A challenging system: Free energy prediction for factor Xa

Eliciting a single amino acid change by vaccination generates antibody protection against group 1 and group 2 influenza A viruses

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) targeting the hemagglutinin (HA) stem of influenza A viruses (IAVs) tend to be effective against either group 1 or group 2 viral diversity. In rarer cases, intergroup protective bnAbs can be generated by human antibody paratopes that accommodate the conserved glycan differences between the group 1 and group 2 stems. We applied germline-engaging nanoparticle immunogens to elicit a class of cross-group bnAbs from physiological precursor frequency within a humanized mouse model. Cross-group protection depended on the presence of the human bnAb precursors within the B cell repertoire, and the vaccine-expanded antibodies enriched for an N55T substitution in the CDRH2 loop, a hallmark of the bnAb class. Structurally, this single mutation introduced a flexible fulcrum to accommodate glycosylation differences and could alone enable cross-group protection. Thus, broad IAV immunity can be expanded from the germline repertoire via minimal antigenic input and an exceptionally simple antibody development pathway.

The Role of Force Fields and Water Models in Protein Folding and Unfolding Dynamics

Protein folding is a fascinating, not fully understood phenomenon in biology. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are an invaluable tool to study conformational changes in atomistic detail, including folding and unfolding processes of proteins. However, the accuracy of the conformational ensembles derived from MD simulations inevitably relies on the quality of the underlying force field in combination with the respective water model. Here, we investigate protein folding, unfolding, and misfolding of fast-folding proteins by examining different force fields with their recommended water models, i.e., ff14SB with the TIP3P model and ff19SB with the OPC model. To this end, we generated long conventional MD simulations highlighting the perks and pitfalls of these setups. Using Markov state models, we defined kinetically independent conformational substates and emphasized their distinct characteristics, as well as their corresponding state probabilities. Surprisingly, we found substantial differences in thermodynamics and kinetics of protein folding, depending on the combination of the protein force field and water model, originating primarily from the different water models. These results emphasize the importance of carefully choosing the force field and the respective water model as they determine the accuracy of the observed dynamics of folding events. Thus, the findings support the hypothesis that the water model is at least equally important as the force field and hence needs to be considered in future studies investigating protein dynamics and folding in all areas of biophysics.

Addressing Challenges of Macrocyclic Conformational Sampling in Polar and Apolar Solvents: Lessons for Chameleonicity

We evaluated a workflow to reliably sample the conformational space of a set of 47 peptidic macrocycles. Starting from SMILES strings, we use accelerated molecular dynamics simulations to overcome high energy barriers, in particular, the cis-trans isomerization of peptide bonds. We find that our approach performs very well in polar solvents like water and dimethyl sulfoxide. Interestingly, the protonation state of a secondary amine in the ring only slightly influences the conformational ensembles of our test systems. For several of the macrocycles, determining the conformational distribution in chloroform turns out to be considerably more challenging. Especially, the choice of partial charges crucially influences the ensembles in chloroform. We address these challenges by modifying initial structures and the choice of partial charges. Our results suggest that special care has to be taken to understand the configurational distribution in apolar solvents, which is a key step toward a reliable prediction of membrane permeation of macrocycles and their chameleonic properties.

Structural Basis of the Immunological Cross-Reactivity between Kiwi and Birch Pollen

Allergies related to kiwi consumption have become a growing health concern, with their prevalence on the rise. Many of these allergic reactions are attributed to cross-reactivity, particularly with the major allergen found in birch pollen. This cross-reactivity is associated with proteins belonging to the pathogenesis-related class 10 (PR-10) protein family. In our study, we determined the three-dimensional structures of the two PR-10 proteins in gold and green kiwi fruits, Act c 8 and Act d 8, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The structures of both kiwi proteins closely resemble the major birch pollen allergen, Bet v 1, providing a molecular explanation for the observed immunological cross-reactivity between kiwi and birch pollen. Compared to Act d 11, however, a kiwi allergen that shares the same architecture as PR-10 proteins, structural differences are apparent. Moreover, despite both Act c 8 and Act d 8 containing multiple cysteine residues, no disulfide bridges are present within their structures. Instead, all the cysteines are accessible on the protein's surface and exposed to the surrounding solvent, where they are available for reactions with components of the natural food matrix. This structural characteristic sets Act c 8 and Act d 8 apart from other kiwi proteins with a high cysteine content. Furthermore, we demonstrate that pyrogallol, the most abundant phenolic compound found in kiwi, binds into the internal cavities of these two proteins, albeit with low affinity. Our research offers a foundation for further studies aimed at understanding allergic reactions associated with this fruit and exploring how interactions with the natural food matrix might be employed to enhance food safety.

PyConSolv: A Python Package for Conformer Generation of (Metal-Containing) Systems in Explicit Solvent

We introduce PyConSolv, a freely available Python package that automates the generation of conformers of metal- and nonmetal-containing complexes in explicit solvent, through classical molecular dynamics simulations. Using a streamlined workflow and interfacing with widely used computational chemistry software, PyConSolv is an all-in-one tool for the generation of conformers in any solvent. Input requirements are minimal; only the geometry of the structure and the desired solvent in xyz (XMOL) format are needed. The package can also account for charged systems, by including arbitrary counterions in the simulation. A bonded model parametrization is performed automatically, utilizing AmberTools, ORCA, and Multiwfn software packages. PyConSolv provides a selection of preparametrized solvents and counterions for use in classical molecular dynamics simulations. We show the applicability of our package on a number of (transition-metal-containing) systems. The software is provided open source and free of charge.

Cross-linking disulfide bonds govern solution structures of diabodies

In the last years, antibodies have emerged as a promising new class of therapeutics, due to their combination of high specificity with long serum half-life and low risk of side-effects. Diabodies are a popular novel antibody format, consisting of two Fv domains connected with short linkers. Like IgG antibodies, they simultaneously bind two target proteins. However, they offer altered properties, given their smaller size and higher rigidity. In this study, we conducted the-to our knowledge-first molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of diabodies and find a surprisingly high conformational flexibility in the relative orientation of the two Fv domains. We observe rigidifying effects through the introduction of disulfide bonds in the Fv -Fv interface and characterize the effect of different disulfide bond locations on the conformation. Additionally, we compare VH -VL orientations and paratope dynamics between diabodies and an antigen binding fragment (Fab) of the same sequence. We find mostly consistent structures and dynamics, indicating similar antigen binding properties. The most significant differences can be found within the CDR-H2 loop dynamics. Of all CDR loops, the CDR-H2 is located closest to the artificial Fv -Fv interface. All examined diabodies show similar VH -VL orientations, Fv -Fv packing and CDR loop conformations. However, the variant with a P14C-K64C disulfide bond differs most from the Fab in our measures, including the CDR-H3 loop conformational ensemble. This suggests altered antigen binding properties and underlines the need for careful validation of the disulfide bond locations in diabodies.

