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Alawam AS, Alwethaynani MS. Construction of an aerolysin-based multi-epitope vaccine against Aeromonas hydrophila: an in silico machine learning and artificial intelligence-supported approach. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1369890. [PMID: 38495891 PMCID: PMC10940347 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1369890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 03/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Aeromonas hydrophila, a gram-negative coccobacillus bacterium, can cause various infections in humans, including septic arthritis, diarrhea (traveler's diarrhea), gastroenteritis, skin and wound infections, meningitis, fulminating septicemia, enterocolitis, peritonitis, and endocarditis. It frequently occurs in aquatic environments and readily contacts humans, leading to high infection rates. This bacterium has exhibited resistance to numerous commercial antibiotics, and no vaccine has yet been developed. Aiming to combat the alarmingly high infection rate, this study utilizes in silico techniques to design a multi-epitope vaccine (MEV) candidate against this bacterium based on its aerolysin toxin, which is the most toxic and highly conserved virulence factor among the Aeromonas species. After retrieval, aerolysin was processed for B-cell and T-cell epitope mapping. Once filtered for toxicity, antigenicity, allergenicity, and solubility, the chosen epitopes were combined with an adjuvant and specific linkers to create a vaccine construct. These linkers and the adjuvant enhance the MEV's ability to elicit robust immune responses. Analyses of the predicted and improved vaccine structure revealed that 75.5%, 19.8%, and 1.3% of its amino acids occupy the most favored, additional allowed, and generously allowed regions, respectively, while its ERRAT score reached nearly 70%. Docking simulations showed the MEV exhibiting the highest interaction and binding energies (-1,023.4 kcal/mol, -923.2 kcal/mol, and -988.3 kcal/mol) with TLR-4, MHC-I, and MHC-II receptors. Further molecular dynamics simulations demonstrated the docked complexes' remarkable stability and maximum interactions, i.e., uniform RMSD, fluctuated RMSF, and lowest binding net energy. In silico models also predict the vaccine will stimulate a variety of immunological pathways following administration. These analyses suggest the vaccine's efficacy in inducing robust immune responses against A. hydrophila. With high solubility and no predicted allergic responses or toxicity, it appears safe for administration in both healthy and A. hydrophila-infected individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdullah S. Alawam
- Department of Biology, College of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Maher S. Alwethaynani
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Shaqra University, Al-Quwayiyah, Saudi Arabia
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2
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Rao VG, Shendge AA, D'Gama PP, Martis EAF, Mehta S, Coutinho EC, D'Souza JS. A-kinase anchoring proteins are enriched in the central pair microtubules of motile cilia in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. FEBS Lett 2024; 598:457-476. [PMID: 38140814 DOI: 10.1002/1873-3468.14791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
Cilia are microtubule-based sensory organelles present in a number of eukaryotic cells. Mutations in the genes encoding ciliary proteins cause ciliopathies in humans. A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) tether ciliary signaling proteins such as protein kinase A (PKA). The dimerization and docking domain (D/D) on the RIIα subunit of PKA interacts with AKAPs. Here, we show that AKAP240 from the central-pair microtubules of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cilia uses two C-terminal amphipathic helices to bind to its partner FAP174, an RIIα-like protein with a D/D domain at the N-terminus. Co-immunoprecipitation using anti-FAP174 antibody with an enriched central-pair microtubule fraction isolated seven interactors whose mass spectrometry analysis revealed proteins from the C2a (FAP65, FAP70, and FAP147) and C1b (CPC1, HSP70A, and FAP42) microtubule projections and FAP75, a protein whose sub-ciliary localization is unknown. Using RII D/D and FAP174 as baits, we identified two additional AKAPs (CPC1 and FAP297) in the central-pair microtubules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Venkatramanan G Rao
- School of Biological Sciences, UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Kalina Campus, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, India
| | - Amruta A Shendge
- School of Biological Sciences, UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Kalina Campus, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, India
| | - Percival P D'Gama
- School of Biological Sciences, UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Kalina Campus, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, India
| | - Elvis A F Martis
- Molecular Simulations Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Bombay College of Pharmacy, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, India
| | - Shraddha Mehta
- School of Biological Sciences, UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Kalina Campus, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, India
| | - Evans C Coutinho
- Molecular Simulations Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Bombay College of Pharmacy, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, India
- St John Institute of Pharmacy and Research, Palghar (E), Maharashtra, India
| | - Jacinta S D'Souza
- School of Biological Sciences, UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Kalina Campus, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, India
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3
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Almanaa TN. Design of a novel multi-epitopes vaccine against Escherichia fergusonii: a pan-proteome based in- silico approach. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1332378. [PMID: 38143752 PMCID: PMC10739491 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1332378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Escherichia fergusonii a gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium in the Enterobacteriaceae family, infect humans, causing serious illnesses such as urinary tract infection, cystitis, biliary tract infection, pneumonia, meningitis, hemolytic uremic syndrome, and death. Initially treatable with penicillin, antibiotic misuse led to evolving resistance, including resistance to colistin, a last-resort drug. With no licensed vaccine, the study aimed to design a multi-epitope vaccine against E. fergusonii. The study started with the retrieval of the complete proteome of all known strains and proceeded to filter the surface exposed virulent proteins. Seventeen virulent proteins (4 extracellular, 4 outer membranes, 9 periplasmic) with desirable physicochemical properties were identified from the complete proteome of known strains. Further, these proteins were processed for B-cell and T-cell epitope mapping. Obtained epitopes were evaluated for antigenicity, allergenicity, solubility, MHC-binding, and toxicity and the filtered epitopes were fused by specific linkers and an adjuvant into a vaccine construct. Structure of the vaccine candidate was predicted and refined resulting in 78.1% amino acids in allowed regions and VERIFY3D score of 81%. Vaccine construct was docked with TLR-4, MHC-I, and MHC-II, showing binding energies of -1040.8 kcal/mol, -871.4 kcal/mol, and -1154.6 kcal/mol and maximum interactions. Further, molecular dynamic simulation of the docked complexes was carried out resulting in a significant stable nature of the docked complexes (high B-factor and deformability values, lower Eigen and high variance values) in terms of intermolecular binding conformation and interactions. The vaccine was also reported to stimulate a variety of immunological pathways after administration. In short, the designed vaccine revealed promising predictions about its immune protective potential against E. fergusonii infections however experimental validation is needed to validate the results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taghreed N. Almanaa
- Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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4
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Zheng W, Wuyun Q, Freddolino PL, Zhang Y. Integrating deep learning, threading alignments, and a multi-MSA strategy for high-quality protein monomer and complex structure prediction in CASP15. Proteins 2023; 91:1684-1703. [PMID: 37650367 PMCID: PMC10840719 DOI: 10.1002/prot.26585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
We report the results of the "UM-TBM" and "Zheng" groups in CASP15 for protein monomer and complex structure prediction. These prediction sets were obtained using the D-I-TASSER and DMFold-Multimer algorithms, respectively. For monomer structure prediction, D-I-TASSER introduced four new features during CASP15: (i) a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) generation protocol that combines multi-source MSA searching and a structural modeling-based MSA ranker; (ii) attention-network based spatial restraints; (iii) a multi-domain module containing domain partition and arrangement for domain-level templates and spatial restraints; (iv) an optimized I-TASSER-based folding simulation system for full-length model creation guided by a combination of deep learning restraints, threading alignments, and knowledge-based potentials. For 47 free modeling targets in CASP15, the final models predicted by D-I-TASSER showed average TM-score 19% higher than the standard AlphaFold2 program. We thus showed that traditional Monte Carlo-based folding simulations, when appropriately coupled with deep learning algorithms, can generate models with improved accuracy over end-to-end deep learning methods alone. For protein complex structure prediction, DMFold-Multimer generated models by integrating a new MSA generation algorithm (DeepMSA2) with the end-to-end modeling module from AlphaFold2-Multimer. For the 38 complex targets, DMFold-Multimer generated models with an average TM-score of 0.83 and Interface Contact Score of 0.60, both significantly higher than those of competing complex prediction tools. Our analyses on complexes highlighted the critical role played by MSA generating, ranking, and pairing in protein complex structure prediction. We also discuss future room for improvement in the areas of viral protein modeling and complex model ranking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Zheng
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
| | - Qiqige Wuyun
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Peter L Freddolino
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
- Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, National University of Singapore, 117417 Singapore
- Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, 117599, Singapore
- Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 117596, Singapore
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5
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Xia S, Chen E, Zhang Y. Integrated Molecular Modeling and Machine Learning for Drug Design. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:7478-7495. [PMID: 37883810 PMCID: PMC10653122 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Modern therapeutic development often involves several stages that are interconnected, and multiple iterations are usually required to bring a new drug to the market. Computational approaches have increasingly become an indispensable part of helping reduce the time and cost of the research and development of new drugs. In this Perspective, we summarize our recent efforts on integrating molecular modeling and machine learning to develop computational tools for modulator design, including a pocket-guided rational design approach based on AlphaSpace to target protein-protein interactions, delta machine learning scoring functions for protein-ligand docking as well as virtual screening, and state-of-the-art deep learning models to predict calculated and experimental molecular properties based on molecular mechanics optimized geometries. Meanwhile, we discuss remaining challenges and promising directions for further development and use a retrospective example of FDA approved kinase inhibitor Erlotinib to demonstrate the use of these newly developed computational tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Song Xia
- Department
of Chemistry, New York University, New York, New York 10003, United States
| | - Eric Chen
- Department
of Chemistry, New York University, New York, New York 10003, United States
| | - Yingkai Zhang
- Department
of Chemistry, New York University, New York, New York 10003, United States
- Simons
Center for Computational Physical Chemistry at New York University, New York, New York 10003, United States
- NYU-ECNU
Center for Computational Chemistry at NYU Shanghai, Shanghai 200062, China
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6
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Huang B, Kong L, Wang C, Ju F, Zhang Q, Zhu J, Gong T, Zhang H, Yu C, Zheng WM, Bu D. Protein Structure Prediction: Challenges, Advances, and the Shift of Research Paradigms. GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS 2023; 21:913-925. [PMID: 37001856 PMCID: PMC10928435 DOI: 10.1016/j.gpb.2022.11.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2022] [Revised: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 11/30/2022] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
Abstract
Protein structure prediction is an interdisciplinary research topic that has attracted researchers from multiple fields, including biochemistry, medicine, physics, mathematics, and computer science. These researchers adopt various research paradigms to attack the same structure prediction problem: biochemists and physicists attempt to reveal the principles governing protein folding; mathematicians, especially statisticians, usually start from assuming a probability distribution of protein structures given a target sequence and then find the most likely structure, while computer scientists formulate protein structure prediction as an optimization problem - finding the structural conformation with the lowest energy or minimizing the difference between predicted structure and native structure. These research paradigms fall into the two statistical modeling cultures proposed by Leo Breiman, namely, data modeling and algorithmic modeling. Recently, we have also witnessed the great success of deep learning in protein structure prediction. In this review, we present a survey of the efforts for protein structure prediction. We compare the research paradigms adopted by researchers from different fields, with an emphasis on the shift of research paradigms in the era of deep learning. In short, the algorithmic modeling techniques, especially deep neural networks, have considerably improved the accuracy of protein structure prediction; however, theories interpreting the neural networks and knowledge on protein folding are still highly desired.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Huang
