胰高血糖素样肽-1受体胞外区域突变体复合物的动力学研究

采用分子动力学模拟方法研究了胰高血糖素样肽-1(GLP-1)与GLP-1受体(GLP-1R)胞外区域的相互作用.结果表明,配体的结合导致受体的构象发生改变,Loop2区域的氨基酸Pro90和Trp91以及C末端的Glu128向配体移动.根据保守位点突变受体(P73A,V81L,Y88A,P90A和W91A)后所得多肽模拟数据,发现Loop2区域在突变体中的结构和柔性均发生了明显变化,Trp91和Tyr88的突变将导致配体亲和力丧失.研究结果证明,P73A突变型受体和野生型受体分别与配体相互作用后,二者数值差别不大,因此Pro73不是关键残基;V81L突变体则会导致配体亲和力的丧失.该结果为GLP-1药物设计提供了重要理论依据.     

Y220C突变体影响p53C蛋白质构象转换的分子动力学模拟

p53是迄今发现突变频率最高的一种肿瘤抑制蛋白质,突变会导致p53抑癌功能丧失并诱导癌症的发生。绝大多数的突变发生在p53的核心DNA结合区域（p53C）,其中Y220C是研究较多的一种突变体。虽然已有研究表明该突变能够降低p53C的结构稳定性,但其影响p53C构象转换的分子机制尚不清晰。本文利用分子动力学（MD）模拟方法研究了p53C突变体Y220C（p53C-Y220C）的结构变化,发现Y220C突变主要影响Y220C cluster区域（包括残基138-164和215-238）,且Y220C突变减少了Y220C cluster的β-折叠含量。进一步分析发现,Y220C突变不仅直接破坏突变氨基酸与周围氨基酸Leu145和Thr155之间的氢键,而且降低了Y220C cluster区域的折叠片S3和S8之间的氢键数量,使Y220C突变所形成的亲水性空腔变大,加速了水分子进入该蛋白质内部,并最终导致了p53C-Y220C变性。MD模拟结果揭示了Y220C突变影响p53C结构转换的分子机制,该研究对p53C-Y220C突变体高效稳定剂的筛选和设计具有重要意义。     

分子动力学模拟Cu2+对α-突触核蛋白(1-17)肽段构象变化的影响

利用分子动力学模拟研究铜离子(Cu2+)对α-突触核蛋白1-17号氨基酸肽段(α-synuclein(1-17))构象变化的影响,采用GROMOS 43A1力场对Cu2+-α-synuclein(1-17)复合体和α-synuclein(1-17)肽段单体分别进行了6组独立的分子动力学模拟,每组模拟时间为500ns,总模拟时间为3μs.研究结果表明:Cu2+与α-synuclein(1-17)肽段结合使其更易向β折叠片结构折叠,促进了其二级结构的形成,增强了构象的稳定性;Cu2+增大了α-synuclein肽段疏水残基的溶剂可及表面积,增强了其疏水残基的暴露程度.自由能分析指出,Cu2+-α-synuclein(1-17)复合体的自由能比α-synuclein(1-17)肽段低,构象稳定,采样空间紧密,其自由能极小构象为β折叠片结构.构象聚类分析进一步表明,Cu2+使得α-synuclein(1-17)肽段构象趋于稳定.总之,Cu2+诱导固有无序蛋白α-synuclein(1-17)肽段由无序向有序转变,降低了构象的自由能,同时Cu2+增强了α-synuclein(1-17)肽段的疏水性,使得α-synuclein肽段因疏水作用更倾向于形成β折叠片结构,加速其疏水性聚集.     

分子对接和动力学模拟提高嗜热蛋白酶PhpI的活力

通过分子对接和动力学模拟对嗜热蛋白酶的分子进行改造, 确定蛋白酶PH1704(PhpI)定点突变残基, 并通过分子生物学实验进行验证. 突变体K43C的蛋白酶活力提高了5.8倍. 分子动力学模拟结果表明, 经过8 ns的动力学模拟后, K43C突变体二级结构由野生型的S2片层(F11-E12-D13)变成环状结构. E12和K43均是活性位点的重要残基, 这种变化将导致活性位点的柔性增强, 有利于催化反应的发生.     