"Identification of alkaloid compounds as potent inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis NadD using computational strategies"

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is leading cause of death worldwide. NAD participates in a host of redox reactions in energy landscape of organisms. Several studies implicate surrogate energy pathways involving NAD pools as important in survival of active as well as dormant mycobacteria. One of the NAD metabolic pathway enzyme, nicotinate mononucleotide adenylyltransferase (NadD) is indispensable in mycobacterial NAD metabolism and is perceived as an attractive drug target in pathogen. In this study, we have employed in silico screening, simulation and MM-PBSA strategies to identify potentially important alkaloid compounds against mycobacterial NadD for structure-based inhibitor development. We have performed an exhaustive structure-based virtual screening of an alkaloid library, ADMET, DFT profiling followed by Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation, and Molecular Mechanics-Poisson Boltzmann Surface Area (MM-PBSA) calculation to identify 10 compounds which exhibit favourable drug like properties and interactions. Interaction energies of these 10 alkaloid molecules range between -190 kJ/mol and -250 kJ/mol. These compounds could be promising starting point in the development of selective inhibitors against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Structural mechanism of Fab domain dissociation as a measure of interface stability

Therapeutic antibodies should not only recognize antigens specifically, but also need to be free from developability issues, such as poor stability. Thus, the mechanistic understanding and characterization of stability are critical determinants for rational antibody design. In this study, we use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the melting process of 16 antigen binding fragments (Fabs). We describe the Fab dissociation mechanisms, showing a separation in the V_H-V_L and in the C_H1-C_L domains. We found that the depths of the minima in the free energy curve, corresponding to the bound states, correlate with the experimentally determined melting temperatures. Additionally, we provide a detailed structural description of the dissociation mechanism and identify key interactions in the CDR loops and in the C_H1-C_L interface that contribute to stabilization. The dissociation of the V_H-V_L or C_H1-C_L domains can be represented by conformational changes in the bend angles between the domains. Our findings elucidate the melting process of antigen binding fragments and highlight critical residues in both the variable and constant domains, which are also strongly germline dependent. Thus, our proposed mechanisms have broad implications in the development and design of new and more stable antigen binding fragments.

Structural Characterization of Nanobodies during Germline Maturation

Camelid heavy-chain antibody variable domains (VHH), nanobodies, are the smallest-known functional antibody fragments with high therapeutic potential. In this study, we investigate a VHH binding to hen egg-white lysozyme (HEL). We structurally and dynamically characterized the conformational diversity of four VHH variants to elucidate the antigen-binding process. For two of these antibodies, not only are the dissociation constants known, but also the experimentally determined crystal structures of the VHH in complex with HEL are available. We performed well-tempered metadynamics simulations in combination with molecular dynamics simulations to capture a broad conformational space and to reconstruct the thermodynamics and kinetics of conformational transitions in the antigen-binding site, the paratope. By kinetically characterizing the loop movements of the paratope, we found that, with an increase in affinity, the state populations shift towards the binding competent conformation. The contacts contributing to antigen binding, and those who contribute to the overall stability, show a clear trend towards less variable but more intense contacts. Additionally, these investigated nanobodies clearly follow the conformational selection paradigm, as the binding competent conformation pre-exists within the structural ensembles without the presence of the antigen.

Thermostabilizing mechanisms of canonical single amino acid substitutions at a GH1 β-glucosidase probed by multiple MD and computational approaches

β-glucosidases play a pivotal role in second-generation biofuel (2G-biofuel) production. For this application, thermostable enzymes are essential due to the denaturing conditions on the bioreactors. Random amino acid substitutions have originated new thermostable β-glucosidases, but without a clear understanding of their molecular mechanisms. Here, we probe by different molecular dynamics simulation approaches with distinct force fields and submitting the results to various computational analyses, the molecular bases of the thermostabilization of the Paenibacillus polymyxa GH1 β-glucosidase by two-point mutations E96K (TR1) and M416I (TR2). Equilibrium molecular dynamic simulations (eMD) at different temperatures, principal component analysis (PCA), virtual docking, metadynamics (MetaDy), accelerated molecular dynamics (aMD), Poisson-Boltzmann surface analysis, grid inhomogeneous solvation theory and colony method estimation of conformational entropy allow to converge to the idea that the stabilization carried by both substitutions depend on different contributions of three classic mechanisms: (i) electrostatic surface stabilization; (ii) efficient isolation of the hydrophobic core from the solvent, with energetic advantages at the solvation cap; (iii) higher distribution of the protein dynamics at the mobile active site loops than at the protein core, with functional and entropic advantages. Mechanisms i and ii predominate for TR1, while in TR2, mechanism iii is dominant. Loop A integrity and loops A, C, D, and E dynamics play critical roles in such mechanisms. Comparison of the dynamic and topological changes observed between the thermostable mutants and the wildtype protein with amino acid co-evolutive networks and thermostabilizing hotspots from the literature allow inferring that the mechanisms here recovered can be related to the thermostability obtained by different substitutions along the whole family GH1. We hope the results and insights discussed here can be helpful for future rational approaches to the engineering of optimized β-glucosidases for 2G-biofuel production for industry, biotechnology, and science.

One-Pot Modified Madelung Synthesis of 3-Tosyl- and 3-Cyano-1,2-disubstituted Indoles

A One-pot, two-step procedure for the synthesis of 1,2-disubstituted-3-tosyl and 1,2-disubstituted-3-cyanoindoles from the corresponding N-(o-tolyl)benzamides is reported. The developed procedure is operationally simple, does not utilize any transition metals, and provides variably substituted indoles in good yields from readily available starting materials.

Nanobody Paratope Ensembles in Solution Characterized by MD Simulations and NMR

Variable domains of camelid antibodies (so-called nanobodies or V_HH) are the smallest antibody fragments that retain complete functionality and therapeutic potential. Understanding of the nanobody-binding interface has become a pre-requisite for rational antibody design and engineering. The nanobody-binding interface consists of up to three hypervariable loops, known as the CDR loops. Here, we structurally and dynamically characterize the conformational diversity of an anti-GFP-binding nanobody by using molecular dynamics simulations in combination with experimentally derived data from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The NMR data contain both structural and dynamic information resolved at various timescales, which allows an assessment of the quality of protein MD simulations. Thus, in this study, we compared the ensembles for the anti-GFP-binding nanobody obtained from MD simulations with results from NMR. We find excellent agreement of the NOE-derived distance maps obtained from NMR and MD simulations and observe similar conformational spaces for the simulations with and without NOE time-averaged restraints. We also compare the measured and calculated order parameters and find generally good agreement for the motions observed in the ps–ns timescale, in particular for the CDR3 loop. Understanding of the CDR3 loop dynamics is especially critical for nanobodies, as this loop is typically critical for antigen recognition.