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing, Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Lupeng Kong
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing, Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; Changping Laboratory, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Chao Wang
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing, Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Fusong Ju
- Microsoft Research AI4Science, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Qi Zhang
- Huawei Noah's Ark Lab, Wuhan 430206, China
| | - Jianwei Zhu
- Microsoft Research AI4Science, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Tiansu Gong
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing, Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Haicang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing, Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Zhongke Big Data Academy, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
| | - Chungong Yu
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing, Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Zhongke Big Data Academy, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
| | - Wei-Mou Zheng
- Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
| | - Dongbo Bu
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Information Processing, Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Zhongke Big Data Academy, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
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7
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Mangione W, Falls Z, Samudrala R. Effective holistic characterization of small molecule effects using heterogeneous biological networks. Front Pharmacol 2023; 14:1113007. [PMID: 37180722 PMCID: PMC10169664 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1113007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The two most common reasons for attrition in therapeutic clinical trials are efficacy and safety. We integrated heterogeneous data to create a human interactome network to comprehensively describe drug behavior in biological systems, with the goal of accurate therapeutic candidate generation. The Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities (CANDO) platform for shotgun multiscale therapeutic discovery, repurposing, and design was enhanced by integrating drug side effects, protein pathways, protein-protein interactions, protein-disease associations, and the Gene Ontology, and complemented with its existing drug/compound, protein, and indication libraries. These integrated networks were reduced to a "multiscale interactomic signature" for each compound that describe its functional behavior as vectors of real values. These signatures are then used for relating compounds to each other with the hypothesis that similar signatures yield similar behavior. Our results indicated that there is significant biological information captured within our networks (particularly via side effects) which enhance the performance of our platform, as evaluated by performing all-against-all leave-one-out drug-indication association benchmarking as well as generating novel drug candidates for colon cancer and migraine disorders corroborated via literature search. Further, drug impacts on pathways derived from computed compound-protein interaction scores served as the features for a random forest machine learning model trained to predict drug-indication associations, with applications to mental disorders and cancer metastasis highlighted. This interactomic pipeline highlights the ability of Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities to accurately relate drugs in a multitarget and multiscale context, particularly for generating putative drug candidates using the information gleaned from indirect data such as side effect profiles and protein pathway information.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ram Samudrala
- Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Department of Biomedical Informatics, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States
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8
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Saini M, Julius Ngwa C, Marothia M, Verma P, Ahmad S, Kumari J, Anand S, Vandana V, Goyal B, Chakraborti S, Pandey KC, Garg S, Pati S, Ranganathan A, Pradel G, Singh S. Characterization of Plasmodium falciparum prohibitins as novel targets to block infection in humans by impairing the growth and transmission of the parasite. Biochem Pharmacol 2023; 212:115567. [PMID: 37088154 DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2023.115567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 04/25/2023]
Abstract
Prohibitins (PHBs) are highly conserved pleiotropic proteins as they have been shown to mediate key cellular functions. Here, we characterize PHBs encoding putative genes of Plasmodium falciparum by exploiting different orthologous models. We demonstrated that PfPHB1 (PF3D7_0829200) and PfPHB2 (PF3D7_1014700) are expressed in asexual and sexual blood stages of the parasite. Immunostaining indicated these proteins as mitochondrial residents as they were found to be localized as branched structures. We further validated PfPHBs as organellar proteins residing in Plasmodium mitochondria, where they interact with each other. Functional characterization was done in Saccharomyces cerevisiae orthologous model by expressing PfPHB1 and PfPHB2 in cells harboring respective mutants. The PfPHBs functionally complemented the yeast PHB1 and PHB2 mutants, where the proteins were found to be involved in stabilizing the mitochondrial DNA, retaining mitochondrial integrity and rescuing yeast cell growth. Further, Rocaglamide (Roc-A), a known inhibitor of PHBs and anti-cancerous agent, was tested against PfPHBs and as an antimalarial. Roc-A treatment retarded the growth of PHB1, PHB2, and ethidium bromide petite yeast mutants. Moreover, Roc-A inhibited growth of yeast PHBs mutants that were functionally complemented with PfPHBs, validating P. falciparum PHBs as one of the molecular targets for Roc-A. Roc-A treatment led to growth inhibition of artemisinin-sensitive (3D7), artemisinin-resistant (R539T) and chloroquine-resistant (RKL-9) parasites in nanomolar ranges. The compound was able to retard gametocyte and oocyst growth with significant morphological aberrations. Based on our findings, we propose the presence of functional mitochondrial PfPHB1 and PfPHB2 in P. falciparum and their druggability to block parasite growth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Saini
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR, India; Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Che Julius Ngwa
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Manisha Marothia
- Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Pritee Verma
- Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Shakeel Ahmad
- Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Jyoti Kumari
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR, India; Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Sakshi Anand
- Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Vandana Vandana
- ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Bharti Goyal
- ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, India
| | | | - Kailash C Pandey
- ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, India; Academic Council of Scientific and Innovative Research, Faridabad, India
| | - Swati Garg
- Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Soumya Pati
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR, India
| | - Anand Ranganathan
- Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
| | - Gabriele Pradel
- Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, Institute of Zoology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Shailja Singh
- Department of Life Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR, India; Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
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Shahid K, Khan K, Badshah Y, Mahmood Ashraf N, Hamid A, Trembley JH, Shabbir M, Afsar T, Almajwal A, Abusharha A, Razak S. Pathogenicity of PKCγ Genetic Variants-Possible Function as a Non-Invasive Diagnostic Biomarker in Ovarian Cancer. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:236. [PMID: 36672978 PMCID: PMC9858858 DOI: 10.3390/genes14010236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Revised: 01/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate among gynecologic malignancies, owing to its misdiagnosis or late diagnosis. Identification of its genetic determinants could improve disease outcomes. Conventional Protein Kinase C-γ (PKCγ) dysregulation is reported in several cancers. Similarly, its variant rs1331262028 is also reported to have an association with hepatocellular carcinoma. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze the variant rs1331262028 association with ovarian cancer and to determine its impact on PKCγ's protein interactions. Association of variation was determined through genotyping PCR (cohort size:100). Protein-protein docking and molecular dynamic simulation were carried out to study the variant impact of PKCγ interactions. The study outcome indicated the positive association of variant rs1331262028 with ovarian cancer and its clinicopathological features. Molecular dynamics simulation depicted the potential influence of variation on PKCγ molecular signaling. Hence, this study provided the foundations for assessing variant rs1331262028 as a potential prognostic marker for ovarian cancer. Through further validation, it can be applied at the clinical level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kanza Shahid
- Department of Healthcare Biotechnology, Atta-Ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44010, Pakistan
| | - Khushbukhat Khan
- Department of Healthcare Biotechnology, Atta-Ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44010, Pakistan
| | - Yasmin Badshah
- Department of Healthcare Biotechnology, Atta-Ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44010, Pakistan
| | - Naeem Mahmood Ashraf
- School of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan
| | - Arslan Hamid
- LIMES Institute (AG-Netea), University of Bonn, Carl-Troll-Str. 31, 53115 Bonn, Germany
| | - Janeen H. Trembley
- Minneapolis VA Health Care System Research Service, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Maria Shabbir
- Department of Healthcare Biotechnology, Atta-Ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44010, Pakistan
| | - Tayyaba Afsar
- Department of Community Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ali Almajwal
- Department of Community Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ali Abusharha
- Department of Optometry, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia
| | - Suhail Razak
- Department of Community Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia
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10
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Chang Y, Hawkins BA, Du JJ, Groundwater PW, Hibbs DE, Lai F. A Guide to In Silico Drug Design. Pharmaceutics 2022; 15:pharmaceutics15010049. [PMID: 36678678 PMCID: PMC9867171 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15010049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Revised: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The drug discovery process is a rocky path that is full of challenges, with the result that very few candidates progress from hit compound to a commercially available product, often due to factors, such as poor binding affinity, off-target effects, or physicochemical properties, such as solubility or stability. This process is further complicated by high research and development costs and time requirements. It is thus important to optimise every step of the process in order to maximise the chances of success. As a result of the recent advancements in computer power and technology, computer-aided drug design (CADD) has become an integral part of modern drug discovery to guide and accelerate the process. In this review, we present an overview of the important CADD methods and applications, such as in silico structure prediction, refinement, modelling and target validation, that are commonly used in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiqun Chang
- Sydney Pharmacy School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Bryson A. Hawkins
- Sydney Pharmacy School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Jonathan J. Du
- Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Paul W. Groundwater
- Sydney Pharmacy School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - David E. Hibbs
- Sydney Pharmacy School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Felcia Lai
- Sydney Pharmacy School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
- Correspondence:
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I-TASSER-MTD: a deep-learning-based platform for multi-domain protein structure and function prediction. Nat Protoc 2022; 17:2326-2353. [PMID: 35931779 DOI: 10.1038/s41596-022-00728-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 104] [Impact Index Per Article: 52.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Most proteins in cells are composed of multiple folding units (or domains) to perform complex functions in a cooperative manner. Relative to the rapid progress in single-domain structure prediction, there are few effective tools available for multi-domain protein structure assembly, mainly due to the complexity of modeling multi-domain proteins, which involves higher degrees of freedom in domain-orientation space and various levels of continuous and discontinuous domain assembly and linker refinement. To meet the challenge and the high demand of the community, we developed I-TASSER-MTD to model the structures and functions of multi-domain proteins through a progressive protocol that combines sequence-based domain parsing, single-domain structure folding, inter-domain structure assembly and structure-based function annotation in a fully automated pipeline. Advanced deep-learning models have been incorporated into each of the steps to enhance both the domain modeling and inter-domain assembly accuracy. The protocol allows for the incorporation of experimental cross-linking data and cryo-electron microscopy density maps to guide the multi-domain structure assembly simulations. I-TASSER-MTD is built on I-TASSER but substantially extends its ability and accuracy in modeling large multi-domain protein structures and provides meaningful functional insights for the targets at both the domain- and full-chain levels from the amino acid sequence alone.
