Exploring structurally conserved solvent sites in protein families

Sagacious epitope selection for vaccines, and both antibody-based therapeutics and diagnostics: tips from virology and oncology

The target of an antibody plays a significant role in the success of antibody-based therapeutics and diagnostics, and vaccine development. This importance is focused on the target binding site—epitope, where epitope selection as a part of design thinking beyond traditional antigen selection using whole cell or whole protein immunization can positively impact success. With purified recombinant protein production and peptide synthesis to display limited/selected epitopes, intrinsic factors that can affect the functioning of resulting antibodies can be more easily selected for. Many of these factors stem from the location of the epitope that can impact accessibility of the antibody to the epitope at a cellular or molecular level, direct inhibition of target antigen activity, conservation of function despite escape mutations, and even non-competitive inhibition sites. By incorporating novel computational methods for predicting antigen changes to model-informed drug discovery and development, superior vaccines and antibody-based therapeutics or diagnostics can be easily designed to mitigate failures. With detailed examples, this review highlights the new opportunities, factors and methods of predicting antigenic changes for consideration in sagacious epitope selection.

Water molecules at protein-drug interfaces: computational prediction and analysis methods

The fundamental importance of water molecules at drug-protein interfaces is now widely recognised and a significant feature in structure-based drug design. Experimental methods for analysing the role of water in drug binding have many challenges, including the accurate location of bound water molecules in crystal structures, and problems in resolving specific water contributions to binding thermodynamics. Computational analyses of binding site water molecules provide an alternative, and in principle complete, structural and thermodynamic picture, and their use is now commonplace in the pharmaceutical industry. In this review, we describe the computational methodologies that are available and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, we provide a critical analysis of the experimental data used to validate the methods, regarding the type and quality of experimental structural data. We also discuss some of the fundamental difficulties of each method and suggest directions for future study.

DRoP: Automated detection of conserved solvent-binding sites on proteins

Water and ligand binding play critical roles in the structure and function of proteins, yet their binding sites and significance are difficult to predict a priori. Multiple solvent crystal structures (MSCS) is a method where several X-ray crystal structures are solved, each in a unique solvent environment, with organic molecules that serve as probes of the protein surface for sites evolved to bind ligands, while the first hydration shell is essentially maintained. When superimposed, these structures contain a vast amount of information regarding hot spots of protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions, as well as conserved water-binding sites retained with the change in solvent properties. Optimized mining of this information requires reliable structural data and a consistent, objective analysis tool. Detection of related solvent positions (DRoP) was developed to automatically organize and rank the water or small organic molecule binding sites within a given set of structures. It is a flexible tool that can also be used in conserved water analysis given multiple structures of any protein independent of the MSCS method. The DRoP output is an HTML format list of the solvent sites ordered by conservation rank in its population within the set of structures, along with renumbered and recolored PDB files for visualization and facile analysis. Here, we present a previously unpublished set of MSCS structures of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (RNase A) and use it together with published structures to illustrate the capabilities of DRoP.

Solvent effects on ligand binding to a serine protease

ITC experiments and MD simulations reveal the mechanism behind enthalpy/entropy compensation upon trypsin-benzamidine binding at different solvation conditions.

High-resolution neutron and X-ray diffraction room-temperature studies of an H-FABP-oleic acid complex: study of the internal water cluster and ligand binding by a transferred multipolar electron-density distribution

Crystal diffraction data of heart fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) in complex with oleic acid were measured at room temperature with high-resolution X-ray and neutron protein crystallography (0.98 and 1.90 Å resolution, respectively). These data provided very detailed information about the cluster of water molecules and the bound oleic acid in the H-FABP large internal cavity. The jointly refined X-ray/neutron structure of H-FABP was complemented by a transferred multipolar electron-density distribution using the parameters of the ELMAMII library. The resulting electron density allowed a precise determination of the electrostatic potential in the fatty acid (FA) binding pocket. Bader's quantum theory of atoms in molecules was then used to study interactions involving the internal water molecules, the FA and the protein. This approach showed H⋯H contacts of the FA with highly conserved hydrophobic residues known to play a role in the stabilization of long-chain FAs in the binding cavity. The determination of water hydrogen (deuterium) positions allowed the analysis of the orientation and electrostatic properties of the water molecules in the very ordered cluster. As a result, a significant alignment of the permanent dipoles of the water molecules with the protein electrostatic field was observed. This can be related to the dielectric properties of hydration layers around proteins, where the shielding of electrostatic interactions depends directly on the rotational degrees of freedom of the water molecules in the interface.