HIV-1整合酶G140A/G149A及T66I/S153Y突变后的构象变化

对HIV-1整合酶(IN)野生体(WT), G140A/G149A和T66I/S153Y突变体分别进行了5 ns的分子动力学(MD)模拟, 并用成簇和动力学交叉相关图(DCCM)分析了突变前后的构象变化. 整体结构分析表明, 突变后IN的活性口袋尺寸变化不大, T66I/S153Y突变体分子的整体运动性提高, 而G140A/G149A突变体的功能loop区柔性明显上升. IN WT的方均根涨落(RMSF)模拟值与B因子实验值的较高相关性证明了柔性分析的合理性. 通过成簇分析发现, IN在突变后功能loop区构象有开合运动, 构象开放的概率是: 体系G140A/G149A＞T66I/S153Y＞WT. 最后DCCM分析结果表明, 功能性分区的弱化以及DDE基序残基运动相关性的降低均有可能是突变体G140A/G149A和T66I/S153Y产生抗药性的原因. 模拟结果对理解IN突变体的抗药机理以及为基于HIV-1 IN的药物分子设计提供了理论帮助.     

HIV-1整合酶G140A/G149A及T661/S153Y突变后的构象变化

对HIV-1整合酶(IN)野生体(WT),G140A/G149A和T66I/S153Y突变体分别进行了5 ns的分子动力学(MD)模拟,并用成簇和动力学交叉相关图(DCCM)分析了突变前后的构象变化.整体结构分析表明,突变后IN的活性口袋尺寸变化不大,T66I/S153Y突变体分子的整体运动性提高,而G140A/G149A突变体的功能loop区柔性明显上升.IN WT的方均根涨落(RMSF)模拟值与B因子实验值的较高相关性证明了柔性分析的合理性.通过成簇分析发现,IN在突变后功能loop区构象有开合运动,构象开放的概率是:体系G140A/G149A＞T66I/S153Y＞WT.最后DCCM分析结果表明,功能性分区的弱化以及DDE基序残基运动相关性的降低均有可能是突变体G140A/G149A和T66I/S153Y产生抗药性的原因.模拟结果对理解IN突变体的抗药机理以及为基于HIV-1 IN的药物分子设计提供了理论帮助.     

分子动力学模拟研究A1408G突变对核糖体16S rRNA片段的影响

利用分子动力学模拟方法, 研究了原核生物核糖体小亚基中的16S rRNA片段与氨基糖苷类抗生素巴龙霉素复合物结构的柔性. 结果表明, 16S rRNA片段中的1408位点的腺嘌呤(A)突变为鸟嘌呤(G), 改变了与tRNA中反密码子环识别相关的2个腺嘌呤A1492和A1493的空间构象, 阻碍了氨基糖苷类抗生素与核糖体的结合, 从而影响原核生物蛋白转录过程. 模拟结果与实验测定的晶体结构相吻合, 可为基于核糖体16S rRNA的药物分子设计提供较可靠的结构信息.     

凝血因子Xa的S4口袋部分关键残基对利伐沙班结合的不同作用机制

通过生物信息学对比、 分子动力学模拟和结合自由能计算分析了利伐沙班与凝血因子Xa的S4口袋部分关键残基之间动态相互作用的细节. 结果表明, 利伐沙班与凝血因子Xa结合不稳定是由S4口袋关键残基突变对疏水盒子完整性的破坏所致. 其中Trp215侧链的疏水作用对抑制剂结合的作用较大, 但对整体结构的影响短时间内较小. Tyr99虽然在结合自由能中贡献较小, 但其突变可能导致99 loop所在结构域的整体构象变化, 从而对于抑制剂或底物的结合特异性产生影响. S4口袋关键残基的不同作用在凝血因子Xa直接抑制剂的药物设计及其拮抗剂的开发中应予以充分考虑.     