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The Multistage Antimalarial Compound Calxinin Perturbates P. falciparum Ca2+ Homeostasis by Targeting a Unique Ion Channel. Pharmaceutics 2022; 14:pharmaceutics14071371. [PMID: 35890267 PMCID: PMC9319510 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14071371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Revised: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Malaria elimination urgently needs novel antimalarial therapies that transcend resistance, toxicity, and high costs. Our multicentric international collaborative team focuses on developing multistage antimalarials that exhibit novel mechanisms of action. Here, we describe the design, synthesis, and evaluation of a novel multistage antimalarial compound, ‘Calxinin’. A compound that consists of hydroxyethylamine (HEA) and trifluoromethyl-benzyl-piperazine. Calxinin exhibits potent inhibitory activity in the nanomolar range against the asexual blood stages of drug-sensitive (3D7), multidrug-resistant (Dd2), artemisinin-resistant (IPC4912), and fresh Kenyan field isolated Plasmodium falciparum strains. Calxinin treatment resulted in diminished maturation of parasite sexual precursor cells (gametocytes) accompanied by distorted parasite morphology. Further, in vitro liver-stage testing with a mouse model showed reduced parasite load at an IC50 of 79 nM. A single dose (10 mg/kg) of Calxinin resulted in a 30% reduction in parasitemia in mice infected with a chloroquine-resistant strain of the rodent parasite P. berghei. The ex vivo ookinete inhibitory concentration within mosquito gut IC50 was 150 nM. Cellular in vitro toxicity assays in the primary and immortalized human cell lines did not show cytotoxicity. A computational protein target identification pipeline identified a putative P. falciparum membrane protein (Pf3D7_1313500) involved in parasite calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis as a potential Calxinin target. This highly conserved protein is related to the family of transient receptor potential cation channels (TRP-ML). Target validation experiments showed that exposure of parasitized RBCs (pRBCs) to Calxinin induces a rapid release of intracellular Ca2+ from pRBCs; leaving de-calcinated parasites trapped in RBCs. Overall, we demonstrated that Calxinin is a promising antimalarial lead compound with a novel mechanism of action and with potential therapeutic, prophylactic, and transmission-blocking properties against parasites resistant to current antimalarials.
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Lee J, Shamim A, Park J, Jang JH, Kim JH, Kwon JY, Kim JW, Kim KK, Lee J. Functional and Structural Changes in the Membrane-Bound O-Acyltransferase Family Member 7 (MBOAT7) Protein: The Pathomechanism of a Novel MBOAT7 Variant in Patients With Intellectual Disability. Front Neurol 2022; 13:836954. [PMID: 35509994 PMCID: PMC9058081 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.836954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
The membrane-bound O-acyltransferase domain-containing 7 (MBOAT7) gene is associated with intellectual disability, early onset seizures, and autism spectrum disorders. This study aimed to determine the pathogenetic mechanism of the MBOAT7 missense variant via molecular modeling. Three patients from a consanguineous family were found to have a homozygous c.757G>A (p.Glu253Lys) variant of MBOAT7. The patients showed prominent dysfunction in gait, swallowing, vocalization, and fine motor function and had intellectual disabilities. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed signal changes in the bilateral globus pallidi and cerebellar dentate nucleus, which differed with age. In the molecular model of human MBOAT7, Glu253 in the wild-type protein is located close to the backbone carbonyl oxygens in the loop near the helix, suggesting that the ionic interaction could contribute to the conformational stability of the funnel. Molecular modeling showed that Lys253 in the mutant protein was expected to alter the surface charge distribution, thereby potentially affecting substrate specificity. Changes in conformational stability and substrate specificity through varied ionic interactions are the suggested pathophysiological mechanisms of the MBOAT7 variant found in patients with intellectual disabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiwon Lee
- Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Amen Shamim
- Department of Computer Science, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
- Department of Precision Medicine, Graduate School of Basic Medical Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea
| | - Jongho Park
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Genetics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Ja-Hyun Jang
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Genetics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Ji Hye Kim
- Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jeong-Yi Kwon
- Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jong-Won Kim
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Genetics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Kyeong Kyu Kim
- Department of Precision Medicine, Graduate School of Basic Medical Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea
| | - Jeehun Lee
- Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
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14
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Shaker B, Ahmad S, Shen J, Kim HW, Na D. Computational Design of a Multi-Epitope Vaccine Against Porphyromonas gingivalis. Front Immunol 2022; 13:806825. [PMID: 35250977 PMCID: PMC8894597 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.806825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Porphyromonas gingivalis is a Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium associated with chronic periodontitis. The development of a chimeric peptide-based vaccine targeting this pathogen could be highly beneficial in preventing oral bone loss as well as other severe gum diseases. We applied a computational framework to design a multi-epitope-based vaccine candidate against P. gingivalis. The vaccine comprises epitopes from subunit proteins prioritized from the P. gingivalis reference strain (P. gingivalis ATCC 33277) using several reported vaccine properties. Protein-based subunit vaccines were prioritized through genomics techniques. Epitope prediction was performed using immunoinformatic servers and tools. Molecular modeling approaches were used to build a putative three-dimensional structure of the vaccine to understand its interactions with host immune cells through biophysical techniques such as molecular docking simulation studies and binding free energy methods. Genome subtraction identified 18 vaccine targets: six outer-membrane, nine cytoplasmic membrane-, one periplasmic, and two extracellular proteins. These proteins passed different vaccine checks required for the successful development of a vaccine candidate. The shortlisted proteins were subjected to immunoinformatic analysis to map B-cell derived T-cell epitopes, and antigenic, water-soluble, non-toxic, and good binders of DRB1*0101 were selected. The epitopes were then modeled into a multi-epitope peptide vaccine construct (linked epitopes plus adjuvant) to enhance immunogenicity and effectively engage both innate and adaptive immunity. Further, the molecular docking approach was used to determine the binding conformation of the vaccine to TLR2 innate immune receptor. Molecular dynamics simulations and binding free energy calculations of the vaccine–TLR2 complex were performed to highlight key intermolecular binding energies. Findings of this study will be useful for vaccine developers to design an effective vaccine for chronic periodontitis pathogens, specifically P. gingivalis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bilal Shaker
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Sajjad Ahmad
- Department of Health and Biological Sciences, Abasyn University, Peshawar, Pakistan
| | - Junhao Shen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Hyung Wook Kim
- College of Life Sciences, Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea
- *Correspondence: Dokyun Na, ; Hyung Wook Kim,
| | - Dokyun Na
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
- *Correspondence: Dokyun Na, ; Hyung Wook Kim,
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Overhoff B, Falls Z, Mangione W, Samudrala R. A Deep-Learning Proteomic-Scale Approach for Drug Design. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2021; 14:1277. [PMID: 34959678 PMCID: PMC8709297 DOI: 10.3390/ph14121277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2021] [Revised: 11/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Computational approaches have accelerated novel therapeutic discovery in recent decades. The Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities (CANDO) platform for shotgun multitarget therapeutic discovery, repurposing, and design aims to improve their efficacy and safety by employing a holistic approach that computes interaction signatures between every drug/compound and a large library of non-redundant protein structures corresponding to the human proteome fold space. These signatures are compared and analyzed to determine if a given drug/compound is efficacious and safe for a given indication/disease. In this study, we used a deep learning-based autoencoder to first reduce the dimensionality of CANDO-computed drug-proteome interaction signatures. We then employed a reduced conditional variational autoencoder to generate novel drug-like compounds when given a target encoded "objective" signature. Using this approach, we designed compounds to recreate the interaction signatures for twenty approved and experimental drugs and showed that 16/20 designed compounds were predicted to be significantly (p-value ≤ 0.05) more behaviorally similar relative to all corresponding controls, and 20/20 were predicted to be more behaviorally similar relative to a random control. We further observed that redesigns of objectives developed via rational drug design performed significantly better than those derived from natural sources (p-value ≤ 0.05), suggesting that the model learned an abstraction of rational drug design. We also show that the designed compounds are structurally diverse and synthetically feasible when compared to their respective objective drugs despite consistently high predicted behavioral similarity. Finally, we generated new designs that enhanced thirteen drugs/compounds associated with non-small cell lung cancer and anti-aging properties using their predicted proteomic interaction signatures. his study represents a significant step forward in automating holistic therapeutic design with machine learning, enabling the rapid generation of novel, effective, and safe drug leads for any indication.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Ram Samudrala
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA; (B.O.); (Z.F.); (W.M.)
