Virtual screening for binding of phenylalanine analogues to phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase

Although incorporation of nonnatural amino acids provides a powerful means of controlling protein structure and function, experimental investigations of amino acid analogues for utilization by the protein biosynthetic machinery can be costly and time-consuming. In this paper, we describe a computational protocol (HierDock) for predicting the relative energies of binding of phenylalanine analogues to phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (PheRS). Starting with the crystal structure of Thermus thermophilus PheRS without bound ligand, HierDock predicts the binding site of phenylalanine (Phe) within 1.1 A of that revealed by the crystal structure of PheRS cocrystallized with Phe. The calculated binding energies of Phe analogues in PheRS, using HierDock, correlate well with the translational activities of the same analogues in Escherichia coli. HierDock identifies p-fluorophenylalanine and 3-thienylalanine as especially good substrates for PheRS, in agreement with experiment. These results suggest that the HierDock protocol may be useful for virtual screening of amino acid analogues prior to experiment.