Bispecific antibodies-effects of point mutations on CH3-CH3 interface stability

A new format of therapeutic proteins is bispecific antibodies, in which two different heavy chains heterodimerize to obtain two different binding sites. Therefore, it is crucial to understand and optimize the third constant domain (CH3-CH3) interface to favor heterodimerization over homodimerization, and to preserve the physicochemical properties, as thermal stability. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the dissociation process of 19 CH3-CH3 crystal structures that differ from each other in few point mutations. We describe the dissociation of the dimeric interface as a two-steps mechanism. As confirmed by a Markov state model, apart from the bound and the dissociated state, we observe an additional intermediate state, which corresponds to an encounter complex. The analysis of the interdomain contacts reveals key residues that stabilize the interface. We expect that our results will improve the understanding of the CH3-CH3 interface interactions and thus advance the developability and design of new antibodies formats.

Broadly neutralizing antibodies target a haemagglutinin anchor epitope

Broadly neutralizing antibodies that target epitopes of haemagglutinin on the influenza virus have the potential to provide near universal protection against influenza virus infection1. However, viral mutants that escape broadly neutralizing antibodies have been reported2,3. The identification of broadly neutralizing antibody classes that can neutralize viral escape mutants is critical for universal influenza virus vaccine design. Here we report a distinct class of broadly neutralizing antibodies that target a discrete membrane-proximal anchor epitope of the haemagglutinin stalk domain. Anchor epitope-targeting antibodies are broadly neutralizing across H1 viruses and can cross-react with H2 and H5 viruses that are a pandemic threat. Antibodies that target this anchor epitope utilize a highly restricted repertoire, which encodes two public binding motifs that make extensive contacts with conserved residues in the fusion peptide. Moreover, anchor epitope-targeting B cells are common in the human memory B cell repertoire and were recalled in humans by an oil-in-water adjuvanted chimeric haemagglutinin vaccine4,5, which is a potential universal influenza virus vaccine. To maximize protection against seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses, vaccines should aim to boost this previously untapped source of broadly neutralizing antibodies that are widespread in the human memory B cell pool.

CDR loop interactions can determine heavy and light chain pairing preferences in bispecific antibodies

As the current biotherapeutic market is dominated by antibodies, the design of different antibody formats, like bispecific antibodies, is critical to the advancement of the field. In contrast to monovalent antibodies, which consist of two identical antigen-binding sites, bispecific antibodies can target two different epitopes by containing two different antigen-binding sites. Thus, the rise of new formats as successful therapeutics has reignited the interest in advancing and facilitating the efficient production of bispecific antibodies. Here, we investigate the influence of point mutations in the antigen-binding site, the paratope, on heavy and light chain pairing preferences by using molecular dynamics simulations. In agreement with experiments, we find that specific residues in the antibody variable domain (Fv), i.e., the complementarity-determining region (CDR) L3 and H3 loops, determine heavy and light chain pairing preferences. Excitingly, we observe substantial population shifts in CDR-H3 and CDR-L3 loop conformations in solution accompanied by a decrease in bispecific IgG yield. These conformational changes in the CDR3 loops induced by point mutations also influence all other CDR loop conformations and consequentially result in different CDR loop states in solution. However, besides their effect on the obtained CDR loop ensembles, point mutations also lead to distinct interaction patterns in the V_H-V_L interface. By comparing the interaction patterns among all investigated variants, we observe specific contacts in the interface that drive heavy and light chain pairing. Thus, these findings have broad implications in the field of antibody engineering and design because they provide a mechanistic understanding of antibody interfaces, by identifying critical factors driving the pairing preferences, and thus can help to advance the design of bispecific antibodies.

Comparing Antibody Interfaces to Inform Rational Design of New Antibody Formats

As the current biotherapeutic market is dominated by antibodies, the design of different antibody formats, like bispecific antibodies and other new formats, represent a key component in advancing antibody therapy. When designing new formats, a targeted modulation of pairing preferences is key. Several existing approaches are successful, but expanding the repertoire of design possibilities would be desirable. Cognate immunoglobulin G antibodies depend on homodimerization of the fragment crystallizable regions of two identical heavy chains. By modifying the dimeric interface of the third constant domain (CH3-CH3), with different mutations on each domain, the engineered Fc fragments form rather heterodimers than homodimers. The first constant domain (CH1-CL) shares a very similar fold and interdomain orientation with the CH3-CH3 dimer. Thus, numerous well-established design efforts for CH3-CH3 interfaces, have also been applied to CH1-CL dimers to reduce the number of mispairings in the Fabs. Given the high structural similarity of the CH3-CH3 and CH1-CL domains we want to identify additional opportunities in comparing the differences and overlapping interaction profiles. Our vision is to facilitate a toolkit that allows for the interchangeable usage of different design tools from crosslinking the knowledge between these two interface types. As a starting point, here, we use classical molecular dynamics simulations to identify differences of the CH3-CH3 and CH1-CL interfaces and already find unexpected features of these interfaces shedding new light on possible design variations. Apart from identifying clear differences between the similar CH3-CH3 and CH1-CL dimers, we structurally characterize the effects of point-mutations in the CH3-CH3 interface on the respective dynamics and interface interaction patterns. Thus, this study has broad implications in the field of antibody engineering as it provides a structural and mechanistical understanding of antibody interfaces and thereby presents a crucial aspect for the design of bispecific antibodies.

Paratope states in solution improve structure prediction and docking

Structure-based antibody design and accurate predictions of antibody-antigen interactions remain major challenges in computational biology. By using molecular dynamics simulations, we show that a single static X-ray structure is not sufficient to identify determinants of antibody-antigen recognition. Here, we investigate antibodies that undergo substantial conformational changes upon antigen binding and have been classified as difficult cases in an extensive benchmark for antibody-antigen docking. We present thermodynamics and transition kinetics of these conformational rearrangements and show that paratope states can be used to improve antibody-antigen docking. By using the unbound antibody X-ray structure as starting structure for molecular dynamics simulations, we retain a binding competent conformation substantially different to the unbound antibody X-ray structure. We also observe that the kinetically dominant antibody paratope conformations are chosen by the bound antigen conformation with the highest probability. Thus, we show that paratope states in solution can improve antibody-antigen docking and structure prediction.