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16
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Katoch P, Mittal S, Sood S, Shrivastava R. Identification and in silico characterization of transcription termination/antitermination protein NusA of Mycobacterium fortuitum. Biologia (Bratisl) 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s11756-021-00903-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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17
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Rudnev VR, Kulikova LI, Nikolsky KS, Malsagova KA, Kopylov AT, Kaysheva AL. Current Approaches in Supersecondary Structures Investigation. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:11879. [PMID: 34769310 PMCID: PMC8584461 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222111879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2021] [Revised: 10/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Proteins expressed during the cell cycle determine cell function, topology, and responses to environmental influences. The development and improvement of experimental methods in the field of structural biology provide valuable information about the structure and functions of individual proteins. This work is devoted to the study of supersecondary structures of proteins and determination of their structural motifs, description of experimental methods for their detection, databases, and repositories for storage, as well as methods of molecular dynamics research. The interest in the study of supersecondary structures in proteins is due to their autonomous stability outside the protein globule, which makes it possible to study folding processes, conformational changes in protein isoforms, and aberrant proteins with high productivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vladimir R. Rudnev
- Biobanking Group, Branch of Institute of Biomedical Chemistry “Scientific and Education Center”, 109028 Moscow, Russia; (V.R.R.); (L.I.K.); (K.S.N.); (A.T.K.); (A.L.K.)
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Russia
| | - Liudmila I. Kulikova
- Biobanking Group, Branch of Institute of Biomedical Chemistry “Scientific and Education Center”, 109028 Moscow, Russia; (V.R.R.); (L.I.K.); (K.S.N.); (A.T.K.); (A.L.K.)
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Russia
- Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology RAS—The Branch of Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Russia
| | - Kirill S. Nikolsky
- Biobanking Group, Branch of Institute of Biomedical Chemistry “Scientific and Education Center”, 109028 Moscow, Russia; (V.R.R.); (L.I.K.); (K.S.N.); (A.T.K.); (A.L.K.)
| | - Kristina A. Malsagova
- Biobanking Group, Branch of Institute of Biomedical Chemistry “Scientific and Education Center”, 109028 Moscow, Russia; (V.R.R.); (L.I.K.); (K.S.N.); (A.T.K.); (A.L.K.)
| | - Arthur T. Kopylov
- Biobanking Group, Branch of Institute of Biomedical Chemistry “Scientific and Education Center”, 109028 Moscow, Russia; (V.R.R.); (L.I.K.); (K.S.N.); (A.T.K.); (A.L.K.)
| | - Anna L. Kaysheva
- Biobanking Group, Branch of Institute of Biomedical Chemistry “Scientific and Education Center”, 109028 Moscow, Russia; (V.R.R.); (L.I.K.); (K.S.N.); (A.T.K.); (A.L.K.)
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Shaker B, Ahmad S, Lee J, Jung C, Na D. In silico methods and tools for drug discovery. Comput Biol Med 2021; 137:104851. [PMID: 34520990 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.104851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 127] [Impact Index Per Article: 42.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Revised: 09/05/2021] [Accepted: 09/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
In the past, conventional drug discovery strategies have been successfully employed to develop new drugs, but the process from lead identification to clinical trials takes more than 12 years and costs approximately $1.8 billion USD on average. Recently, in silico approaches have been attracting considerable interest because of their potential to accelerate drug discovery in terms of time, labor, and costs. Many new drug compounds have been successfully developed using computational methods. In this review, we briefly introduce computational drug discovery strategies and outline up-to-date tools to perform the strategies as well as available knowledge bases for those who develop their own computational models. Finally, we introduce successful examples of anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-cancer drug discoveries that were made using computational methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bilal Shaker
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Sajjad Ahmad
- Department of Health and Biological Sciences, Abasyn University, Peshawar, 25000, Pakistan
| | - Jingyu Lee
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Chanjin Jung
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Dokyun Na
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
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A novel piperazine derivative that targets hepatitis B surface antigen effectively inhibits tenofovir resistant hepatitis B virus. Sci Rep 2021; 11:11723. [PMID: 34083665 PMCID: PMC8175705 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91196-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global problem. The loss of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in serum is a therapeutic end point. Prolonged therapy with nucleoside/nucleotide analogues targeting the HBV-polymerase may lead to resistance and rarely results in the loss of HBsAg. Therefore, inhibitors targeting HBsAg may have potential therapeutic applications. Here, we used computational virtual screening, docking, and molecular dynamics simulations to identify potential small molecule inhibitors against HBsAg. After screening a million molecules from ZINC database, we identified small molecules with potential anti-HBV activity. Subsequently, cytotoxicity profiles and anti-HBV activities of these small molecules were tested using a widely used cell culture model for HBV. We identified a small molecule (ZINC20451377) which binds to HBsAg with high affinity, with a KD of 65.3 nM, as determined by Surface Plasmon Resonance spectroscopy. Notably, the small molecule inhibited HBsAg production and hepatitis B virion secretion (10 μM) at low micromolar concentrations and was also efficacious against a HBV quadruple mutant (CYEI mutant) resistant to tenofovir. We conclude that this small molecule exhibits strong anti-HBV properties and merits further testing.
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20
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Moazzezy N, Rismani E, Rezaei M, Karam MRA, Rafati S, Bouzari S, Oloomi M. Computational evaluation of modified peptides from human neutrophil peptide 1 (HNP-1). J Biomol Struct Dyn 2020; 40:1163-1171. [PMID: 32981420 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2020.1823249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The development of bacterial resistance toward antibiotics has been led to pay attention to the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The common mechanism of AMPs is disrupting the integrity of the bacterial membrane. One of the most accessible targets for α-defensins human neutrophil peptide-1 (HNP-1) is lipid II. In the present study, we performed homology modeling and geometrical validation of human neutrophil defensin 1. Then, the conformational and physicochemical properties of HNP-1 derived peptides 2Abz14S29, 2Abz23S29, and HNP1ΔC18A, as well as their interaction with lipid II were studied computationally. The overall quality of the predicted model of full protein was -5.14, where over 90% of residues were in the most favored and allowed regions in the Ramachandran plot. Although HNP-1 and HNP1ΔC18A were classified as unstable peptides, 2Abz14S29 and 2Abz23S29 were stable, based on the instability index values. Molecular docking showed similar interaction pattern of peptides and HNP-1 to lipid II. Molecular dynamic simulations revealed the overall stability of conformations, though the fluctuations of amino acids in the modified peptides were relatively higher than HNP-1. Further, the binding affinity constant (Kd) of HNP-1 and 2Abz23S29 in complex with lipid II was 10 times stronger than 2Abz14S29 and HNP1ΔC18A. Overall, computational studies of conformational and interaction patterns have signified how derived peptides could have displayed relatively similar antimicrobial results compared to HNP-1 in the reported experimental studies. Chemical modifications not only have improved the physicochemical properties of derived peptides compared to HNP-1, but also they have retained the similar pattern and binding affinity of peptides. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neda Moazzezy
- Molecular Biology Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Elham Rismani
- Molecular Medicine Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Maryam Rezaei
- Molecular Biology Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | | | - Sima Rafati
- Immunotherapy and Leishmania Vaccine Research Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Saeid Bouzari
- Molecular Biology Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mana Oloomi
- Molecular Biology Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
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Mobini S, Chizari M, Mafakher L, Rismani E, Rismani E. Computational Design of a Novel VLP-Based Vaccine for Hepatitis B Virus. Front Immunol 2020; 11:2074. [PMID: 33042118 PMCID: PMC7521014 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.02074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2020] [Accepted: 07/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a global virus responsible for a universal disease burden for millions of people. Various vaccination strategies have been developed using viral vector, nucleic acid, protein, peptide, and virus-like particles (VLPs) to stimulate favorable immune responses against HBV. Given the pivotal role of specific immune responses of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) in infection control, we designed a VLP-based vaccine by placing the antibody-binding fragments of HBsAg in the major immunodominant region (MIR) epitope of HBcAg to stimulate multilateral immunity. A computational approach was employed to predict and evaluate the conservation, antigenicity, allergenicity, and immunogenicity of the construct. Modeling and molecular dynamics (MD) demonstrated the folding stability of HBcAg as a carrier in inserting Myrcludex and "a" determinant of HBsAg. Regions 1-50 and 118-150 of HBsAg were considered to have the highest stability to be involved in the designed vaccine. Molecular docking revealed appropriate interactions between the B cell epitope of the designed vaccine and the antibodies. Totally, the final construct was promising for inducing humoral and cellular responses against HBV.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saeed Mobini
- Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Milad Chizari
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Ladan Mafakher
- Medicinal Plant Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur of Medical Science, Ahvaz, Iran
| | - Elmira Rismani
- Department of Biology, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Elham Rismani
- Molecular Medicine Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
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Noncanonical type 2B von Willebrand disease associated with mutations in the VWF D'D3 and D4 domains. Blood Adv 2020; 4:3405-3415. [PMID: 32722784 DOI: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2020002334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
We observed a 55-year-old Italian man who presented with mucosal and cutaneous bleeding. Results of his blood analysis showed low levels of von Willebrand factor (VWF) antigen and VWF activity (both VWF ristocetin cofactor and VWF collagen binding), mild thrombocytopenia, increased ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation, and a deficiency of high-molecular-weight multimers, all typical phenotypic hallmarks of type 2B von Willebrand disease (VWD). The analysis of the VWF gene sequence revealed heterozygous in cis mutations: (1) c.2771G>A and (2) c.6532G>T substitutions in the exons 21 and 37, respectively. The first mutation causes the substitution of an Arg residue with a Gln at position 924, in the D'D3 domain. The second mutation causes an Ala to Ser substitution at position 2178 in the D4 domain. The patient's daughter did not present the same fatherly mutations but showed only the heterozygous polymorphic c.3379C>T mutation in exon 25 of the VWF gene causing the p.P1127S substitution, inherited from her mother. The in vitro expression of the heterozygous in cis VWF mutant rVWFWT/rVWF924Q-2178S confirmed and recapitulated the ex vivo VWF findings. Molecular modeling showed that these in cis mutations stabilize a partially stretched and open conformation of the VWF monomer. Transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy showed in the heterozygous recombinant form rVWFWT/rVWF924Q-2178S a stretched conformation, forming strings even under static conditions. Thus, the heterozygous in cis mutations 924Q/2178S promote conformational transitions in the VWF molecule, causing a type 2B-like VWD phenotype, despite the absence of typical mutations in the A1 domain of VWF.
