蛋白质分子理性设计与肌红蛋白功能的调控及拓展

蛋白质分子理性设计,不但对于揭示天然金属蛋白的结构与功能关系,而且对于创造具有性质和功能改善的人工金属蛋白,都是一个功能强大的策略.肌红蛋白(myoglobin,Mb),自然界创造的一种具有多重生物功能的血红素蛋白,已被证明是蛋白质分子理性设计的理想框架.本文主要综述了两个方面,一是对其天然的氧结合与运输、过氧化物酶(peroxidase)和亚硝酸盐还原酶(nitrite reductase,NIR)的功能进行调控,二是将其功能理性拓展到过氧酶(peroxygenase)、血红素-铜氧化酶(heme-copper oxidase,HCO)、一氧化氮还原酶(nitric oxide reductase,NOR)和羟胺还原酶(hydroxylamine reductase)等.这些研究加深了我们对自然界金属蛋白如何工作的理解,也为将来具有实际应用前景的功能金属蛋白的理性分子设计提供了线索.     

基于蛋白质骨架的人工水解酶的理性设计

蛋白质是生命体的重要组成部分,其中生物酶在生命体系中发挥至关重要的作用。蛋白质分子设计是研究生物酶结构与功能关系的重要手段。本文综述了基于蛋白质骨架的人工水解酶的理性设计与功能研究进展,包括对天然蛋白的重新利用和重新改造,基于3-股螺旋、4-股螺旋或锌指蛋白的分子设计,以及血红蛋白(如细胞色素b₅和肌红蛋白突变体)水解酶催化活性的调控等,阐明了人工水解酶分子设计的基本思路与研究方法,为合理构建人工水解酶或其他生物酶提供了重要的信息。人工水解酶的理性设计进展,不但深化我们对天然酶结构-性质-反应-功能关系的认识,而且还提升我们创造具有优越功能的人工生物酶的能力。     

分子模拟软件INSIGHTⅡ及其在化学教学中的应用

计算机分子模拟技术在科技发达国家正越来越广泛地用于科研生产、教学的各个相关领域,它不仅使分子、原子等微观粒子的结构形象化、可视化［１］,而且通过结构信息分析、模拟、数据处理一体化技术,从微观角度揭示结构与性质的关系,预示各种化学现象、生命现象、物理现象的模型,解释物质的微观至宏观的各种性质,进行各种材料如合金、陶瓷的优化与设计,药物的合理设计等等。这些应用反过来又推动了计算机分子模拟技术的发展。一些科研机构、公司不断结合国际上有关先进技术、信息资料推出了一些优秀的软件产品,分子模拟软件Ｉｎｓｉｇ…     

人工金属酶分子设计新进展:肌红蛋白研究实例分析

金属酶在生物体中发挥着多种至关重要的作用,而人工金属酶的分子设计能够调控和拓展天然金属酶的功能,甚至创造出功能更为优越的新型酶分子。肌红蛋白（Mb）是作为血红素蛋白或其他金属蛋白分子设计的理想蛋白模型。近些年,基于Mb蛋白骨架的人工金属酶的分子设计逐渐发展了多种研究策略,包括设计氢键网络、金属结合位点、分子内二硫键、利用蛋白翻译后修饰、引入非天然氨基酸和非天然辅基等。本文着重综述这些方面的最新研究进展,可以帮助我们深刻认识金属酶的结构与功能关系,同时掌握人工金属酶分子设计的思路与方法,从而有助于推动这一领域的快速发展。     

计算机辅助糖苷酶分子设计与改造研究进展

糖苷酶作为一种重要的生物催化剂,在工业生物催化领域有着广阔的应用前景。但天然糖苷酶存在催化活性低、热稳定性和底物选择性差等缺点,严重限制了它在规模化生产中的推广应用。近年,有关糖苷酶催化机制与结构功能关系的研究备受关注,特别是计算机辅助酶设计在相关研究领域发挥着越来越重要的作用。本文综述了糖苷酶分子设计改造过程中应用的计算机辅助方法：包括同源比对、分子对接以及动力学模拟;系统阐述了这些计算方法在糖苷酶的结构与功能关系解析、酶催化分子机制、酶催化性能改造方面的应用现状。通过对上述方法的深入分析可以预见,计算机辅助方法将成为糖苷酶分子设计改造的重要手段,并且开发智能精准的计算分析方法将成为加快酶分子定向改造的新发展趋势。     