Germline-Dependent Antibody Paratope States and Pairing Specific VH-VL Interface Dynamics

Antibodies have emerged as one of the fastest growing classes of biotherapeutic proteins. To improve the rational design of antibodies, we investigate the conformational diversity of 16 different germline combinations, which are composed of 4 different kappa light chains paired with 4 different heavy chains. In this study, we systematically show that different heavy and light chain pairings strongly influence the paratope, interdomain interaction patterns and the relative V_H-V_L interface orientations. We observe changes in conformational diversity and substantial population shifts of the complementarity determining region (CDR) loops, resulting in distinct dominant solution structures and differently favored canonical structures. Additionally, we identify conformational changes in the structural diversity of the CDR-H3 loop upon different heavy and light chain pairings, as well as upon changes in sequence and structure of the neighboring CDR loops, despite having an identical CDR-H3 loop amino acid sequence. These results can also be transferred to all CDR loops and to the relative V_H-V_L orientation, as certain paratope states favor distinct interface angle distributions. Furthermore, we directly compare the timescales of sidechain rearrangements with the well-described transition kinetics of conformational changes in the backbone of the CDR loops. We show that sidechain flexibilities are strongly affected by distinct heavy and light chain pairings and decipher germline-specific structural features co-determining stability. These findings reveal that all CDR loops are strongly correlated and that distinct heavy and light chain pairings can result in different paratope states in solution, defined by a characteristic combination of CDR loop conformations and V_H-V_L interface orientations. Thus, these results have broad implications in the field of antibody engineering, as they clearly show the importance of considering paired heavy and light chains to understand the antibody binding site, which is one of the key aspects in the design of therapeutics.

Pore mutation N617D in the skeletal muscle DHPR blocks Ca2+ influx due to atypical high-affinity Ca2+ binding

Skeletal muscle excitation-contraction (EC) coupling roots in Ca²⁺-influx-independent inter-channel signaling between the sarcolemmal dihydropyridine receptor (DHPR) and the ryanodine receptor (RyR1) in the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Although DHPR Ca²⁺ influx is irrelevant for EC coupling, its putative role in other muscle-physiological and developmental pathways was recently examined using two distinct genetically engineered mouse models carrying Ca²⁺ non-conducting DHPRs: DHPR(N617D) (Dayal et al., 2017) and DHPR(E1014K) (Lee et al., 2015). Surprisingly, despite complete block of DHPR Ca²⁺-conductance, histological, biochemical, and physiological results obtained from these two models were contradictory. Here, we characterize the permeability and selectivity properties and henceforth the mechanism of Ca²⁺ non-conductance of DHPR(N617). Our results reveal that only mutant DHPR(N617D) with atypical high-affinity Ca²⁺ pore-binding is tight for physiologically relevant monovalent cations like Na⁺ and K⁺. Consequently, we propose a molecular model of cooperativity between two ion selectivity rings formed by negatively charged residues in the DHPR pore region.

Shark Antibody Variable Domains Rigidify Upon Affinity Maturation-Understanding the Potential of Shark Immunoglobulins as Therapeutics

Sharks and other cartilaginous fish are the phylogenetically oldest living organisms that have antibodies as part of their adaptive immune system. As part of their humoral adaptive immune response, they produce an immunoglobulin, the so-called immunoglobulin new antigen receptor (IgNAR), a heavy-chain only antibody. The variable domain of an IgNAR, also known as V NAR , binds the antigen as an independent soluble domain. In this study, we structurally and dynamically characterized the affinity maturation mechanism of the germline and somatically matured (PBLA8) V NAR to better understand their function and their applicability as therapeutics. We observed a substantial rigidification upon affinity maturation, which is accompanied by a higher number of contacts, thereby contributing to the decrease in flexibility. Considering the static x-ray structures, the observed rigidification is not obvious, as especially the mutated residues undergo conformational changes during the simulation, resulting in an even stronger network of stabilizing interactions. Additionally, the simulations of the V NAR in complex with the hen egg-white lysozyme show that the V NAR antibodies evidently follow the concept of conformational selection, as the binding-competent state already preexisted even without the presence of the antigen. To have a more detailed description of antibody-antigen recognition, we also present here the binding/unbinding mechanism between the hen egg-white lysozyme and both the germline and matured V NAR s. Upon maturation, we observed a substantial increase in the resulting dissociation-free energy barrier. Furthermore, we were able to kinetically and thermodynamically describe the binding process and did not only identify a two-step binding mechanism, but we also found a strong population shift upon affinity maturation toward the native binding pose.

Quantum Chemical Microsolvation by Automated Water Placement

We developed a quantitative approach to quantum chemical microsolvation. Key in our methodology is the automatic placement of individual solvent molecules based on the free energy solvation thermodynamics derived from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and grid inhomogeneous solvation theory (GIST). This protocol enabled us to rigorously define the number, position, and orientation of individual solvent molecules and to determine their interaction with the solute based on physical quantities. The generated solute-solvent clusters served as an input for subsequent quantum chemical investigations. We showcased the applicability, scope, and limitations of this computational approach for a number of small molecules, including urea, 2-aminobenzothiazole, (+)-syn-benzotriborneol, benzoic acid, and helicene. Our results show excellent agreement with the available ab initio molecular dynamics data and experimental results.

Mutation of Framework Residue H71 Results in Different Antibody Paratope States in Solution

Characterizing and understanding the antibody binding interface have become a pre-requisite for rational antibody design and engineering. The antigen-binding site is formed by six hypervariable loops, known as the complementarity determining regions (CDRs) and by the relative interdomain orientation (V_H-V_L). Antibody CDR loops with a certain sequence have been thought to be limited to a single static canonical conformation determining their binding properties. However, it has been shown that antibodies exist as ensembles of multiple paratope states, which are defined by a characteristic combination of CDR loop conformations and interdomain orientations. In this study, we thermodynamically and kinetically characterize the prominent role of residue 71^H (Chothia nomenclature), which does not only codetermine the canonical conformation of the CDR-H2 loop but also results in changes in conformational diversity and population shifts of the CDR-H1 and CDR-H3 loop. As all CDR loop movements are correlated, conformational rearrangements of the heavy chain CDR loops also induce conformational changes in the CDR-L1, CDR-L2, and CDR-L3 loop. These overall conformational changes of the CDR loops also influence the interface angle distributions, consequentially leading to different paratope states in solution. Thus, the type of residue of 71^H, either an alanine or an arginine, not only influences the CDR-H2 loop ensembles, but co-determines the paratope states in solution. Characterization of the functional consequences of mutations of residue 71^H on the paratope states and interface orientations has broad implications in the field of antibody engineering.

Inverse relation between structural flexibility and IgE reactivity of Cor a 1 hazelnut allergens

A major proportion of allergic reactions to hazelnuts (Corylus avellana) are caused by immunologic cross-reactivity of IgE antibodies to pathogenesis-related class 10 (PR-10) proteins. Intriguingly, the four known isoforms of the hazelnut PR-10 allergen Cor a 1, denoted as Cor a 1.0401-Cor a 1.0404, share sequence identities exceeding 97% but possess different immunologic properties. In this work we describe the NMR solution structures of these proteins and provide an in-depth study of their biophysical properties. Despite sharing highly similar three-dimensional structures, the four isoforms exhibit remarkable differences regarding structural flexibility, hydrogen bonding and thermal stability. Our experimental data reveal an inverse relation between structural flexibility and IgE-binding in ELISA experiments, with the most flexible isoform having the lowest IgE-binding potential, while the isoform with the most rigid backbone scaffold displays the highest immunologic reactivity. These results point towards a significant entropic contribution to the process of antibody binding.