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Abstract
The purpose of this quick guide is to help new modelers who have little or no background in comparative modeling yet are keen to produce high-resolution protein 3D structures for their study by following systematic good modeling practices, using affordable personal computers or online computational resources. Through the available experimental 3D-structure repositories, the modeler should be able to access and use the atomic coordinates for building homology models. We also aim to provide the modeler with a rationale behind making a simple list of atomic coordinates suitable for computational analysis abiding to principles of physics (e.g., molecular mechanics). Keeping that objective in mind, these quick tips cover the process of homology modeling and some postmodeling computations such as molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD). A brief section was left for modeling nonprotein molecules, and a short case study of homology modeling is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yazan Haddad
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
- Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Vojtech Adam
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
- Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Zbynek Heger
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
- Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
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Kumar R, Kumar R, Tanwar P, Rath GK, Kumar R, Kumar S, Dash N, Das P, Hussain S. Deciphering the impact of missense mutations on structure and dynamics of SMAD4 protein involved in pathogenesis of gall bladder cancer. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2020; 39:1940-1954. [PMID: 32151199 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2020.1740789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Gall bladder cancer (GBC) is the most common malignancy of biliary tract cancer associated with high mortality rate and poor prognosis due to lack of suitable biomarkers. In this study, we explored the structural and functional effects of different missense mutations occurs in SMAD4 that was associated with the development of GBC. We utilized in silico methods to predict the harmful effects of nonsynonymous missense mutations and monitored the stability of protein. We found that all mutations (D351N, G352E, R361C, R361H, E526Q) associated with SMAD4 were deleterious in nature resulting in the formation of deformed or unstable protein structure. Molecular dynamics simulation studies revealed how these mutations affect protein stability, structure, conformation and function. We observed, different mutants increase the compactness and rigidity of SMAD4 protein, alter secondary structure composition, decrease the surface area and protein-ligand interaction and affect its conformation. Findings of current work indicated that the analyzed mutations might affect the structure of protein and its caliber to interact with other molecules, which probably related to functional impairment of SMAD4 upon D351N, G352E, R361C, R361H, E526Q mutations and their involvement in cancer. Hence, the present study has significance of rational drug design and further increase our understanding of GBC development.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rakesh Kumar
- Dr. B. R. A.-Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Rahul Kumar
- Dr. B. R. A.-Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Pranay Tanwar
- Dr. B. R. A.-Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - G K Rath
- Dr. B. R. A.-Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Ritesh Kumar
- Dr. B. R. A.-Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Sunil Kumar
- Dr. B. R. A.-Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Nihar Dash
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Prasenjit Das
- Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
| | - Showket Hussain
- Division of Molecular Oncology, National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida, India
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Sheik Amamuddy O, Veldman W, Manyumwa C, Khairallah A, Agajanian S, Oluyemi O, Verkhivker GM, Tastan Bishop Ö. Integrated Computational Approaches and Tools forAllosteric Drug Discovery. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:E847. [PMID: 32013012 PMCID: PMC7036869 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21030847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2019] [Revised: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding molecular mechanisms underlying the complexity of allosteric regulationin proteins has attracted considerable attention in drug discovery due to the benefits and versatilityof allosteric modulators in providing desirable selectivity against protein targets while minimizingtoxicity and other side effects. The proliferation of novel computational approaches for predictingligand-protein interactions and binding using dynamic and network-centric perspectives has ledto new insights into allosteric mechanisms and facilitated computer-based discovery of allostericdrugs. Although no absolute method of experimental and in silico allosteric drug/site discoveryexists, current methods are still being improved. As such, the critical analysis and integration ofestablished approaches into robust, reproducible, and customizable computational pipelines withexperimental feedback could make allosteric drug discovery more efficient and reliable. In this article,we review computational approaches for allosteric drug discovery and discuss how these tools can beutilized to develop consensus workflows for in silico identification of allosteric sites and modulatorswith some applications to pathogen resistance and precision medicine. The emerging realization thatallosteric modulators can exploit distinct regulatory mechanisms and can provide access to targetedmodulation of protein activities could open opportunities for probing biological processes and insilico design of drug combinations with improved therapeutic indices and a broad range of activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Sheik Amamuddy
- Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa; (O.S.A.); (W.V.); (C.M.); (A.K.)
| | - Wayde Veldman
- Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa; (O.S.A.); (W.V.); (C.M.); (A.K.)
| | - Colleen Manyumwa
- Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa; (O.S.A.); (W.V.); (C.M.); (A.K.)
| | - Afrah Khairallah
- Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa; (O.S.A.); (W.V.); (C.M.); (A.K.)
| | - Steve Agajanian
- Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (S.A.); (O.O.)
| | - Odeyemi Oluyemi
- Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (S.A.); (O.O.)
| | - Gennady M. Verkhivker
- Graduate Program in Computational and Data Sciences, Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866, USA; (S.A.); (O.O.)
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
| | - Özlem Tastan Bishop
- Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa; (O.S.A.); (W.V.); (C.M.); (A.K.)
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Zheng W, Li Y, Zhang C, Pearce R, Mortuza SM, Zhang Y. Deep-learning contact-map guided protein structure prediction in CASP13. Proteins 2019; 87:1149-1164. [PMID: 31365149 PMCID: PMC6851476 DOI: 10.1002/prot.25792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 128] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2019] [Revised: 07/14/2019] [Accepted: 07/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
We report the results of two fully automated structure prediction pipelines, "Zhang-Server" and "QUARK", in CASP13. The pipelines were built upon the C-I-TASSER and C-QUARK programs, which in turn are based on I-TASSER and QUARK but with three new modules: (a) a novel multiple sequence alignment (MSA) generation protocol to construct deep sequence-profiles for contact prediction; (b) an improved meta-method, NeBcon, which combines multiple contact predictors, including ResPRE that predicts contact-maps by coupling precision-matrices with deep residual convolutional neural-networks; and (c) an optimized contact potential to guide structure assembly simulations. For 50 CASP13 FM domains that lacked homologous templates, average TM-scores of the first models produced by C-I-TASSER and C-QUARK were 28% and 56% higher than those constructed by I-TASSER and QUARK, respectively. For the first time, contact-map predictions demonstrated usefulness on TBM domains with close homologous templates, where TM-scores of C-I-TASSER models were significantly higher than those of I-TASSER models with a P-value <.05. Detailed data analyses showed that the success of C-I-TASSER and C-QUARK was mainly due to the increased accuracy of deep-learning-based contact-maps, as well as the careful balance between sequence-based contact restraints, threading templates, and generic knowledge-based potentials. Nevertheless, challenges still remain for predicting quaternary structure of multi-domain proteins, due to the difficulties in domain partitioning and domain reassembly. In addition, contact prediction in terminal regions was often unsatisfactory due to the sparsity of MSAs. Development of new contact-based domain partitioning and assembly methods and training contact models on sparse MSAs may help address these issues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Zheng
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Yang Li
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
| | - Chengxin Zhang
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Robin Pearce
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - S M Mortuza
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Wang Y, Shi Q, Yang P, Zhang C, Mortuza SM, Xue Z, Ning K, Zhang Y. Fueling ab initio folding with marine metagenomics enables structure and function predictions of new protein families. Genome Biol 2019; 20:229. [PMID: 31676016 PMCID: PMC6825341 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-019-1823-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2019] [Accepted: 09/13/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The ocean microbiome represents one of the largest microbiomes and produces nearly half of the primary energy on the planet through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. Using recent advances in marine genomics, we explore new applications of oceanic metagenomes for protein structure and function prediction. RESULTS By processing 1.3 TB of high-quality reads from the Tara Oceans data, we obtain 97 million non-redundant genes. Of the 5721 Pfam families that lack experimental structures, 2801 have at least one member associated with the oceanic metagenomics dataset. We apply C-QUARK, a deep-learning contact-guided ab initio structure prediction pipeline, to model 27 families, where 20 are predicted to have a reliable fold with estimated template modeling score (TM-score) at least 0.5. Detailed analyses reveal that the abundance of microbial genera in the ocean is highly correlated to the frequency of occurrence in the modeled Pfam families, suggesting the significant role of the Tara Oceans genomes in the contact-map prediction and subsequent ab initio folding simulations. Of interesting note, PF15461, which has a majority of members coming from ocean-related bacteria, is identified as an important photosynthetic protein by structure-based function annotations. The pipeline is extended to a set of 417 Pfam families, built on the combination of Tara with other metagenomics datasets, which results in 235 families with an estimated TM-score over 0.5. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate a new avenue to improve the capacity of protein structure and function modeling through marine metagenomics, especially for difficult proteins with few homologous sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Wang
- College of Life Science and Technology and College of Software, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Qiang Shi
- College of Life Science and Technology and College of Software, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China
| | - Pengshuo Yang
- College of Life Science and Technology and College of Software, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China
| | - Chengxin Zhang
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - S M Mortuza
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Zhidong Xue
- College of Life Science and Technology and College of Software, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China.
| | - Kang Ning
- College of Life Science and Technology and College of Software, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China.