计算机辅助的羧肽酶法测定多肽羧端顺序

在初步用计算机辅助的羧肽酶法测定了天花粉蛋白C-端顺序的基础上, 进一步设计了两个计算机程序-DPS程序和CPA程序. 用合成小肽和天然的肽对这两个计算机程序进行模型实验证明, 运用这两个程序能分别满意地从羧肽酶的酶解动力学曲线中获得重要的C-端顺序信息, 并测定了天花粉蛋白分子中未知肽段CB-3的C-端顺序为: -SerAlaSerAlaLeuHserOH, 这一顺序后来已经其他实验结果所证实. 本法不仅使C-端顺序测定延长至七个氨基酸, 而且还基本上解决了多肽或蛋白质含有多种多次重复氨基酸残基的C-端顺序测定.     

把分子模拟法引入高分子物理实验教学

分子模拟法（也被称作计算机模拟法）是用计算机以原子水平的分子模型来模拟分子的结构与行为,进而模拟分子体系的各种物理与化学性质,它已成为一种重要的科学研究方法,并且被广泛地应用于高分子科学的研究中。     

分子基逻辑材料*

在适当的条件下分子开关将输入的信息转换为输出信号,利用这一特点,可在分子体系根据二进位布尔逻辑规则实现信号转换。目前,用化学体系进行基本的布尔逻辑功能执行 (PASS、YES、NOT、AND、NAND、OR、NOR、XNOR和INH)都已成为可能。在此基础上,逻辑门的整合与编程,以及更进一步的复杂分子运算开始受到人们的关注。迄今为止,以高灵敏性的荧光输出信号为主,人们在分子水平上设计实现了多种复杂的逻辑电路,包括组合逻辑电路和时序逻辑电路等,并开始涉及信息处理的安全平台设计。本文主要介绍了近年来利用分子荧光开关体系模拟数字逻辑电路过程中所取得的最新进展,对分子逻辑电路研究的热点和问题进行了展望。     

类蛋白质分子扩散系数的模拟计算

蛋白质分子是一类比较特殊的高分子，一方面它的性质与氨基酸序列密切相关，另一方面其二级结构（如α螺旋以及β折叠等）极大地影响着它的性质．另外它的内部结构又非常紧密，与一般的高分子链完全不同．同时随着计算机技术的发展，计算机模拟日益作为一种有效的手段广泛应用于高分子科学的研究．但是由于蛋白质分子比一般的高分子结构更加复杂，如氨基酸之间有复杂的互相作用等，因此对蛋白质性质的研究往往建立在简化模型的基础上，如基于格点的HP紧密高分子模型等．虽然建立在格点模型上的蛋白质分子和真实的蛋白质分子存在着一定的差异，但基本上能体现蛋白质分子的主要特征，因此把这一类分子称为类蛋白质分子．     

谱学与分子模拟研究甲磺酸酚妥拉明与肌红蛋白作用的分子机理

利用紫外吸收光谱、荧光光谱结合分子模拟技术研究了在模拟生理条件下甲磺酸酚妥拉明(phentolamine mesylate,PM)与肌红蛋白(myoglobin,Mb)的作用机制.实验结果表明:药物小分子甲磺酸酚妥拉明与蛋白相互作用时结合位点数为1,表观结合常数KA为5.27×104L·mol-1.分子模拟结果表明:PM在Mb上的结合位点是site1活性口袋,两者通过疏水作用、亲水作用、氢键作用以及静电作用结合.PM与Mb中的氨基酸残基Trp,Tyr和Phe发生疏水相互作用,进而导致Mb的紫外吸收峰强度降低以及荧光的猝灭.它们之间负的ΔG值表明结合反应是热力学允许的。     

