse set of five protein–ligand systems. Statistical analysis of the results indicates that overall the genetic algorithm performs best in terms of the median energy of the solutions located. However, tabu search shows a better performance in terms of locating solutions close to the crystallographic ligand conformation. These results suggest that a hybrid search algorithm may give superior results to any of the algorithms alone.     

Internet上有机化学资源的检索与利用

Internet上丰富的有机化学资源为从事有机化学的研究人员检索文献提供了一条方便快捷的途径。介绍了化学文摘(CA)、专利及其它与有机化学相关的数据库检索,并给出了一些有用的域名地址。     

Low-mode conformational search elucidated: Application to C39H80 and flexible docking of 9-deazaguanine inhibitors into PNP

We previously described a new conformational search method, termed low-mode search (LMOD), and discussed its utility for conformational searches performed on cycloalkanes and a cyclic penta-peptide. 1 In this report, we discuss a rigorous implementation of mode following (c-LMOD) for conformational searching, and we demonstrate that for a conformational search involving cycloheptadecane, this rigorous implementation is capable of finding all of the previously known structures. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first computational proof that mode following can be used for conformational searches conducted on a complex molecular system. We show, however, that, as expected, it is generally inefficient to perform a conformational search in this manner. Nonetheless, c-LMOD has been shown to be an excellent method for conducting conformational analyses involving conformational interconversions, where the location of saddle points is important. We also describe refinement to our original LMOD procedure (l-LMOD) and discuss its utility for a difficult conformational search problem, namely locating the global minimum energy conformation of C₃₉H₈₀. For this search, l-LMOD combined with limited torsional Monte Carlo movement was able to locate the lowest energy structures yet reported, and significantly outperformed a pure torsional Monte Carlo and a genetic algorithm-based search. Furthermore, we also demonstrate the utility of l-LMOD combined with random translation/rotation of a ligand for the extremely difficult problem of docking flexible ligands into flexible protein binding sites on a system that includes 9-deaza-guanine-based inhibitors docked into the flexible biding site of PNP. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 20: 1671–1684, 1999     

MoDEL: an efficient strategy for ungapped local multiple alignment

We introduce a method for ungapped local multiple alignment (ULMA) in a given set of amino acid or nucleotide sequences. This method explores two search spaces using a linked optimization strategy. The first search space M consists of all possible words of a given length W, defined on the residue alphabet. An evolutionary algorithm searches this space globally. The second search space P consists of all possible ULMAs in the sequence set, each ULMA being represented by a position vector defining exactly one subsequence of length W per sequence. This search space is sampled with hill-climbing processes. The search of both spaces are coupled by projecting high scoring results from the global evolutionary search of M onto P. The hill-climbing processes then refine the optimization by local search, using the relative entropy between the ULMA and background residue frequencies as an objective function. We demonstrate some advantages of our strategy by analyzing difficult natural amino acid sequences and artificial datasets. A web interface is available at     

Conformational search using a molecular dynamics–minimization procedure: Applications to clusters of coulombic charges,Lennard–Jones particles,and waters

A new conformational search method, molecular dynamics–minimization (MDM), is proposed, which combines a molecular dynamics sampling strategy with energy minimizations in the search for low-energy molecular structures. This new method is applied to the search for low energy configurations of clusters of coulombic charges on a unit sphere, Lennard–Jones clusters, and water clusters. The MDM method is shown to be efficient in finding the lowest energy configurations of these clusters. A closer comparison of MDM with alternative conformational search methods on Lennard–Jones clusters shows that, although MDM is not as efficient as the Monte Carlo–minimization method in locating the global energy minima, it is more efficient than the diffusion equation method and the method of minimization from randomly generated structures. Given the versatility of the molecular dynamics sampling strategy in comparison to Monte Carlo in treating molecular complexes or molecules in explicit solution, one anticipates that the MDM method could be profitably applied to conformational search problems where the number of degrees of freedom is much greater. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 19: 60–70, 1998     

Automated conformational analysis: Directed conformational search using the A* algorithm

A common requirement in conformational analysis is the identification of a molecule's lowest energy conformations. The application of the A* algorithm to this problem is examined. The algorithm uses heuristic information about the problem domain to direct the search and has been implemented in a system for performing automated conformational analysis. The method is detailed and sample results presented. Some limitations of the approach are identified.     

Restricted dead‐end elimination: Protein redesign with a bounded number of residue mutations

Dead‐end elimination (DEE) has emerged as a powerful structure‐based, conformational search technique enabling computational protein redesign. Given a protein with n mutable residues, the DEE criteria guide the search toward identifying the sequence of amino acids with the global minimum energy conformation (GMEC). This approach does not restrict the number of permitted mutations and allows the identified GMEC to differ from the original sequence in up to n residues. In practice, redesigns containing a large number of mutations are often problematic when taken into the wet‐lab for creation via site‐directed mutagenesis. The large number of point mutations required for the redesigns makes the process difficult, and increases the risk of major unpredicted and undesirable conformational changes. Preselecting a limited subset of mutable residues is not a satisfactory solution because it is unclear how to select this set before the search has been performed. Therefore, the ideal approach is what we define as the κ‐restricted redesign problem in which any κ of the n residues are allowed to mutate. We introduce restricted dead‐end elimination (rDEE) as a solution of choice to efficiently identify the GMEC of the restricted redesign (the κGMEC). Whereas existing approaches require n‐choose‐κ individual runs to identify the κGMEC, the rDEE criteria can perform the redesign in a single search. We derive a number of extensions to rDEE and present a restricted form of the A* conformation search. We also demonstrate a 10‐fold speed‐up of rDEE over traditional DEE approaches on three different experimental systems. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010