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
- Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
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28
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Kapoor R, Kumar G, Arya P, Jaswal R, Jain P, Singh K, Sharma TR. Genome-Wide Analysis and Expression Profiling of Rice Hybrid Proline-Rich Proteins in Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stresses, and Hormone Treatment. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2019; 8:E343. [PMID: 31514343 PMCID: PMC6784160 DOI: 10.3390/plants8090343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2019] [Revised: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 08/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Hybrid proline-rich proteins (HyPRPs) belong to the family of 8-cysteine motif (8CM) containing proteins that play important roles in plant development processes, and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. To gain insight into the rice HyPRPs, we performed a systematic genome-wide analysis and identified 45 OsHyPRP genes encoding 46 OsHyPRP proteins. The phylogenetic relationships of OsHyPRP proteins with monocots (maize, sorghum, and Brachypodium) and a dicot (Arabidopsis) showed clustering of the majority of OsHyPRPs along with those from other monocots, which suggests lineage-specific evolution of monocots HyPRPs. Based on our previous RNA-Seq study, we selected differentially expressed OsHyPRPs genes and used quantitative real-time-PCR (qRT-PCR) to measure their transcriptional responses to biotic (Magnaporthe oryzae) and abiotic (heat, cold, and salt) stresses and hormone treatment (Abscisic acid; ABA, Methyl-Jasmonate; MeJA, and Salicylic acid; SA) in rice blast susceptible Pusa Basmati-1 (PB1) and blast-resistant near-isogenic line PB1+Pi9. The induction of OsHyPRP16 expression in response to the majority of stresses and hormonal treatments was highly correlated with the number of cis-regulatory elements present in its promoter region. In silico docking analysis of OsHyPRP16 showed its interaction with sterols of fungal/protozoan origin. The characterization of the OsHyPRP gene family enables us to recognize the plausible role of OsHyPRP16 in stress tolerance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ritu Kapoor
- Department of Biotechnology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, Punjab, India.
| | - Gulshan Kumar
- National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali 140306, Punjab, India.
| | - Preeti Arya
- National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali 140306, Punjab, India.
| | - Rajdeep Jaswal
- National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali 140306, Punjab, India.
- Department of Microbiology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, Punjab, India.
| | - Priyanka Jain
- National Institute of Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi 110012, India.
| | - Kashmir Singh
- Department of Biotechnology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, Punjab, India.
| | - Tilak Raj Sharma
- National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali 140306, Punjab, India.
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29
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Tan YL, Feng CJ, Jin L, Shi YZ, Zhang W, Tan ZJ. What is the best reference state for building statistical potentials in RNA 3D structure evaluation? RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2019; 25:793-812. [PMID: 30996105 PMCID: PMC6573789 DOI: 10.1261/rna.069872.118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2018] [Accepted: 04/06/2019] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Knowledge-based statistical potentials have been shown to be efficient in protein structure evaluation/prediction, and the core difference between various statistical potentials is attributed to the choice of reference states. However, for RNA 3D structure evaluation, a comprehensive examination on reference states is still lacking. In this work, we built six statistical potentials based on six reference states widely used in protein structure evaluation, including averaging, quasi-chemical approximation, atom-shuffled, finite-ideal-gas, spherical-noninteracting, and random-walk-chain reference states, and we examined the six reference states against three RNA test sets including six subsets. Our extensive examinations show that, overall, for identifying native structures and ranking decoy structures, the finite-ideal-gas and random-walk-chain reference states are slightly superior to others, while for identifying near-native structures, there is only a slight difference between these reference states. Our further analyses show that the performance of a statistical potential is apparently dependent on the quality of the training set. Furthermore, we found that the performance of a statistical potential is closely related to the origin of test sets, and for the three realistic test subsets, the six statistical potentials have overall unsatisfactory performance. This work presents a comprehensive examination on the existing reference states and statistical potentials for RNA 3D structure evaluation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya-Lan Tan
- Center for Theoretical Physics and Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Chen-Jie Feng
- Center for Theoretical Physics and Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Lei Jin
- Center for Theoretical Physics and Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Ya-Zhou Shi
- Research Center of Nonlinear Science, School of Mathematics and Computer Science, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430073, China
| | - Wenbing Zhang
- Center for Theoretical Physics and Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Zhi-Jie Tan
- Center for Theoretical Physics and Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
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30
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Xu G, Ma T, Wang Q, Ma J. OPUS-SSF: A side-chain-inclusive scoring function for ranking protein structural models. Protein Sci 2019; 28:1157-1162. [PMID: 30919509 DOI: 10.1002/pro.3608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2018] [Revised: 03/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
We introduce a side-chain-inclusive scoring function, named OPUS-SSF, for ranking protein structural models. The method builds a scoring function based on the native distributions of the coordinate components of certain anchoring points in a local molecular system for peptide segments of 5, 7, 9, and 11 residues in length. Differing from our previous OPUS-CSF [Xu et al., Protein Sci. 2018; 27: 286-292], which exclusively uses main chain information, OPUS-SSF employs anchoring points on side chains so that the effect of side chains is taken into account. The performance of OPUS-SSF was tested on 15 decoy sets containing totally 603 proteins, and 571 of them had their native structures recognized from their decoys. Similar to OPUS-CSF, OPUS-SSF does not employ the Boltzmann formula in constructing scoring functions. The results indicate that OPUS-SSF has achieved a significant improvement on decoy recognition and it should be a very useful tool for protein structural prediction and modeling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Xu
- School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China
| | - Tianqi Ma
- Applied Physics Program, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005.,Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005
| | - Qinghua Wang
- Verna and Marrs Mclean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030
| | - Jianpeng Ma
- School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.,Applied Physics Program, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005.,Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005.,Verna and Marrs Mclean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030
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31
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In silico prediction of prolactin molecules as a tool for equine genomics reproduction. Mol Divers 2019; 23:1019-1028. [PMID: 30740642 DOI: 10.1007/s11030-018-09914-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 12/31/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The prolactin hormone is involved in several biological functions, although its main role resides on reproduction. As it interferes on fertility changes, studies focused on human health have established a linkage of this hormone to fertility losses. Regarding animal research, there is still a lack of information about the structure of prolactin. In case of horse breeding, prolactin has a particular influence; once there is an individualization of these animals and equines are known for presenting several reproductive disorders. As there is no molecular structure available for the prolactin hormone and receptor, we performed several bioinformatics analyses through prediction and refinement softwares, as well as manual modifications. Aiming to elucidate the first computational structure of both molecules and analyse structural and functional aspects related to these proteins, here we provide the first known equine model for prolactin and prolactin receptor, which obtained high global quality scores in diverse software's for quality assessment. QMEAN overall score obtained for ePrl was (- 4.09) and QMEANbrane for ePrlr was (- 8.45), which proves the structures' reliability. This study will implement another tool in equine genomics in order to give light to interactions of these molecules, structural and functional alterations and therefore help diagnosing fertility problems, contributing in the selection of a high genetic herd.
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32
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Mangione W, Samudrala R. Identifying Protein Features Responsible for Improved Drug Repurposing Accuracies Using the CANDO Platform: Implications for Drug Design. Molecules 2019; 24:molecules24010167. [PMID: 30621144 PMCID: PMC6337359 DOI: 10.3390/molecules24010167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2018] [Revised: 12/21/2018] [Accepted: 12/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Drug repurposing is a valuable tool for combating the slowing rates of novel therapeutic discovery. The Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities (CANDO) platform performs shotgun repurposing of 2030 indications/diseases using 3733 drugs/compounds to predict interactions with 46,784 proteins and relating them via proteomic interaction signatures. The accuracy is calculated by comparing interaction similarities of drugs approved for the same indications. We performed a unique subset analysis by breaking down the full protein library into smaller subsets and then recombining the best performing subsets into larger supersets. Up to 14% improvement in accuracy is seen upon benchmarking the supersets, representing a 100⁻1000-fold reduction in the number of proteins considered relative to the full library. Further analysis revealed that libraries comprised of proteins with more equitably diverse ligand interactions are important for describing compound behavior. Using one of these libraries to generate putative drug candidates against malaria, tuberculosis, and large cell carcinoma results in more drugs that could be validated in the biomedical literature compared to using those suggested by the full protein library. Our work elucidates the role of particular protein subsets and corresponding ligand interactions that play a role in drug repurposing, with implications for drug design and machine learning approaches to improve the CANDO platform.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Mangione
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.
| | - Ram Samudrala
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.
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33
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Blaszczyk M, Gront D, Kmiecik S, Kurcinski M, Kolinski M, Ciemny MP, Ziolkowska K, Panek M, Kolinski A. Protein Structure Prediction Using Coarse-Grained Models. SPRINGER SERIES ON BIO- AND NEUROSYSTEMS 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-95843-9_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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34
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MacCarthy E, Perry D, Kc DB. Advances in Protein Super-Secondary Structure Prediction and Application to Protein Structure Prediction. Methods Mol Biol 2019; 1958:15-45. [PMID: 30945212 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9161-7_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Due to the advancement in various sequencing technologies, the gap between the number of protein sequences and the number of experimental protein structures is ever increasing. Community-wide initiatives like CASP have resulted in considerable efforts in the development of computational methods to accurately model protein structures from sequences. Sequence-based prediction of super-secondary structure has direct application in protein structure prediction, and there have been significant efforts in the prediction of super-secondary structure in the last decade. In this chapter, we first introduce the protein structure prediction problem and highlight some of the important progress in the field of protein structure prediction. Next, we discuss recent methods for the prediction of super-secondary structures. Finally, we discuss applications of super-secondary structure prediction in structure prediction/analysis of proteins. We also discuss prediction of protein structures that are composed of simple super-secondary structure repeats and protein structures that are composed of complex super-secondary structure repeats. Finally, we also discuss the recent trends in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elijah MacCarthy
- Department of Computational Science and Engineering, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC, USA
| | - Derrick Perry
- Department of Computational Science and Engineering, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC, USA
| | - Dukka B Kc
- Department of Computational Science and Engineering, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC, USA.