Structure of the ordered hydration of amino acids in proteins: analysis of crystal structures

Crystallography provides unique information about the arrangement of water molecules near protein surfaces. Using a nonredundant set of 2818 protein crystal structures with a resolution of better than 1.8 Å, the extent and structure of the hydration shell of all 20 standard amino-acid residues were analyzed as function of the residue conformation, secondary structure and solvent accessibility. The results show how hydration depends on the amino-acid conformation and the environment in which it occurs. After conformational clustering of individual residues, the density distribution of water molecules was compiled and the preferred hydration sites were determined as maxima in the pseudo-electron-density representation of water distributions. Many hydration sites interact with both main-chain and side-chain amino-acid atoms, and several occurrences of hydration sites with less canonical contacts, such as carbon-donor hydrogen bonds, OH-π interactions and off-plane interactions with aromatic heteroatoms, are also reported. Information about the location and relative importance of the empirically determined preferred hydration sites in proteins has applications in improving the current methods of hydration-site prediction in molecular replacement, ab initio protein structure prediction and the set-up of molecular-dynamics simulations.

DRoP: a water analysis program identifies Ras-GTP-specific pathway of communication between membrane-interacting regions and the active site

Ras GTPase mediates several cellular signal transduction pathways and is found mutated in a large number of cancers. It is active in the GTP-bound state, where it interacts with effector proteins, and at rest in the GDP-bound state. The catalytic domain is tethered to the membrane, with which it interacts in a nucleotide-dependent manner. Here we present the program Detection of Related Solvent Positions (DRoP) for crystallographic water analysis on protein surfaces and use it to study Ras. DRoP reads and superimposes multiple Protein Data Bank coordinates, transfers symmetry-related water molecules to the position closest to the protein surface, and ranks the waters according to how well conserved and tightly clustered they are in the set of structures. Coloring according to this rank allows visualization of the results. The effector-binding region of Ras is hydrated with highly conserved water molecules at the interface between the P-loop, switch I, and switch II, as well as at the Raf-RBD binding pocket. Furthermore, we discovered a new conserved water-mediated H-bonding network present in Ras-GTP, but not in Ras-GDP, that links the nucleotide sensor residues R161 and R164 on helix 5 to the active site. The double mutant RasN85A/N86A, where the final link between helix 5 and the nucleotide is not possible, is a severely impaired enzyme, while the single mutant RasN86A, with partial connection to the active site, has a wild-type hydrolysis rate. DRoP was instrumental in determining the water-mediated connectivity networks that link two lobes of the catalytic domain in Ras.

Mechanism-based inhibition of iPLA2β demonstrates a highly reactive cysteine residue (C651) that interacts with the active site: mass spectrometric elucidation of the mechanisms underlying inhibition

The multifaceted roles of calcium-independent phospholipase A2β (iPLA2β) in numerous cellular processes have been extensively examined through utilization of the iPLA2-selective inhibitor (E)-6-(bromomethylene)-3-(1-naphthalenyl)-2H-tetrahydropyran-2-one (BEL). Herein, we employed accurate mass/high resolution mass spectrometry to demonstrate that the active site serine (S465) and C651 of iPLA2β are covalently cross-linked during incubations with BEL demonstrating their close spatial proximity. This cross-link results in macroscopic alterations in enzyme molecular geometry evidenced by anomalous migration of the cross-linked enzyme by SDS-PAGE. Molecular models of iPLA2β constructed from the crystal structure of iPLA2α (patatin) indicate that the distance between S465 and C651 is approximately 10 Å within the active site of iPLA2β. Kinetic analysis of the formation of the 75 kDa iPLA2β-BEL species with the (R) and (S) enantiomers of BEL demonstrated that the reaction of (S)-BEL with iPLA2β was more rapid than for (R)-BEL paralleling the enantioselectivity for the inhibition of catalysis by each inhibitor with iPLA2β. Moreover, we demonstrate that the previously identified selective acylation of iPLA2β by oleoyl-CoA occurs at C651 thereby indicating the importance of active site architecture for acylation of this enzyme. Collectively, these results identify C651 as a highly reactive nucleophilic residue within the active site of iPLA2β which is thioesterified by BEL, acylated by oleoyl-CoA, and located in close spatial proximity to the catalytic serine thereby providing important chemical insights on the mechanisms through which BEL inhibits iPLA2β and the topology of the active site.