新的α/β水解酶W14和W15的三维结构模建及分子对接研究

利用同源模建和分子动力学模拟方法, 模建了两个新发现的α/β水解酶超家族成员W14和W15的三维结构, 并通过与α-醋酸萘酯的对接研究, 从理论上提出Gly82和Val13为形成“氧洞”的关键残基,有利于稳定水解过程中的带负电的过渡态, 以及其它对复合物形成起到重要作用的氨基酸残基.     

大麻素受体CB1三维结构的同源模建及其对接研究

大麻素CB1受体属于G蛋白偶联受体. 以牛视紫红质的晶体结构为模板, 利用同源模建法对CB1受体的三维结构进行了模拟, 并采用分子动力学方法对模型进行了修正和优化. 在此基础上, 分析了活性位点的组成和结构, 研究了拮抗剂利莫那班与CB1受体的对接, 明确了CB1受体与利莫那班结合时起重要作用的氨基酸残基. 发现利莫那班与CB1受体残基Lys192形成氢键相互作用是CB1受体拮抗剂的重要分子作用基础.     

Direct observations of conformational distributions of intrinsically disordered p53 peptides using UV Raman and explicit solvent simulations

We report the first experimental measurements of Ramachandran Ψ-angle distributions for intrinsically disordered peptides: the N-terminal peptide fragment of tumor suppressor p53 and its P27S mutant form. To provide atomically detailed views of the conformational distributions, we performed classical, explicit-solvent molecular dynamics simulations on the microsecond time scale. Upon binding its partner protein, MDM2, wild-type p53 peptide adopts an α-helical conformation. Mutation of Pro27 to serine results in the highest affinity yet observed for MDM2-binding of the p53 peptide. Both UV resonance Raman spectroscopy (UVRR) and simulations reveal that the P27S mutation decreases the extent of PPII helical content and increases the probability for conformations that are similar to the α-helical MDM2-bound conformation. In addition, UVRR measurements were performed on peptides that were isotopically labeled at the Leu26 residue preceding the Pro27 in order to determine the conformational distributions of Leu26 in the wild-type and mutant peptides. The UVRR and simulation results are in quantitative agreement in terms of the change in the population of non-PPII conformations involving Leu26 upon mutation of Pro27 to serine. Finally, our simulations reveal that the MDM2-bound conformation of the peptide is significantly populated in both the wild-type and mutant isolated peptide ensembles in their unbound states, suggesting that MDM2 binding of the p53 peptides may involve conformational selection.     

Effect of the R119G mutation on human P5CR structure and its interactions with NAD: Insights derived from molecular dynamics simulation and free energy analysis

Pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (P5CR), an enzyme with conserved housekeeping roles, is involved in the etiology of cutis laxa. While previous work has shown that the R119G point mutation in the P5CR protein is involved, the structural mechanism behind the pathology remains to be elucidated. In order to probe the role of the R119G mutation in cutis laxa, we performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, essential dynamics (ED) analysis, and Molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM-PBSA) binding free energy calculations on wild type (WT) and mutant P5CR-NAD complex. These MD simulations and ED analyses suggest that the R119G mutation decreases the flexibility of P5CR, specifically in the substrate binding pocket, which could decrease the kinetics of the cofactor entrance and egress. Furthermore, the MM-PBSA calculations suggest the R119G mutant has a lower cofactor binding affinity for NAD than WT. Our study provides insight into the possible role of the R119G mutation during interactions between P5CR and NAD, thus bettering our understanding of how the mutation promotes cutis laxa.     