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35
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Fan YX, Pan X, Zhang Y, Shen HB. LabCaS for Ranking Potential Calpain Substrate Cleavage Sites from Amino Acid Sequence. Methods Mol Biol 2019; 1915:111-120. [PMID: 30617800 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8988-1_10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Calpains are a family of Ca2+-dependent cysteine proteases involved in many important biological processes, where they selectively cleave relevant substrates at specific cleavage sites to regulate the function of the substrate proteins. Presently, our knowledge about the function of calpains and the mechanism of substrate cleavage is still limited due to the fact that the experimental determination and validation on calpain bindings are usually laborious and expensive. This chapter describes LabCaS, an algorithm that is designed for predicting the calpain substrate cleavage sites from amino acid sequences. LabCaS is built on a conditional random field (CRF) statistic model, which trains the cleavage site prediction on multiple features of amino acid residue preference, solvent accessibility information, pair-wise alignment similarity score, secondary structure propensity, and physical-chemistry properties. Large-scale benchmark tests have shown that LabCaS can achieve a reliable recognition of the cleavage sites for most calpain proteins with an average AUC score of 0.862. Due to the fast speed and convenience of use, the protocol should find its usefulness in large-scale calpain-based function annotations of the newly sequenced proteins. The online web server of LabCaS is freely available at http://www.csbio.sjtu.edu.cn/bioinf/LabCaS .
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong-Xian Fan
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Trusted Software, Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Intelligent Processing of Computer Images and Graphics, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, China
| | - Xiaoyong Pan
- Department of Medical Informatics, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
| | - Hong-Bin Shen
- Institute of Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
- Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China, Shanghai, China.
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36
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Nikolaev D, Shtyrov AA, Panov MS, Jamal A, Chakchir OB, Kochemirovsky VA, Olivucci M, Ryazantsev MN. A Comparative Study of Modern Homology Modeling Algorithms for Rhodopsin Structure Prediction. ACS OMEGA 2018; 3:7555-7566. [PMID: 30087916 PMCID: PMC6068592 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.8b00721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2018] [Accepted: 06/21/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Rhodopsins are seven α-helical membrane proteins that are of great importance in chemistry, biology, and modern biotechnology. Any in silico study on rhodopsin properties and functioning requires a high-quality three-dimensional structure. Due to particular difficulties with obtaining membrane protein structures from the experiment, in silico prediction of the three-dimensional rhodopsin structure based only on its primary sequence is an especially important task. For the last few years, significant progress was made in the field of protein structure prediction, especially for methods based on comparative modeling. However, the majority of this progress was made for soluble proteins and further investigations are needed to achieve similar progress for membrane proteins. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of modern protein structure prediction methodologies (implemented in the Medeller, I-TASSER, and Rosetta packages) for their ability to predict rhodopsin structures. Three widely used methodologies were considered: two general methodologies that are commonly applied to soluble proteins and a methodology that uses constraints that are specific for membrane proteins. The test pool consisted of 36 target-template pairs with different sequence similarities that was constructed on the basis of 24 experimental rhodopsin structures taken from the RCSB database. As a result, we showed that all three considered methodologies allow obtaining rhodopsin structures with the quality that is close to the crystallographic one (root mean square deviation (RMSD) of the predicted structure from the corresponding X-ray structure up to 1.5 Å) if the target-template sequence identity is higher than 40%. Moreover, all considered methodologies provided structures of average quality (RMSD < 4.0 Å) if the target-template sequence identity is higher than 20%. Such structures can be subsequently used for further investigation of molecular mechanisms of protein functioning and for the development of modern protein-based biotechnologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitrii
M. Nikolaev
- Nanotechnology
Research and Education Centre RAS, Saint-Petersburg
Academic University, 8/3 Khlopina Street, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia
| | - Andrey A. Shtyrov
- Nanotechnology
Research and Education Centre RAS, Saint-Petersburg
Academic University, 8/3 Khlopina Street, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia
| | - Maxim S. Panov
- Institute
of Chemistry, Saint Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg 199034, Russia
| | - Adeel Jamal
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Oleg B. Chakchir
- Nanotechnology
Research and Education Centre RAS, Saint-Petersburg
Academic University, 8/3 Khlopina Street, St. Petersburg 194021, Russia
| | - Vladimir A. Kochemirovsky
- Institute
of Chemistry, Saint Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg 199034, Russia
| | - Massimo Olivucci
- Department
of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Università di Siena, via A. Moro 2, Siena I-53100, Italy
| | - Mikhail N. Ryazantsev
- Institute
of Chemistry, Saint Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg 199034, Russia
- Institute
of Macromolecular Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 31 Bolshoy pr., St. Petersburg 199004, Russia
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37
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Chen X, Yang B, Lin Z. A random forest learning assisted "divide and conquer" approach for peptide conformation search. Sci Rep 2018; 8:8796. [PMID: 29891960 PMCID: PMC5995823 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-27167-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Accepted: 05/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Computational determination of peptide conformations is challenging as it is a problem of finding minima in a high-dimensional space. The "divide and conquer" approach is promising for reliably reducing the search space size. A random forest learning model is proposed here to expand the scope of applicability of the "divide and conquer" approach. A random forest classification algorithm is used to characterize the distributions of the backbone φ-ψ units ("words"). A random forest supervised learning model is developed to analyze the combinations of the φ-ψ units ("grammar"). It is found that amino acid residues may be grouped as equivalent "words", while the φ-ψ combinations in low-energy peptide conformations follow a distinct "grammar". The finding of equivalent words empowers the "divide and conquer" method with the flexibility of fragment substitution. The learnt grammar is used to improve the efficiency of the "divide and conquer" method by removing unfavorable φ-ψ combinations without the need of dedicated human effort. The machine learning assisted search method is illustrated by efficiently searching the conformations of GGG/AAA/GGGG/AAAA/GGGGG through assembling the structures of GFG/GFGG. Moreover, the computational cost of the new method is shown to increase rather slowly with the peptide length.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Chen
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscales & CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Bing Yang
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscales & CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Zijing Lin
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscales & CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
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38
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Kato Y, Kihara H, Fukui K, Kojima M. A ternary complex model of Sirtuin4-NAD +-Glutamate dehydrogenase. Comput Biol Chem 2018; 74:94-104. [PMID: 29571013 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2018.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2016] [Revised: 11/09/2017] [Accepted: 03/08/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Sirtuin4 (Sirt4) is one of the mammalian homologues of Silent information regulator 2 (Sir2), which promotes the longevity of yeast, C. elegans, fruit flies and mice. Sirt4 is localized in the mitochondria, where it contributes to preventing the development of cancers and ischemic heart disease through regulating energy metabolism. The ADP-ribosylation of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), which is catalyzed by Sirt4, downregulates the TCA cycle. However, this reaction mechanism is obscure, because the structure of Sirt4 is unknown. We here constructed structural models of Sirt4 by homology modeling and threading, and docked nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide+ (NAD+) to Sirt4. In addition, a partial GDH structure was docked to the Sirt4-NAD+ complex model. In the ternary complex model of Sirt4-NAD+-GDH, the acetylated lysine 171 of GDH is located close to NAD+. This suggests a possible mechanism underlying the ADP-ribosylation at cysteine 172, which may occur through a transient intermediate with ADP-ribosylation at the acetylated lysine 171. These results may be useful in designing drugs for the treatment of cancers and ischemic heart disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yusuke Kato
- School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, 1432-1 Horinouchi, Hachioji 192-0392, Japan; Himeji Hinomoto College, 890 Koro, Himeji 679-2151, Japan; Institute for Enzyme Research, Tokushima University, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
| | - Hiroshi Kihara
- Himeji Hinomoto College, 890 Koro, Himeji 679-2151, Japan
| | - Kiyoshi Fukui
- Institute for Enzyme Research, Tokushima University, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan
| | - Masaki Kojima
- School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, 1432-1 Horinouchi, Hachioji 192-0392, Japan
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39
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Yao Y, Gui R, Liu Q, Yi M, Deng H. Diverse effects of distance cutoff and residue interval on the performance of distance-dependent atom-pair potential in protein structure prediction. BMC Bioinformatics 2017; 18:542. [PMID: 29221443 PMCID: PMC5723101 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-017-1983-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2017] [Accepted: 12/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND As one of the most successful knowledge-based energy functions, the distance-dependent atom-pair potential is widely used in all aspects of protein structure prediction, including conformational search, model refinement, and model assessment. During the last two decades, great efforts have been made to improve the reference state of the potential, while other factors that also strongly affect the performance of the potential have been relatively less investigated. RESULTS Based on different distance cutoffs (from 5 to 22 Å) and residue intervals (from 0 to 15) as well as six different reference states, we constructed a series of distance-dependent atom-pair potentials and tested them on several groups of structural decoy sets collected from diverse sources. A comprehensive investigation has been performed to clarify the effects of distance cutoff and residue interval on the potential's performance. Our results provide a new perspective as well as a practical guidance for optimizing distance-dependent statistical potentials. CONCLUSIONS The optimal distance cutoff and residue interval are highly related with the reference state that the potential is based on, the measurements of the potential's performance, and the decoy sets that the potential is applied to. The performance of distance-dependent statistical potential can be significantly improved when the best statistical parameters for the specific application environment are adopted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuangen Yao
- Department of Physics, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070 China
| | - Rong Gui
- Department of Physics, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070 China
| | - Quan Liu
- Department of Physics, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070 China
| | - Ming Yi
- Department of Physics, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070 China
| | - Haiyou Deng
- Department of Physics, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070 China
- Institute of Applied Physics, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070 China
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40