Designing a ligand for pharmaceutical purposes

BACKGROUND

Drug approval applications to the FDA have shown a remarkably small increment compared with what was expected. In the last few years several efforts have been made to improve the results of rational drug design approaches and in particular to predict inhibitor-target structure and to evaluate the free energy of binding. Virtual database screening, combined with other computational methods, is one of the most promising methods to overcome this key issue.

OBJECTIVE

It is possible to understand how computational medicinal chemistry is changing, improving from its errors and moving towards becoming a more important tool for drug development.

METHODS

Some of the most recent modeling techniques have been presented and in particular the benefits of combining these techniques are highlighted.

RESULTS/CONCLUSION

At present computational chemists can understand the peculiar problems associated with the study of biological systems and on this basis they can choose the right collection of complementary in silico approaches to solve the medicinal chemistry problem in a better manner.

Hyperconjugation-mediated solvent effects in phosphoanhydride bonds

Density functional theory and natural bond orbital analysis are used to explore the impact of solvent on hyperconjugation in methyl triphosphate, a model for "energy rich" phosphoanhydride bonds, such as found in ATP. As expected, dihedral rotation of a hydroxyl group vicinal to the phosphoanhydride bond reveals that the conformational dependence of the anomeric effect involves modulation of the orbital overlap between the donor and acceptor orbitals. However, a conformational independence was observed in the rotation of a solvent hydrogen bond. As one lone pair orbital rotates away from an optimal antiperiplanar orientation, the overall magnitude of the anomeric effect is compensated approximately by the other lone pair as it becomes more antiperiplanar. Furthermore, solvent modulation of the anomeric effect is not restricted to the antiperiplanar lone pair; hydrogen bonds involving gauche lone pairs also affect the anomeric interaction and the strength of the phosphoanhydride bond. Both gauche and anti solvent hydrogen bonds lengthen nonbridging O-P bonds, increasing the distance between donor and acceptor orbitals and decreasing orbital overlap, which leads to a reduction of the anomeric effect. Solvent effects are additive with greater reduction in the anomeric effect upon increasing water coordination. By controlling the coordination environment of substrates in an active site, kinases, phosphatases, and other enzymes important in metabolism and signaling may have the potential to modulate the stability of individual phosphoanhydride bonds through stereoelectronic effects.

CONSERVED WATER MOLECULES IN X-RAY STRUCTURES HIGHLIGHT THE ROLE OF WATER IN INTRAMOLECULAR AND INTERMOLECULAR INTERACTIONS

Water molecules immobilized on a protein or DNA surface are known to play an important role in intramolecular and intermolecular interactions. Comparative analysis of related three-dimensional (3D) structures allows to predict the locations of such water molecules on the protein surface. We have developed and implemented the algorithm WLAKE detecting "conserved" water molecules, i.e. those located in almost the same positions in a set of superimposed structures of related proteins or macromolecular complexes. The problem is reduced to finding maximal cliques in a certain graph. Despite exponential algorithm complexity, the program works appropriately fast for dozens of superimposed structures. WLAKE was used to predict functionally significant water molecules in enzyme active sites (transketolases) as well as in intermolecular (ETS–DNA complexes) and intramolecular (thiol–disulfide interchange protein) interactions. The program is available online at .