Antibody CDR loops as ensembles in solution vs. canonical clusters from X-ray structures

In the past decade, the relevance of antibodies as therapeutics has increased substantially. Therefore, structural and functional characterization, in particular of the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs), is crucial to the design and engineering of antibodies with unique binding properties. Various studies have focused on classifying the CDR loops into a small set of main-chain conformations to facilitate antibody design by assuming that certain sequences can only adopt a limited number of conformations. Here, we present a kinetic classification of CDR loop structures as ensembles in solution. Using molecular dynamics simulations in combination with strong experimental structural information, we observe conformational transitions between canonical clusters and additional dominant solution structures in the micro-to-millisecond timescale for all CDR loops, independent of length and sequence composition. Besides identifying all relevant conformations in solution, our results revealed that various canonical cluster medians actually belong to the same kinetic minimum. Additionally, we reconstruct the kinetics and probabilities of the conformational transitions between canonical clusters, and thereby extend the model of static canonical structures to reveal a dynamic conformational ensemble in solution as a new paradigm in the field of antibody structure design.

Abbreviations: CDR: Complementary-determining region; Fv: Antibody variable fragment; PCCA: Perron cluster analysis; tICA: Time-lagged independent component analysis; V_H: Heavy chain variable region; V_L: Light chain variable region

A probable means to an end: exploring P131 pharmacophoric scaffold to identify potential inhibitors of Cryptosporidium parvum inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase

Compound P131 has been established to inhibit Cryptosporidium parvum's inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (CpIMPDH). Its inhibitory activity supersedes that of paromomycin, which is extensively used in treating cryptosporidiosis. Through the per-residue energy decomposition approach, crucial moieties of P131 were identified and subsequently adopted to create a pharmacophore model for virtual screening in the ZINC database. This search generated eight ADMET-compliant hits that were examined thoroughly to fit into the active site of CpIMPDH via molecular docking. Three compounds ZINC46542062, ZINC58646829, and ZINC89780094, with favorable docking scores of - 8.3 kcal/mol, - 8.2 kcal/mol, and - 7.5 kcal/mol, were selected. The potential inhibitory mechanism of these compounds was probed using molecular dynamics simulation and Molecular Mechanics Generalized Poisson Boltzmann Surface Area (MM/PBSA) analyses. Results revealed that one of the hits (ZINC46542062) exhibited a lower binding free energy of - 39.52 kcal/mol than P131, which had - 34.6 kcal/mol. Conformational perturbation induced by the binding of the identified hits to CpIMPDH was similar to P131, suggesting a similarity in inhibitory mechanisms. Also, in silico investigation of the properties of the hit compounds implied superior physicochemical properties with regards to their synthetic accessibility, lipophilicity, and number of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors in comparison with P131. ZINC46542062 was identified as a promising hit compound with the highest binding affinity to the target protein and favorable physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties relative to P131. The identified compounds can serve as a basis for conducting further experimental investigations toward the development of anticryptosporidials, which can overcome the challenges of existing therapeutic options. Graphical abstract P131 and the identified compounds docked in the NAD⁺ binding site of Cryptosporidium parvum IMPDH.

Surprisingly Fast Interface and Elbow Angle Dynamics of Antigen-Binding Fragments

Fab consist of a heavy and light chain and can be subdivided into a variable (V H and V L ) and a constant region (C H 1 and C L ). The variable region contains the complementarity-determining region (CDR), which is formed by six hypervariable loops, shaping the antigen binding site, the paratope. Apart from the CDR loops, both the elbow angle and the relative interdomain orientations of the V H -V L and the C H 1-C L domains influence the shape of the paratope. Thus, characterization of the interface and elbow angle dynamics is essential to antigen specificity. We studied nine antigen-binding fragments (Fab) to investigate the influence of affinity maturation, antibody humanization, and different light-chain types on the interface and elbow angle dynamics. While the CDR loops reveal conformational transitions in the micro-to-millisecond timescale, both the interface and elbow angle dynamics occur on the low nanosecond timescale. Upon affinity maturation, we observe a substantial rigidification of the V H and V L interdomain and elbow-angle flexibility, reflected in a narrower and more distinct distribution. Antibody humanization describes the process of grafting non-human CDR loops onto a representative human framework. As the antibody framework changes upon humanization, we investigated if both the interface and the elbow angle distributions are changed or shifted. The results clearly showed a substantial shift in the relative V H -V L distributions upon antibody humanization, indicating that different frameworks favor distinct interface orientations. Additionally, the interface and elbow angle dynamics of five antibody fragments with different light-chain types are included, because of their strong differences in elbow angles. For these five examples, we clearly see a high variability and flexibility in both interface and elbow angle dynamics, highlighting the fact that Fab interface orientations and elbow angles interconvert between each other in the low nanosecond timescale. Understanding how the relative interdomain orientations and the elbow angle influence antigen specificity, affinity, and stability has broad implications in the field of antibody modeling and engineering.

Antibodies exhibit multiple paratope states influencing VH-VL domain orientations

In the last decades, antibodies have emerged as one of the most important and successful classes of biopharmaceuticals. The highest variability and diversity of an antibody is concentrated on six hypervariable loops, also known as complementarity determining regions (CDRs) shaping the antigen-binding site, the paratope. Whereas it was assumed that certain sequences can only adopt a limited set of backbone conformations, in this study we present a kinetic classification of several paratope states in solution. Using molecular dynamics simulations in combination with experimental structural information we capture the involved conformational transitions between different canonical clusters and additional dominant solution structures occurring in the micro-to-millisecond timescale. Furthermore, we observe a strong correlation of CDR loop movements. Another important aspect when characterizing different paratope states is the relative VH/VL orientation and the influence of the distinct CDR loop states on the VH/VL interface. Conformational rearrangements of the CDR loops do not only have an effect on the relative VH/VL orientations, but also influence in some cases the elbow-angle dynamics and shift the respective distributions. Thus, our results show that antibodies exist as several interconverting paratope states, each contributing to the antibody's properties.