Computer simulation study of metastable ice VII and amorphous phases obtained by its melting

Molecular dynamics simulations of metastable ice VII and cubic ice Ic are carried out in order to examine (1) the ability of commonly used water interaction potentials to reproduce the properties of ices, and (2) the possibility of generating low-density amorphous (LDA) structures by heating ice VII, which is known to transform to LDA at approximately 135 K at normal pressure [S. Klotz, J. M. Besson, G. Hamel, R. J. Nelmes, J. S. Loveday, and W. G. Marshall, Nature (London) 398, 681 (1999)]. We test four simple empirical interaction potentials of water: TIP4P [W. L. Jorgensen, J. Chandrasekhar, J. D. Madura, R. W. Impey, and M. L. Klein, J. Chem. Phys. 79, 926 (1983)], SPC/E [H. J. C. Berendsen, J. R. Grigera, and T. P. Straatsma, J. Phys. Chem. B 91, 6269 (1987)], TIP5P [M. W. Mahoney and W. L. Jorgensen, J. Chem. Phys. 112, 8910 (2000)], and ST2 [F. H. Stillinger and A. Rahman, J. Chem. Phys. 60, 1545 (1974)]. We have found that TIP5P ice VII melts at 210 K, TIP4P at 90 K, and SPC/E at 70 K. Only TIP5P water after transition has a structure similar to that of LDA. TIP4P and SPC/E have almost identical structures, dissimilar to any known water or amorphous phases, but upon heating both slowly evolve towards LDA-like structure. ST2 ice VII is remarkably stable up to 430 K. TIP4P and SPC/E predict correctly the cubic ice collapse into a high-density amorphous ice (HDA) at approximately 1 GPa whereas TIP5P remains stable up to approximately 5 GPa. The densities of the simulated ice phases differ significantly, depending on the potential used, and are generally higher than experimental values. The importance of proper treatment of long-range electrostatic interactions is also discussed.     

Cytochrome P450 2C9 polymorphism: Effect of amino acid substitutions on protein flexibility in the presence of tamoxifen

Tamoxifen is a prodrug and cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) has a significant role in the formation of a therapeutically more potent metabolite (4-hydroxytamoxifen) than tamoxifen. Since CYP2C9 exhibits genetic polymorphism, it may contribute to different phenotypic drug response. Moreover, it may be misleading if the possibility of heterogeneous clinical observations of pharmacogenetic investigations is ignored. Above all, clinical investigation of all the polymorphic variants is beyond the scope of a pharmacogenetic study. Therefore, in order to understand the genotype-phenotype association, it is aimed to study the interatomic interactions of amino acid substitutions in CYP2C9 variants in the presence of tamoxifen. Computational structural biology approach was adopted to study the effect of amino acid substitutions of polymorphic variants of CYP2C9 R144C (*2), I359 L (*3), D360E (*5), R150H (*8), R335W (*11) and L90 P (*13) on the flexibility of the enzyme in the presence of tamoxifen. The mutations were selected based on previously determined associations on genotype and clinical outcome of drugs.Against the above plane, docking of tamoxifen was performed with the crystal structure representing the wild-type form of the enzyme. The docked conformation of tamoxifen was favourable for 4-hydroxylation with the site of metabolism within 5 Å of oxyferrylheme consistent with the drug metabolism pathway of tamoxifen. Further, the effect of amino acid substitutions CYP2C9 variants on the protein flexibility in the presence of tamoxifen in 4-hydroxy orientation was evaluated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.Distinct protein flexibility modulations between variants were observed in F/G segment constituting the substrate access/egress channels, helix B' involved with substrate specificity and helix I associated with the holding of substrates. Root Mean Square Fluctuation analysis of the trajectories of variants exhibited fluctuations in F/G segment, B’ and I helix. Dominant motions in the structure were identified by performing Principal Component Analysis on trajectories and the porcupine plot depicted displaced F/G segment in variants.Thus, the interatomic interaction study of CYP2C9 variants in the presence of tamoxifen predicts the plausible effect of the investigated variants on the therapeutic outcome of tamoxifen. It is presumed that the observations of the study would be meaningful to understand tamoxifen pharmacogenetics.     