Local order and mobility of water molecules around ambivalent helices

Water on a protein surface plays a key role in determining the structure and dynamics of proteins. Compared to the properties of bulk water, many aspects of the structure and dynamics of the water surrounding the proteins are less understood. It is interesting therefore to explore how the properties of the water within the solvation shell around the peptide molecule depend on its specific secondary structure. In this work we investigate the orientational order and residence times of the water molecules to characterize the structure, energetics, and dynamics of the hydration shell water around ambivalent peptides. Ambivalent sequences are identical sequences which display multiple secondary structures in different proteins. Molecular dynamics simulations of representative proteins containing variable helix, variable nonhelix, and conserved helix are also used to explore the local structure and mobility of water molecules in their vicinity. The results, for the first time, depict a different water distribution pattern around the conserved and variable helices. The water molecules surrounding the helical segments in variable helices are found to possess a less locally ordered structure compared to those around their corresponding nonhelical counterparts and conserved helices. The long conserved helices exhibit extremely high local residence times compared to the helical conformations of the variable helices, whereas the residence times of the nonhelical conformations of the variable helices are comparable to those of the short conserved helices. This differential pattern of the structure and dynamics of water molecules in the vicinity of conserved/variable helices may lend valuable insights for understanding the role of solvent effects in determining sequence ambivalency and help in improving the accuracy of water models used in the simulations of proteins.

Accounting for water molecules in drug design

IMPORTANCE OF THE FIELD

Water molecules often appear around ligands in protein crystal structures. Reliable prediction of the effects of water on ligand binding remains a challenge. Solvation effects are crucial for lead optimization where a 100-fold difference in binding affinity is significant but correspond to only ∼3 kcal/mol in binding free energy. Well-known examples, such as nonpeptidic urea inhibitors of HIV protease, prove that careful examination of water molecules and their energetics can contribute significantly to a successful drug design campaign.

AREAS COVERED IN THIS REVIEW

In this review, we examine methods to account for the effect of water in ligand binding at two stages of drug discovery: lead identification via docking calculations and lead optimization. We provide a survey of the models and techniques available to account for water in drug design.

WHAT THE READER WILL GAIN

The reader will become aware of common practices and pitfalls in dealing with water molecules in structure-based drug design.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

Although solvation effects are not fully understood, some pragmatic recommendations at the end of the article provide guidance for modelers in this area as well as new practitioners.

Stabilizing of a globular protein by a highly complex water network: a molecular dynamics simulation study on factor Xa

The role of water molecules is increasingly attracting attention in structural biology, and many studies have demonstrated their crucial contribution to the stability and function of proteins. Here, we present molecular dynamics studies on factor Xa (fXa) to investigate the effect of water molecules in this serine protease. fXa is a key enzyme in the blood coagulation cascade, and thus, an important target for antithrombotic drugs. A reasonable representation of the structure is crucial for an investigation at the molecular level and, thus, a prerequisite for structure-based drug design. Simulations of well-resolved fXa X-ray structures with different sets of water molecules show the importance of a well-determined water set for the simulation. We discuss implications of different water sets on the structure and dynamics of fXa.

Ligand-protein cross-docking with water molecules

The accuracy of ligand-protein docking may be affected by the presence of water molecules on the surface of the protein. Cross-docking simulations have been performed on a number of ligand-protein complexes for various proteins whose crystal structures contain water molecules in their binding sites. Only common sets of water molecules found in the binding site of the proteins were considered. A statistically significant overall increase in accuracy was observed when water molecules were included in cross-docking simulations. These results confirm the importance of including water molecules whenever possible in ligand-protein docking simulations.

Multiple solvent crystal structures of ribonuclease A: an assessment of the method

The multiple solvent crystal structures (MSCS) method uses organic solvents to map the surfaces of proteins. It identifies binding sites and allows for a more thorough examination of protein plasticity and hydration than could be achieved by a single structure. The crystal structures of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (RNAse A) soaked in the following organic solvents are presented: 50% dioxane, 50% dimethylformamide, 70% dimethylsulfoxide, 70% 1,6-hexanediol, 70% isopropanol, 50% R,S,R-bisfuran alcohol, 70% t-butanol, 50% trifluoroethanol, or 1.0M trimethylamine-N-oxide. This set of structures is compared with four sets of crystal structures of RNAse A from the protein data bank (PDB) and with the solution NMR structure to assess the validity of previously untested assumptions associated with MSCS analysis. Plasticity from MSCS is the same as from PDB structures obtained in the same crystal form and deviates only at crystal contacts when compared to structures from a diverse set of crystal environments. Furthermore, there is a good correlation between plasticity as observed by MSCS and the dynamic regions seen by NMR. Conserved water binding sites are identified by MSCS to be those that are conserved in the sets of structures taken from the PDB. Comparison of the MSCS structures with inhibitor-bound crystal structures of RNAse A reveals that the organic solvent molecules identify key interactions made by inhibitor molecules, highlighting ligand binding hot-spots in the active site. The present work firmly establishes the relevance of information obtained by MSCS.