Functional tuning and expanding of myoglobin by rational protein design

Rational protein design is a powerful strategy, not only for revealing the structure and function relationship of natural metallo-proteins, but also for creating artificial metalloproteins with improved properties and functions. Myoglobin (Mb), a small heme protein created by nature with diverse functions, has been shown to be an ideal scaffold for rational protein design. The progress reviewed herein includes fine-tuning its native functions of O₂ binding and transport, peroxidase activity and nitrite reductase (NIR) activity, and rational expanding its functionalities to peroxygenase, heme-copper oxidase (HCO), nitric oxide reductase (NOR), as well as hydroxylamine reductase. These studies have enhanced our understanding of how metalloproteins work in nature, and provided insights for rational design of functional metalloproteins for practical applications in the future.     

Information theoretical measures to analyze trajectories in rational molecular design

We develop a new methodology to analyze molecular dynamics trajectories and other time series data from simulation runs. This methodology is based on an information measure of the difference between distributions of various data extract from such simulations. The method is fast as it only involves the numerical integration/summation of the distributions in one dimension while avoiding sampling issues at the same time. The method is most suitable for applications in which different scenarios are to be compared, e.g. to guide rational molecular design. We show the power of the proposed method in an application of rational drug design by reduced model computations on the BH3 motif in the apoptosis inducing BCL(2) protein family.     

Structural Refolding and Thermal Stability of Myoglobin in the Presence of Mixture of Crowders: Importance of Various Interactions for Protein Stabilization in Crowded Conditions

The intracellular environment is overcrowded with a range of molecules (small and large), all of which influence protein conformation. As a result, understanding how proteins fold and stay functional in such crowded conditions is essential. Several in vitro experiments have looked into the effects of macromolecular crowding on different proteins. However, there are hardly any reports regarding small molecular crowders used alone and in mixtures to observe their effects on the structure and stability of the proteins, which mimics of the cellular conditions. Here we investigate the effect of different mixtures of crowders, ethylene glycol (EG) and its polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG 400 Da) on the structural and thermal stability of myoglobin (Mb). Our results show that monomer (EG) has no significant effect on the structure of Mb, while the polymer disrupts its structure and decreases its stability. Conversely, the additive effect of crowders showed structural refolding of the protein to some extent. Moreover, the calorimetric binding studies of the protein showed very weak interactions with the mixture of crowders. Usually, we can assume that soft interactions induce structural perturbations while exclusion volume effects stabilize the protein structure; therefore, we hypothesize that under in vivo crowded conditions, both phenomena occur and maintain the stability and function of proteins.     

Rational Design of Heterodimeric Protein using Domain Swapping for Myoglobin

Protein design is a useful method to create novel artificial proteins. A rational approach to design a heterodimeric protein using domain swapping for horse myoglobin (Mb) was developed. As confirmed by X‐ray crystallographic analysis, a heterodimeric Mb with two different active sites was produced efficiently from two surface mutants of Mb, in which the charges of two amino acids involved in the dimer salt bridges were reversed in each mutant individually, with the active site of one mutant modified. This study shows that the method of constructing heterodimeric Mb with domain swapping is useful for designing artificial multiheme proteins.     

Unusual peroxidase activity of a myoglobin mutant with two distal histidines

By retaining the native distal His64 in sperm whale myoglobin(Mb),a second distal histidine was engineered in Mb by mutating Leu29 to His29.The resultant mutant of L29H Mb exhibits an unusual enhanced peroxidase activity with a positive cooperativity in comparison to that of wild type Mb.The new enzyme with two cooperative distal histidines has not been found in native peroxidase, which emphasizes a creation of the rational protein design.     