MovableType Software for Fast Free Energy-Based Virtual Screening: Protocol Development, Deployment, Validation, and Assessment

For decades, the complicated energy surfaces found in macromolecular protein:ligand structures, which require large amounts of computational time and resources for energy state sampling, have been an inherent obstacle to fast, routine free energy estimation in industrial drug discovery efforts. Beginning in 2013, the Merz research group addressed this cost with the introduction of a novel sampling methodology termed “Movable Type” (MT). Using numerical integration methods, the MT method reduces the computational expense for energy state sampling by independently calculating each atomic partition function from an initial molecular conformation in order to estimate the molecular free energy using ensembles of the atomic partition functions. In this work, we report a software package, the DivCon Discovery Suite with the MovableType module from QuantumBio Inc., that performs this MT free energy estimation protocol in a fast, fully encapsulated manner. We discuss the computational procedures and improvements to the original work, and we detail the corresponding settings for this software package. Finally, we introduce two validation benchmarks to evaluate the overall robustness of the method against a broad range of protein:ligand structural cases. With these publicly available benchmarks, we show that the method can use a variety of input types and parameters and exhibits comparable predictability whether the method is presented with “expensive” X-ray structures or “inexpensively docked” theoretical models. We also explore some next steps for the method. The MovableType software is available at http://www.quantumbioinc.com/

Local and Global Rigidification Upon Antibody Affinity Maturation

During the affinity maturation process the immune system produces antibodies with higher specificity and activity through various rounds of somatic hypermutations in response to an antigen. Elucidating the affinity maturation process is fundamental in understanding immunity and in the development of biotherapeutics. Therefore, we analyzed 10 pairs of antibody fragments differing in their specificity and in distinct stages of affinity maturation using metadynamics in combination with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We investigated differences in flexibility of the CDR-H3 loop and global changes in plasticity upon affinity maturation. Among all antibody pairs we observed a substantial rigidification in flexibility and plasticity reflected in a substantial decrease of conformational diversity. To visualize and characterize these findings we used Markov-states models to reconstruct the kinetics of CDR-H3 loop dynamics and for the first time provide a method to define and localize surface plasticity upon affinity maturation.

T-Cell Receptor CDR3 Loop Conformations in Solution Shift the Relative Vα-Vβ Domain Distributions

T-cell receptors are an important part in the adaptive immune system as they are responsible for detecting foreign proteins presented by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The affinity is predominantly determined by structure and sequence of the complementarity determining regions (CDRs), of which the CDR3 loops are responsible for peptide recognition. We present a kinetic classification of T-cell receptor CDR3 loops with different loop lengths into canonical and non-canonical solution structures. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we do not only sample available X-ray structures, but we also observe a substantially broader CDR3 loop ensemble with various distinct kinetic minima in solution. Our results strongly imply, that for given CDR3 loop sequences several canonical structures have to be considered to characterize the conformational diversity of these loops. Our suggested dominant solution structures could extend the repertoire of available canonical clusters by including kinetic minimum structures present in solution. Thus, the CDR3 loops need to be characterized as conformational ensembles in solution. Furthermore, the conformational changes of the CDR3 loops follow the paradigm of conformational selection, because the experimentally determined binding competent state is present within this ensemble of pre-existing conformations without the presence of the antigen. We also identify strong correlations between the CDR3 loops and include combined state descriptions. Additionally, we observe a strong dependency of the CDR3 loop conformations on the relative Vα-Vβ interdomain orientations, revealing that certain CDR3 loop states favor specific interface orientations.

VH -VL interdomain dynamics observed by computer simulations and NMR

The relative orientation of the two variable domains, VH and VL , influences the shape of the antigen binding site, that is, the paratope, and is essential to understand antigen specificity. ABangle characterizes the VH -VL orientation by using five angles and a distance and compares it to other known structures. Molecular dynamics simulations of antibody variable domains (Fvs) reveal fluctuations in the relative domain orientations. The observed dynamics between these domains are confirmed by NMR experiments on a single-chain variable fragment antibody (scFv) in complex with IL-1β and an antigen-binding fragment (Fab). The variability of these relative domain orientations can be interpreted as a structural feature of antibodies, which increases the antibody repertoire significantly and can enlarge the number of possible binding partners substantially. The movements of the VH and VL domains are well sampled with molecular dynamics simulations and are in agreement with the NMR ensemble. Fast Fourier transformation of the ABangle metrics allows to assign timescales of 0.1-10 GHz to the fastest collective interdomain movements. The results clearly show the necessity of dynamics to understand and characterize the favorable orientations of the VH and VL domains implying a considerable binding interface flexibility and reveal in all antibody fragments (Fab, scFv, and Fv) very similar VH -VL interdomain variations comparable to the distributions observed for known X-ray structures of antibodies. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Antibodies have become key players as therapeutic agents. The binding ability of antibodies is determined by the antigen-binding fragment (Fab), in particular the variable fragment region (Fv). Antigen-binding is mediated by the complementarity-determining regions consisting of six loops, each three of the heavy and light chain variable domain VH and VL . The relative orientation of the VH and VL domains influences the shape of the antigen-binding site and is a major objective in antibody design. In agreement with NMR experiments and molecular dynamics simulations, we show a considerable binding site flexibility in the low nanosecond timescale. Thus we suggest that this flexibility and its implications for binding and specificity should be considered when designing and optimizing therapeutic antibodies.

Macrocycle Cell Permeability Measured by Solvation Free Energies in Polar and Apolar Environments

The relation of surface polarity and conformational preferences is decisive for cell permeability and thus bioavailability of macrocyclic drugs. Here, we employ grid inhomogeneous solvation theory (GIST) to calculate solvation free energies for a series of six macrocycles in water and chloroform as a measure of passive membrane permeability. We perform accelerated molecular dynamics simulations to capture a diverse structural ensemble in water and chloroform, allowing for a direct profiling of solvent-dependent conformational preferences. Subsequent GIST calculations facilitate a quantitative measure of solvent preference in the form of a transfer free energy, calculated from the ensemble-averaged solvation free energies in water and chloroform. Hence, the proposed method considers how the conformational diversity of macrocycles in polar and apolar solvents translates into transfer free energies. Following this strategy, we find a striking correlation of 0.92 between experimentally determined cell permeabilities and calculated transfer free energies. For the studied model systems, we find that the transfer free energy exceeds the purely water-based solvation free energies as a reliable estimate of cell permeability and that conformational sampling is imperative for a physically meaningful model. We thus recommend this purely physics-based approach as a computational tool to assess cell permeabilities of macrocyclic drug candidates.

STACKED - Solvation Theory of Aromatic Complexes as Key for Estimating Drug Binding

The use of fragments to biophysically characterize a protein binding pocket and determine the strengths of certain interactions is a computationally and experimentally commonly applied approach. Almost all drug like molecules contain at least one aromatic moiety forming stacking interactions in the binding pocket. In computational drug design, the strength of stacking and the resulting optimization of the aromatic core or moiety is usually calculated using high level quantum mechanical approaches. However, as these calculations are performed in a vacuum, solvation properties are neglected. We close this gap by using Grid Inhomogeneous Solvation Theory (GIST) to describe the properties of individual heteroaromatics and complexes and thereby estimate the desolvation penalty. In our study, we investigated the solvation free energies of heteroaromatics frequently occurring in drug design projects in complex with truncated side chains of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan. Furthermore, we investigated the properties of drug-fragments crystallized in a fragment-based lead optimization approach investigating PDE-10-A. We do not only find good correlation for the estimated desolvation penalty and the experimental binding free energy, but our calculations also allow us to predict prominent interaction sites. We highlight the importance of including the desolvation penalty of the respective heteroaromatics in stacked complexes to explain the gain or loss in affinity of potential lead compounds.