Molecular docking and QSAR of aplyronine A and analogues: potent inhibitors of actin

Actin-binding natural products have been identified as a potential basis for the design of cancer therapeutic agents. We report flexible docking and QSAR studies on aplyronine A analogues. Our findings show the macrolide 'tail' to be fundamental for the depolymerisation effect of actin-binding macrolides and that it is the tail which forms the initial interaction with the actin rather than the macrocycle, as previously believed. Docking energy scores for the compounds were highly correlated with actin depolymerisation activity. The 3D-QSAR models were predictive, with the best model giving a q(2) value of 0.85 and a r(2) of 0.94. Results from the docking simulations and the interpretation from QSAR "coeff*stdev" contour maps provide insight into the binding mechanism of each analogue and highlight key features that influence depolymerisation activity. The results herein may aid the design of a putative set of analogues that can help produce efficacious and tolerable anti-tumour agents. Finally, using the best QSAR model, we have also made genuine predictions for an independent set of recently reported aplyronine analogues.

Probability distributions of hydration water molecules around polar protein atoms obtained by a database analysis

Hydration structures on protein surfaces are visualized by high-resolution cryogenic X-ray crystallography. We calculated the probability distributions of 4,831,570 hydration water molecules found around the 4,214,227 polar atoms in main chains and hydrophilic side chains from the 17,984 crystal structures in the Protein Data Bank. The structures are refined using the diffraction data collected below 150 K and at resolutions of better than 2.2 A. The calculated distributions were nonrandom but condensed into a few clusters. The clusters were decomposed into the distance and angular distributions by viewing from the polar coordinate system. The major peaks in the clusters were almost located along the directions of the N-H and O-H bonds or the lone pairs of oxygen atoms. The Gaussian fitting method was applied for the distribution profiles to evaluate quantitatively the peak positions and the widths. The parameters characterizing the distributions apparently depended on the hydrogen-bond partners of water molecules and on the modes whether the water molecules acted as donors or acceptors of protons. This led to propose the different roles of NH(n) (n = 1, 3), OH, and CO groups in protein hydration and possible in protein-ligand and protein-protein interaction: While C horizontal lineO groups appear to control the H-bond distances, NH(n) groups likely limit the angular range of H-bonds. The OH groups have both characteristics. In addition, it was also demonstrated that polar protein atoms were arranged to satisfy the tetrahedral hydrogen-bond geometry of water molecules, suggesting essential roles of water molecules in the folding process and in the stabilization of protein structures. These probability distributions are probably one of fundamental data to better understand the roles of hydration water molecules in the folding process and the stability of proteins in solution.

Ligand-protein docking with water molecules

The presence of water molecules plays an important role in the accuracy of ligand-protein docking predictions. Comprehensive docking simulations have been performed on a large set of ligand-protein complexes whose crystal structures contain water molecules in their binding sites. Only those water molecules found in the immediate vicinity of both the ligand and the protein were considered. We have investigated whether prior optimization of the orientation of water molecules in either the presence or absence of the bound ligand has any effect on the accuracy of docking predictions. We have observed a statistically significant overall increase in accuracy when water molecules are included during docking simulations and have found this to be independent of the method of optimization of the orientation of water molecules. These results confirm the importance of including water molecules whenever possible in a ligand-protein docking simulation. Our findings also reveal that prior optimization of the orientation of water molecules, in the absence of any bound ligand, does not have a detrimental effect on the improved accuracy of ligand-protein docking. This is important, given the use of docking simulations to predict the binding modes of new ligands or drug molecules.

Conserved water molecules stabilize the Omega-loop in class A beta-lactamases

A set of 49 high-resolution (<or=2.2 A) structures of the TEM, SHV, and CTX-M class A beta-lactamase families was systematically analyzed to investigate the role of conserved water molecules in the stabilization of the Omega-loop. Overall, 13 water molecules were found to be conserved in at least 45 structures, including two water positions which were found to be conserved in all structures. Of the 13 conserved water molecules, 6 are located at the Omega-loop, forming a dense cluster with hydrogen bonds to residues at the Omega-loop as well as to the rest of the protein. This layer of conserved water molecules is packed between the Omega-loop and the rest of the protein and acts as structural glue, which could reduce the flexibility of the Omega-loop. A correlation between conserved water molecules and conserved protein residues could in general not be detected, with the exception of the conserved water molecules at the Omega-loop. Furthermore, the evolutionary relationship between the three families, derived from the number of conserved water molecules, is similar to the relationship derived from phylogenetic analysis.