Free energy perturbation (FEP) simulation on the transition states of cocaine hydrolysis catalyzed by human butyrylcholinesterase and its mutants

A novel computational protocol based on free energy perturbation (FEP) simulations on both the free enzyme and transition state structures has been developed and tested to predict the mutation-caused shift of the free energy change from the free enzyme to the rate-determining transition state for human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE)-catalyzed hydrolysis of (-)-cocaine. The calculated shift, denoted by DeltaDeltaG(1 --> 2), of such kind of free energy change determines the catalytic efficiency (kcat/KM) change caused by the simulated mutation transforming enzyme 1 to enzyme 2. By using the FEP-based computational protocol, the DeltaDeltaG(1 --> 2) values for the mutations A328W/Y332A --> A328W/Y332G and A328W/Y332G --> A328W/Y332G/A199S were calculated to be -0.22 and -1.94 kcal/mol, respectively. The calculated DeltaDeltaG(1 --> 2) values predict that the change from the A328W/Y332A mutant to the A328W/Y332G mutant should slightly improve the catalytic efficiency and that the change from the A328W/Y332G mutant to the A328W/Y332G/A199S mutant should significantly improve the catalytic efficiency of the enzyme for the (-)-cocaine hydrolysis. The predicted catalytic efficiency increases are supported by the experimental data showing that kcat/KM = 8.5 x 10(6), 1.4 x 10(7), and 7.2 x 10(7) min(-1) M(-1) for the A328W/Y332A, A328W/Y332G, and A328W/Y332G/A199S mutants, respectively. The qualitative agreement between the computational and experimental data suggests that the FEP simulations may provide a promising protocol for rational design of high-activity mutants of an enzyme. The general computational strategy of the FEP simulation on a transition state can be used to study the effects of a mutation on the activation free energy for any enzymatic reaction.     

Thermal denaturing of mutant lysozyme with both the OPLSAA and the CHARMM force fields

Biomolecular simulations enabled by massively parallel supercomputers such as BlueGene/L promise to bridge the gap between the currently accessible simulation time scale and the experimental time scale for many important protein folding processes. In this study, molecular dynamics simulations were carried out for both the wild-type and the mutant hen lysozyme (TRP62GLY) to study the single mutation effect on lysozyme stability and misfolding. Our thermal denaturing simulations at 400-500 K with both the OPLSAA and the CHARMM force fields show that the mutant structure is indeed much less stable than the wild-type, which is consistent with the recent urea denaturing experiment (Dobson et al. Science 2002, 295, 1719-1722; Nature 2003, 424, 783-788). Detailed results also reveal that the single mutation TRP62GLY first induces the loss of native contacts in the beta-domain region of the lysozyme protein at high temperatures, and then the unfolding process spreads into the alpha-domain region through Helix C. Even though the OPLSAA force field in general shows a more stable protein structure than does the CHARMM force field at high temperatures, the two force fields examined here display qualitatively similar results for the misfolding process, indicating that the thermal denaturing of the single mutation is robust and reproducible with various modern force fields.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of cocaine binding with human butyrylcholinesterase and its mutants