T-Cell Receptor Variable β Domains Rigidify During Affinity Maturation

We investigated T-cell receptor variable β chains binding to the superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin C3 (SEC 3) with structure information in different stages of affinity maturation. Metadynamics in combination with molecular dynamics simulations allow to access the micro-to-millisecond timescale and reveal a strong effect of energetically significant mutations on the flexibility of the antigen-binding site. The observed changes in dynamics of the complementarity determining region (CDR) loops, especially the CDR 2, and HV 4 loop on this specific pathway of affinity maturation are reflected in their structural diversity, thermodynamics of conformations and kinetics of structural transitions. In addition, this affinity maturation pathway follows the concept of conformational selection, because even without the presence of the antigen the binding competent state is present in this pre-existing ensemble of conformations. In all stages of this affinity maturation process we observe a link between specificity and reduced flexibility.

A new method for estimating the relative binding free energy, derived from a free energy variational principle for the Pim-1-kinase-ligand and FKBP-ligand systems

In this study, a new method is proposed for calculating the relative binding free energy between a ligand and a protein, derived from a free energy variational principle (FEVP). To address the shortcomings of the method used in our previous study, we incorporate the dynamical fluctuation of a ligand in the FEVP calculation. The present modified method is applied to the Pim-1-kinase-ligand system and also to the FKBP-ligand system as a comparison with our previous work. Any inhibitor of Pim-1 kinase is expected to function as an anti-cancer drug. Some improvements are observed in the results compared to the previous study. The present work also shows comparable or better results than approaches using a standard technique of binding free energy calculations, such as the LIE and the MM-PB/SA methods. The possibility of applying the present method in the drug discovery process is also discussed.

Conformational flexibility correlates with glucose tolerance for point mutations in β-glucosidases - a computational study

β-glucosidases (EC 3.2.1.21) have been described as essential to second-generation biofuel production. They act in the last step of the lignocellulosic saccharification, cleaving the β - 1,4 glycosidic bonds in cellobiose to produce two molecules of glucose. However, β-glucosidases have been described as strongly inhibited by glucose, causing an increment of cellobiose concentration. Also, cellobiose is an inhibitor of other enzymes used in this process, such as exoglucanases and endoglucanases. Hence, the engineering of thermostable and glucose-tolerant β-glucosidases has been targeted by many studies. In this study, we performed high sampling accelerated molecular dynamics for a wild glucose-tolerant GH1 β-glucosidase (Bgl1A), a wild non-tolerant (Bgl1B), and a set of glucose-tolerant Bgl1B's mutants: V302F, N301Q/V302F, F172I, V227M, G246S, T299S, and H228T. Our results suggest that point mutations promissory to induce glucose tolerance trend to enhance the mobility of the flexible loops around the active site. Mutations affected B and C loops regions, and an αβ-hairpin motif between them. Conformational clusters and free energy landscape profiles suggest that the mobility acquired by mutants allows a higher closure of the substrate channel. This closure is compatible with a higher impedance for glucose entrance and stimulus of its withdrawal. Based on mutants' structural analyses, we inferred that both the direct stereochemical effect on the glucose path and the changes in the mobility affect glucose tolerance. We hope these results be useful for the rational design of glucose-tolerant and industrially promising enzymes.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Advances in the Treatment of Explicit Water Molecules in Docking and Binding Free Energy Calculations

Background:

The inclusion of direct effects mediated by water during the ligandreceptor recognition is a hot-topic of modern computational chemistry applied to drug discovery and development. Docking or virtual screening with explicit hydration is still debatable, despite the successful cases that have been presented in the last years. Indeed, how to select the water molecules that will be included in the docking process or how the included waters should be treated remain open questions.

Objective:

In this review, we will discuss some of the most recent methods that can be used in computational drug discovery and drug development when the effect of a single water, or of a small network of interacting waters, needs to be explicitly considered.

Results:

Here, we analyse the software to aid the selection, or to predict the position, of water molecules that are going to be explicitly considered in later docking studies. We also present software and protocols able to efficiently treat flexible water molecules during docking, including examples of applications. Finally, we discuss methods based on molecular dynamics simulations that can be used to integrate docking studies or to reliably and efficiently compute binding energies of ligands in presence of interfacial or bridging water molecules.

Conclusions:

Software applications aiding the design of new drugs that exploit water molecules, either as displaceable residues or as bridges to the receptor, are constantly being developed. Although further validation is needed, workflows that explicitly consider water will probably become a standard for computational drug discovery soon.

Antibody humanization-the Influence of the antibody framework on the CDR-H3 loop ensemble in solution

Antibody engineering of non-human antibodies has focused on reducing immunogenicity by humanization, being a major limitation in developing monoclonal antibodies. We analyzed four series of antibody binding fragments (Fabs) and a variable fragment (Fv) with structural information in different stages of humanization to investigate the influence of the framework, point mutations and specificity on the complementarity determining region (CDR)-H3 loop dynamics. We also studied a Fv without structural information of the anti-idiotypic antibody Ab2/3H6, because it completely lost its binding affinity upon superhumanization, as an example of a failed humanization. Enhanced sampling techniques in combination with molecular dynamics simulations allow to access micro- to milli-second timescales of the CDR-H3 loop dynamics and reveal kinetic and thermodynamic changes involved in the process of humanization. In most cases, we observe a reduced conformational diversity of the CDR-H3 loop when grafted on a human framework and find a conformational shift of the dominant CDR-H3 loop conformation in solution. A shallow side minimum of the conformational CDR-H3 loop ensemble attached to the murine framework becomes the dominant conformation in solution influenced by the human framework. Additionally, we observe in the case of the failed humanization that the potentially binding competent murine CDR-H3 loop ensemble in solution shows nearly no kinetical or structural overlap with the superhumanized variant, thus explaining the loss of binding.

Conformational selection of allergen-antibody complexes-surface plasticity of paratopes and epitopes

Antibodies have the ability to bind various types of antigens and to recognize different antibody-binding sites (epitopes) of the same antigen with different binding affinities. Due to the conserved structural framework of antibodies, their specificity to antigens is mainly determined by their antigen-binding site (paratope). Therefore, characterization of epitopes in combination with describing the involved conformational changes of the paratope upon binding is crucial in understanding and predicting antibody-antigen binding. Using molecular dynamics simulations complemented with strong experimental structural information, we investigated the underlying binding mechanism and the resulting local and global surface plasticity in the binding interfaces of distinct antibody-antigen complexes. In all studied allergen-antibody complexes, we clearly observe that experimentally suggested epitopes reveal less plasticity, while non-epitope regions show high surface plasticity. Surprisingly, the paratope shows higher conformational diversity reflected in substantially higher surface plasticity, compared to the epitope. This work allows a visualization and characterization of antibody-antigen interfaces and might have strong implications for antibody-antigen docking and in the area of epitope prediction.