Minimizing frustration by folding in an aqueous environment

Although life as we know it evolved in an aqueous medium, the properties of water are not completely understood. In this review, we focus on the role of water in guiding protein folding and stability. Specifically, we discuss the mechanisms of protein folding in an aqueous environment, the effects of water on the folding energy landscape as well as the transition state ensemble, and interactions of water with the folded state. We show that water cannot be viewed as a passive solvent, but rather, plays a very active role in the life of a protein.

Analysis of protein hydration in ultrahigh-resolution structures of the SRP GTPase Ffh

Two new structures of the SRP GTPase Ffh have been determined at 1.1 A resolution and provide the basis for comparative examination of the extensive water structure of the apo conformation of these GTPases. A set of well defined water-binding positions have been identified in the active site of the two-domain ;NG' GTPase, as well as at two functionally important interfaces. The water hydrogen-bonding network accommodates alternate conformations of the protein side chains by undergoing local rearrangements and, in one case, illustrates binding of a solute molecule within the active site by displacement of water molecules without further disruption of the water-interaction network. A subset of the water positions are well defined in several lower resolution structures, including those of different nucleotide-binding states; these appear to function in maintaining the protein structure. Consistent arrangements of surface water between three different ultrahigh-resolution structures provide a framework for beginning to understand how local water structure contributes to protein-ligand and protein-protein binding in the SRP GTPases.

Identification of Binding Sites of Non-I-Helix Water Molecules in Mammalian Cytochromes P450

The cytochromes P450 (P450s) enzymes are integral in determining the disposition of many therapeutic compounds. At the molecular level, the details of P450 catalysis are still under investigation, but the importance of water-mediated proton shuttles seems evident in the catalytic cycle as it progresses through various heme iron-oxygen enzyme intermediates. The study of P450-bound waters has been largely restricted to bacterial enzymes that may or may not reflect the location or function of waters in human drug-metabolizing P450s. However, in recent years, 16 structures of mammalian P450s containing crystallographic waters have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank. Described herein is the identification of seven well defined water clusters in mammalian P450s identified by calculating the density of globally aligned waters as reported by Tanner and coworkers [Bottoms CA, White TA, and Tanner JJ (2006) Proteins 64:404-421 (DOI: 10.1002/prot.21014)]. All water binding sites were in or within the immediate vicinity of the active sites of the P450s, but most were not near the conserved I-helix threonine often implicated in P450 catalysis. Therefore, it is possible that some of the water binding sites identified here ultimately determine P450 catalytic efficiency either by working as an extension of the I-helix water network, or by acting in novel proton shuttles that modulate the nonproductive shunting of reactive oxygen species.

Desulfovibrio desulfuricans G20 Tetraheme Cytochrome Structure at 1.5Å and Cytochrome Interaction with Metal Complexes

The structure of the type I tetraheme cytochrome c(3) from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans G20 was determined to 1.5 Angstrom by X-ray crystallography. In addition to the oxidized form, the structure of the molybdate-bound form of the protein was determined from oxidized crystals soaked in sodium molybdate. Only small structural shifts were obtained with metal binding, consistent with the remarkable structural stability of this protein. In vitro experiments with pure cytochrome showed that molybdate could oxidize the reduced cytochrome, although not as rapidly as U(VI) present as uranyl acetate. Alterations in the overall conformation and thermostability of the metal-oxidized protein were investigated by circular dichroism studies. Again, only small changes in protein structure were documented. The location of the molybdate ion near heme IV in the crystal structure suggested heme IV as the site of electron exit from the reduced cytochrome and implicated Lys14 and Lys56 in binding. Analysis of structurally conserved water molecules in type I cytochrome c(3) crystal structures identified interactions predicted to be important for protein stability and possibly for intramolecular electron transfer among heme molecules.