0000000000587661
AUTHOR
Alejandro Soriano
A Computational Study of the Protein-Ligand Interactions in CDK2 Inhibitors: Using Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics Interaction Energy as a Predictor of the Biological Activity
ABSTRACT: We report a combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) study to determine the protein-ligand interaction energy between CDK2 (cyclin-dependent kinase 2) and five inhibitors with the N2 -substituted 6-cyclohexylmethoxypurine scaffold. The computational results in this work show that the QM/MM interaction energy is strongly correlated to the biological activity and can be used as a predictor, at least within a family of substrates. A detailed analysis of the protein-ligand structures obtained from molecular dynamics simulations shows specific interactions within the active site that, in some cases, have not been reported before to our knowledge. The computed interaction …
Internal rotation of 1,2-dichloroethane in haloalkane dehalogenase. A test case for analyzing electrostatic effects in enzymes
1,2-Dichoroethane (DCE) is a prototypical molecule for studying electrostatic solvent effects on molecular conformation as far as rotation around the carbon−carbon bond notably changes the electric...
A quantum mechanics-molecular mechanics study of dissociative electron transfer : The methylchloride radical anion in aqueous solution
The dissociative electron transfer reaction CH3Cl+e−→CH3•+Cl− in aqueous solution is studied by using a QM/MM method. In this work the quantum subsystem (a methylchloride molecule plus an electron) is described using density functional theory while the solvent (300 water molecules) is described using the TIP3P classical potential. By means of molecular dynamics simulations and the thermodynamic integration technique we obtained the potential of mean force (PMF) for the carbon–chlorine bond dissociation of the neutral and radical anion species. Combining these two free energy curves we found a quadratic dependence of the activation free energy on the reaction free energy in agreement with Ma…
FT-Raman and QM/MM study of the interaction between histamine and DNA
The interaction between histamine and highly polymerized calf-thymus DNA has been investigated using FT-Raman spectroscopy and the hybrid QM/MM (quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics) methodology. Raman spectra of solutions containing histamine and calf-thymus DNA, at different molar ratios, were recorded. Solutions were prepared at physiological settings of pH and ionic strength, using both natural and heavy water as the solvent. The analysis of the spectral changes on the DNA Raman spectra when adding different concentrations of histamine allowed us to identify the reactive sites of DNA and histamine, which were used to built two minor groove and one intercalated binding models. They were…
Catalysis in glycine N-methyltransferase: testing the electrostatic stabilization and compression hypothesis.
Glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) is an S-adenosyl-l-methionine dependent enzyme that catalyzes glycine transformation to sarcosine. Here, we present a hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) computational study of the reaction compared to the counterpart process in water. The process takes place through an SN2 mechanism in both media with a transition state in which the transferring methyl group is placed in between the donor (SAM) and the acceptor (the amine group of glycine). Comparative analysis of structural, electrostatic, and electronic characteristics of the in-solution and enzymatic transition states allows us to get a deeper insight into the origins of the enzyme's c…