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out to study cocaine binding with wild-type human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and its mutants based on a recently reported X-ray crystal structure of human BChE. For each BChE-cocaine system, we simulated both the nonprereactive and prereactive complexes in water. Despite the significant difference found at the acyl binding pocket, the simulated structures confirm the fundamental structural and mechanistic insights obtained from earlier computational studies of wild-type BChE with cocaine based on a homology model, e.g. the rate-determining step for BChE-catalyzed hydrolysis of biologically active (-)-cocaine is the (-)-cocaine rotation in the active site from the nonprereactive BChE-(-)-cocaine complex to the prereactive complex. It has been demonstrated that the MD simulations on both the nonprereactive and prereactive BChE-cocaine complexes can clearly reveal whether specific mutations produce the desired BChE-(-)-cocaine binding structures in which the (-)-cocaine rotation is less hindered while the required prereactive BChE-(-)-cocaine binding is maintained. Based on the MD simulations, both A328W/Y332A and A328W/Y332G BChE's are expected to have catalytic activity for (-)-cocaine hydrolysis higher than that of wild-type BChE and the activity of A328W/Y332G BChE should be slightly higher than that of A328W/Y332A BChE due to the less-hindered (-)-cocaine rotation in the mutant BChE's. However, the less-hindered (-)-cocaine rotation is only a necessary condition for a higher activity mutant BChE. The (-)-cocaine rotation is also less hindered in A328W/Y332A/Y419S BChE, but (-)-cocaine binds with A328W/Y332A/Y419S BChE in a way that is not suitable for the catalysis. Thus, A328W/Y332A/Y419S BChE is expected to lose the catalytic activity. The computational predictions were confirmed by our experimental kinetic data, demonstrating that the MD simulation-based computational protocol used in this study is reliable in prediction of the catalytic activity of BChE mutants for (-)-cocaine hydrolysis.     

Understanding product specificity of protein lysine methyltransferases from QM/MM molecular dynamics and free energy simulations: the effects of mutation on SET7/9 beyond the Tyr/Phe switch

The results of hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) free energy (potential of mean force) simulations for methyl-transfer processes in SET7/9 and its Y245A mutant are compared to address the question concerning the change of the product specificity as well as catalytic efficiency due to the mutation. One of the key questions is whether or not the free energy profiles of methyl transfers may be used to predict the change of the product specificity as a result of the mutations for the residues that are not located at the Tyr/Phe switch position. The simulations show that while the wild-type SET7/9 is a monomethylase, the Y245→A mutation increases the ability of the enzyme to add more methyl groups on the target lysine (i.e., acting as a trimethylase). However, the first methyl-transfer process seems to become less efficient in the mutant compared to that in wild-type. All these results are consistent with experimental observations concerning the effects of the mutation on the product specificity and catalytic efficiency. Thus, the previous suggestion that the energetics of the methyl-transfer reactions may determine the product specificity, at least in some cases, is confirmed by the present work. Moreover, the dynamic information of the reactant complexes obtained from the QM/MM molecular dynamics simulations shows that the ability of the reactant complexes to form the reactive transition-state-like configurations may be used as an important indicator for the prediction of the product specificity of PKMTs, consistent with previous computational studies.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of p53 DNA-binding domain

We have studied room-temperature structural and dynamic properties of the p53 DNA-binding domain in both DNA-bound and DNA-free states. A cumulative 55 ns of explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations with the particle mesh Ewald treatment of electrostatics was performed. It was found that the mean structures in the production portions of the trajectories agree well with the crystal structure: backbone root-mean-square deviations are in the range of 1.6 and 2.0 A. In both simulations, noticeable backbone deviations from the crystal structure are observed only in loop L6, due to the lack of crystal packing in the simulations. More deviations are observed in the DNA-free simulation, apparently due to the absence of DNA. Computed backbone B-factor is also in qualitative agreement with the crystal structure. Interestingly, little backbone structural change is observed between the mean simulated DNA-bound and DNA-free structures. A notable difference is observed only at the DNA-binding interface. The correlation between native contacts and inactivation mechanisms of tumor mutations is also discussed. In the H2 region, tumor mutations at sites D281, R282, E285, and E286 may weaken five key interactions that stabilize H2, indicating that their inactivation mechanisms may be related to the loss of local structure around H2, which in turn may reduce the overall stability to a measurable amount. In the L2 region, tumor mutations at sites Y163, K164, E171, V173, L194, R249, I251, and E271 are likely to be responsible for the loss of stability in the protein. In addition to apparent DNA contacts that are related to DNA binding, interactions R175/S183, S183/R196, and E198/N235 are highly occupied only in the DNA-bound form, indicating that they are more likely to be responsible for DNA binding.