抚顺油页岩干酪根热解反应性分子动力学-量子力学模拟

采用MS（Materials Studio 2017）软件中Forcite模块,对自主构建的抚顺油页岩干酪根二维结构模型进行能量最小化分子动力学模拟,通过能量最优化过程得到干酪根初始优化结构。在此基础上进行分子动力学退火模拟,获得全局能量最优化构型,即油页岩干酪根分子三维结构模型。基于密度泛函理论的量子力学模拟方法,计算分析干酪根三维结构模型的动力学、键能、键级、电荷密度等参数,分析化学活性位点,探讨了干酪根热解微观化学演化机理,进而预测了反应性。     

Implementation and testing of stable, fast implicit solvation in molecular dynamics using the smooth-permittivity finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann method

A fast stable finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann (FDPB) model for implicit solvation in molecular dynamics simulations was developed using the smooth permittivity FDPB method implemented in the OpenEye ZAP libraries. This was interfaced with two widely used molecular dynamics packages, AMBER and CHARMM. Using the CHARMM-ZAP software combination, the implicit solvent model was tested on eight proteins differing in size, structure, and cofactors: calmodulin, horseradish peroxidase (with and without substrate analogue bound), lipid carrier protein, flavodoxin, ubiquitin, cytochrome c, and a de novo designed 3-helix bundle. The stability and accuracy of the implicit solvent simulations was assessed by examining root-mean-squared deviations from crystal structure. This measure was compared with that of a standard explicit water solvent model. In addition we compared experimental and calculated NMR order parameters to obtain a residue level assessment of the accuracy of MD-ZAP for simulating dynamic quantities. Overall, the agreement of the implicit solvent model with experiment was as good as that of explicit water simulations. The implicit solvent method was up to eight times faster than the explicit water simulations, and approximately four times slower than a vacuum simulation (i.e., with no solvent treatment).     

Dynamics of a myoglobin mutant enzyme: 2D IR vibrational echo experiments and simulations

Myoglobin (Mb) double mutant T67R/S92D displays peroxidase enzymatic activity in contrast to the wild type protein. The CO adduct of T67R/S92D shows two CO absorption bands corresponding to the A(1) and A(3) substates. The equilibrium protein dynamics for the two distinct substates of the Mb double mutant are investigated by using two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) vibrational echo spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The time-dependent changes in the 2D IR vibrational echo line shapes for both of the substates are analyzed using the center line slope (CLS) method to obtain the frequency-frequency correlation function (FFCF). The results for the double mutant are compared to those from the wild type Mb. The experimentally determined FFCF is compared to the FFCF obtained from molecular dynamics simulations, thereby testing the capacity of a force field to determine the amplitudes and time scales of protein structural fluctuations on fast time scales. The results provide insights into the nature of the energy landscape around the free energy minimum of the folded protein structure.     

Computational investigation into the phase transitions from AlPO<Subscript>4</Subscript>-H<Subscript>3</Subscript>

Open-framework aluminophosphates constitute an important family of materials due to their enormous potential applications in catalysis, exchange and gas separation, such as aluminosilicate zeolites. These compounds, whose formations are promoted by the presence of organic templates, are constructed from alternation of AlO4 and PO4 tetrahedral with an Al/P ratio of unity. However, there are quite a number of AlPOs that contain 5- or 6-coordinated Al atoms which are coordinated to extra-fram…     

Designed Spiroketal Protein Modulation

Spiroketals are structural motifs found in many biologically active natural products, which has stimulated considerable efforts toward their synthesis and interest in their use as drug lead compounds. Despite this, the use of spiroketals, and especially bisbenzanulated spiroketals, in a structure‐based drug discovery setting has not been convincingly demonstrated. Herein, we report the rational design of a bisbenzannulated spiroketal that potently binds to the retinoid X receptor (RXR) thereby inducing partial co‐activator recruitment. We solved the crystal structure of the spiroketal–hRXRα–TIF2 ternary complex, and identified a canonical allosteric mechanism as a possible explanation for the partial agonist behavior of our spiroketal. Our co‐crystal structure, the first of a designed spiroketal–protein complex, suggests that spiroketals can be designed to selectively target other nuclear receptor subtypes.