Transitions of CDR-L3 Loop Canonical Cluster Conformations on the Micro-to-Millisecond Timescale

Sequence and structural diversity of antibodies are concentrated on six hypervariable loops, also known as the complementarity determining regions (CDRs). Five of six antibody CDR loops presumably adopt a so-called canonical structure out of a limited number of conformations. However, here we show for four antibody CDR-L3 loops differing in length and sequence, that each loop undergoes conformational transitions between different canonical structures. By extensive sampling in combination with Markov-state models we reconstruct the kinetics and probabilities of the transitions between canonical structures. Additionally, for these four CDR-L3 loops, we identify all relevant conformations in solution. Thereby we extend the model of static canonical structures to a dynamic conformational ensemble as a new paradigm in the field of antibody structure design.

CDR-H3 loop ensemble in solution - conformational selection upon antibody binding

We analyzed pairs of protein-binding, peptide-binding and hapten-binding antibodies crystallized as complex and in the absence of the antigen with and without conformational differences upon binding in the complementarity-determining region (CDR)-H3 loop. Here, we introduce a molecular dynamics-based approach to capture a diverse conformational ensemble of the CDR-H3 loop in solution. The results clearly indicate that the inherently flexible CDR-H3 loop indeed needs to be characterized as a conformational ensemble. The conformational changes of the CDR-H3 loop in all antibodies investigated follow the paradigm of conformation selection, because we observe the experimentally determined binding competent conformation without the presence of the antigen within the ensemble of pre-existing conformational states in solution before binding. We also demonstrate for several examples that the conformation observed in the antibody crystal structure without antigen present is actually selected to bind the carboxyterminal tail region of the antigen-binding fragment (Fab). Thus, special care must be taken when characterizing antibody CDR-H3 loops by Fab X-ray structures, and the possibility that pre-existing conformations are present should always be considered.

Characterizing the Diversity of the CDR-H3 Loop Conformational Ensembles in Relationship to Antibody Binding Properties

We present an approach to assess antibody CDR-H3 loops according to their dynamic properties using molecular dynamics simulations. We selected six antibodies in three pairs differing substantially in their individual promiscuity respectively specificity. For two pairs of antibodies crystal structures are available in different states of maturation and used as starting structures for the analyses. For a third pair we chose two antibody CDR sequences obtained from a synthetic library and predicted the respective structures. For all three pairs of antibodies we performed metadynamics simulations to overcome the limitations in conformational sampling imposed by high energy barriers. Additionally, we used classic molecular dynamics simulations to describe nano- to microsecond flexibility and to estimate up to millisecond kinetics of captured conformational transitions. The methodology represents the antibodies as conformational ensembles and allows comprehensive analysis of structural diversity, thermodynamics of conformations and kinetics of structural transitions. Referring to the concept of conformational selection we investigated the link between promiscuity and flexibility of the antibodies' binding interfaces. The obtained detailed characterization of the binding interface clearly indicates a link between structural flexibility and binding promiscuity for this set of antibodies.

Using molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate active designs of cephradine hydrolase by molecular mechanics/Poisson–Boltzmann surface area and molecular mechanics/generalized Born surface area methods

The poor predictive accuracy of current computational enzyme design methods has led to low success rates of producing highly active variants that target non-natural substrates. In this report, a quantitative assessment approach based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations was developed to eliminate false-positive enzyme designs at the computational stage. Taking cephradine hydrolase as an example, the apparent Michaelis binding constant (K_m) and catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_m) of designed variants were correlated with binding free energies and activation energy barriers, respectively, as calculated by molecular mechanics/Poisson–Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) and molecular mechanics/generalized Born surface area (MM/GBSA) methods with explicit water considered based on general MD simulation protocols. The correlation results showed that both the MM/GBSA and MM/PBSA methods with a protein dielectric constant (ε_p = 4) could rank the variants well based on the predicted binding free energies between enzyme and the substrate. Furthermore, the activation energy barriers calculated by the MM/PBSA method with an ε_p = 24 correlated well with k_cat/K_m. Thus, false-positive variants obtained by the enzyme design program PRODA were eliminated prior to experimentation. Therefore, MD simulation-based quantitative assessment of designed variants greatly enhanced the predictive accuracy of computational enzyme design tools and should facilitate the construction of artificial enzymes with high catalytic activities toward non-natural substrates.

A quantitative assessment method for computational enzyme design was developed to rank the active designs of cephradine hydrolase based on molecular dynamics simulation.

Peptidic Macrocycles - Conformational Sampling and Thermodynamic Characterization

Macrocycles are of considerable interest as highly specific drug candidates, yet they challenge standard conformer generators with their large number of rotatable bonds and conformational restrictions. Here, we present a molecular dynamics-based routine that bypasses current limitations in conformational sampling and extensively profiles the free energy landscape of peptidic macrocycles in solution. We perform accelerated molecular dynamics simulations to capture a diverse conformational ensemble. By applying an energetic cutoff, followed by geometric clustering, we demonstrate the striking robustness and efficiency of the approach in identifying highly populated conformational states of cyclic peptides. The resulting structural and thermodynamic information is benchmarked against interproton distances from NMR experiments and conformational states identified by X-ray crystallography. Using three different model systems of varying size and flexibility, we show that the method reliably reproduces experimentally determined structural ensembles and is capable of identifying key conformational states that include the bioactive conformation. Thus, the described approach is a robust method to generate conformations of peptidic macrocycles and holds promise for structure-based drug design.

An Efficient Implementation of the Nwat-MMGBSA Method to Rescore Docking Results in Medium-Throughput Virtual Screenings

Nwat-MMGBSA is a variant of MM-PB/GBSA based on the inclusion of a number of explicit water molecules that are the closest to the ligand in each frame of a molecular dynamics trajectory. This method demonstrated improved correlations between calculated and experimental binding energies in both protein-protein interactions and ligand-receptor complexes, in comparison to the standard MM-GBSA. A protocol optimization, aimed to maximize efficacy and efficiency, is discussed here considering penicillopepsin, HIV1-protease, and BCL-XL as test cases. Calculations were performed in triplicates on both classic HPC environments and on standard workstations equipped by a GPU card, evidencing no statistical differences in the results. No relevant differences in correlation to experiments were also observed when performing Nwat-MMGBSA calculations on 4 or 1 ns long trajectories. A fully automatic workflow for structure-based virtual screening, performing from library set-up to docking and Nwat-MMGBSA rescoring, has then been developed. The protocol has been tested against no rescoring or standard MM-GBSA rescoring within a retrospective virtual screening of inhibitors of AmpC β-lactamase and of the Rac1-Tiam1 protein-protein interaction. In both cases, Nwat-MMGBSA rescoring provided a statistically significant increase in the ROC AUCs of between 20 and 30%, compared to docking scoring or to standard MM-GBSA rescoring.