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Hovan L, Oleinikovas V, Yalinca H, Kryshtafovych A, Saladino G, Gervasio FL. Assessment of the model refinement category in CASP12. Proteins 2017; 86 Suppl 1:152-167. [PMID: 29071750 DOI: 10.1002/prot.25409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2017] [Revised: 10/03/2017] [Accepted: 10/24/2017] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
We here report on the assessment of the model refinement predictions submitted to the 12th Experiment on the Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction (CASP12). This is the fifth refinement experiment since CASP8 (2008) and, as with the previous experiments, the predictors were invited to refine selected server models received in the regular (nonrefinement) stage of the CASP experiment. We assessed the submitted models using a combination of standard CASP measures. The coefficients for the linear combination of Z-scores (the CASP12 score) have been obtained by a machine learning algorithm trained on the results of visual inspection. We identified eight groups that improve both the backbone conformation and the side chain positioning for the majority of targets. Albeit the top methods adopted distinctively different approaches, their overall performance was almost indistinguishable, with each of them excelling in different scores or target subsets. What is more, there were a few novel approaches that, while doing worse than average in most cases, provided the best refinements for a few targets, showing significant latitude for further innovation in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ladislav Hovan
- Department of Chemistry, University College London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | | | - Havva Yalinca
- Department of Chemistry, University College London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | | | - Giorgio Saladino
- Department of Chemistry, University College London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Francesco Luigi Gervasio
- Department of Chemistry, University College London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.,Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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41
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Chopra G, Samudrala R. Exploring Polypharmacology in Drug Discovery and Repurposing Using the CANDO Platform. Curr Pharm Des 2017; 22:3109-23. [PMID: 27013226 DOI: 10.2174/1381612822666160325121943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2016] [Accepted: 03/01/2015] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Traditional drug discovery approaches focus on a limited set of target molecules for treatment against specific indications/diseases. However, drug absorption, dispersion, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) involve interactions with multiple protein systems. Drugs approved for particular indication(s) may be repurposed as novel therapeutics for others. The severely declining rate of discovery and increasing costs of new drugs illustrate the limitations of the traditional reductionist paradigm in drug discovery. METHODS We developed the Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities (CANDO) platform based on a hypothesis that drugs function by interacting with multiple protein targets to create a molecular interaction signature that can be exploited for therapeutic repurposing and discovery. We compiled a library of compounds that are human ingestible with minimal side effects, followed by an 'all-compounds' vs 'all-proteins' fragment-based multitarget docking with dynamics screen to construct compound-proteome interaction matrices that were then analyzed to determine similarity of drug behavior. The proteomic signature similarity of drugs is then ranked to make putative drug predictions for all indications in a shotgun manner. RESULTS We have previously applied this platform with success in both retrospective benchmarking and prospective validation, and to understand the effect of druggable protein classes on repurposing accuracy. Here we use the CANDO platform to analyze and determine the contribution of multitargeting (polypharmacology) to drug repurposing benchmarking accuracy. Taken together with the previous work, our results indicate that a large number of protein structures with diverse fold space and a specific polypharmacological interactome is necessary for accurate drug predictions using our proteomic and evolutionary drug discovery and repurposing platform. CONCLUSION These results have implications for future drug development and repurposing in the context of polypharmacology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaurav Chopra
- Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
| | - Ram Samudrala
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, SUNY, Buffalo, NY, USA.
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42
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Jalily Hasani H, Ahmed M, Barakat K. A comprehensive structural model for the human KCNQ1/KCNE1 ion channel. J Mol Graph Model 2017; 78:26-47. [PMID: 28992529 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmgm.2017.09.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2017] [Revised: 09/25/2017] [Accepted: 09/26/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The voltage-gated KCNQ1/KCNE1 potassium ion channel complex, forms the slow delayed rectifier (IKs) current in the heart, which plays an important role in heart signaling. The importance of KCNQ1/KCNE1 channel's function is further implicated by the linkage between loss-of-function and gain-of-function mutations in KCNQ1 or KCNE1, and long QT syndromes, congenital atrial fibrillation, and short QT syndrome. Also, KCNQ1/KCNE1 channels are an off-target for many non-cardiovascular drugs, leading to fatal cardiac irregularities. One solution to address and study the mentioned aspects of KCNQ1/KNCE1 channel would be the structural studies using a validated and accurate model. Along the same line in this study, we have used several top-notch modeling approaches to build a structural model for the open state of KCNQ1 protein, which is both accurate and compatible with available experimental data. Next, we included the KCNE1 protein components using data-driven protein-protein docking simulations, encompassing a 4:2 stoichiometry to complete the picture of the channel complex formed by these two proteins. All the protein systems generated through these processes were refined by long Molecular Dynamics simulations. The refined models were analyzed extensively to infer data about the interaction of KCNQ1 channel with its accessory KCNE1 beta subunits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Horia Jalily Hasani
- Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Marawan Ahmed
- Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Khaled Barakat
- Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
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43
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Abstract
Membrane proteins play crucial roles in cellular processes and are often important pharmacological drug targets. The hydrophobic properties of these proteins make full structural and functional characterization challenging because of the need to use detergents or other solubilizing agents when extracting them from their native lipid membranes. To aid membrane protein research, new methodologies are required to allow these proteins to be expressed and purified cheaply, easily, in high yield and to provide water soluble proteins for subsequent study. This mini review focuses on the relatively new area of water soluble membrane proteins and in particular two innovative approaches: the redesign of membrane proteins to yield water soluble variants and how adding solubilizing fusion proteins can help to overcome these challenges. This review also looks at naturally occurring membrane proteins, which are able to exist as stable, functional, water soluble assemblies with no alteration to their native sequence.
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44
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Annotation of Alternatively Spliced Proteins and Transcripts with Protein-Folding Algorithms and Isoform-Level Functional Networks. Methods Mol Biol 2017; 1558:415-436. [PMID: 28150250 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6783-4_20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Tens of thousands of splice isoforms of proteins have been catalogued as predicted sequences from transcripts in humans and other species. Relatively few have been characterized biochemically or structurally. With the extensive development of protein bioinformatics, the characterization and modeling of isoform features, isoform functions, and isoform-level networks have advanced notably. Here we present applications of the I-TASSER family of algorithms for folding and functional predictions and the IsoFunc, MIsoMine, and Hisonet data resources for isoform-level analyses of network and pathway-based functional predictions and protein-protein interactions. Hopefully, predictions and insights from protein bioinformatics will stimulate many experimental validation studies.
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45
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Combating Ebola with Repurposed Therapeutics Using the CANDO Platform. Molecules 2016; 21:molecules21121537. [PMID: 27898018 PMCID: PMC5958544 DOI: 10.3390/molecules21121537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2016] [Revised: 10/23/2016] [Accepted: 10/28/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Ebola virus disease (EVD) is extremely virulent with an estimated mortality rate of up to 90%. However, the state-of-the-art treatment for EVD is limited to quarantine and supportive care. The 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the largest in history, is believed to have caused more than 11,000 fatalities. The countries worst affected are also among the poorest in the world. Given the complexities, time, and resources required for a novel drug development, finding efficient drug discovery pathways is going to be crucial in the fight against future outbreaks. We have developed a Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities (CANDO) platform based on the hypothesis that drugs function by interacting with multiple protein targets to create a molecular interaction signature that can be exploited for rapid therapeutic repurposing and discovery. We used the CANDO platform to identify and rank FDA-approved drug candidates that bind and inhibit all proteins encoded by the genomes of five different Ebola virus strains. Top ranking drug candidates for EVD treatment generated by CANDO were compared to in vitro screening studies against Ebola virus-like particles (VLPs) by Kouznetsova et al. and genetically engineered Ebola virus and cell viability studies by Johansen et al. to identify drug overlaps between the in virtuale and in vitro studies as putative treatments for future EVD outbreaks. Our results indicate that integrating computational docking predictions on a proteomic scale with results from in vitro screening studies may be used to select and prioritize compounds for further in vivo and clinical testing. This approach will significantly reduce the lead time, risk, cost, and resources required to determine efficacious therapies against future EVD outbreaks.
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46
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Novelletto A, Testa L, Iacovelli F, Blasi P, Garofalo L, Mingozzi T, Falconi M. Polymorphism in Mitochondrial Coding Regions of Mediterranean Loggerhead Turtles: Evolutionary Relevance and Structural Effects. Physiol Biochem Zool 2016; 89:473-486. [DOI: 10.1086/688679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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47
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Skolnick J, Zhou H. Why Is There a Glass Ceiling for Threading Based Protein Structure Prediction Methods? J Phys Chem B 2016; 121:3546-3554. [PMID: 27748116 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b09517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Despite their different implementations, comparison of the best threading approaches to the prediction of evolutionary distant protein structures reveals that they tend to succeed or fail on the same protein targets. This is true despite the fact that the structural template library has good templates for all cases. Thus, a key question is why are certain protein structures threadable while others are not. Comparison with threading results on a set of artificial sequences selected for stability further argues that the failure of threading is due to the nature of the protein structures themselves. Using a new contact map based alignment algorithm, we demonstrate that certain folds are highly degenerate in that they can have very similar coarse grained fractions of native contacts aligned and yet differ significantly from the native structure. For threadable proteins, this is not the case. Thus, contemporary threading approaches appear to have reached a plateau, and new approaches to structure prediction are required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey Skolnick
- Center for the Study of Systems Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology , 950 Atlantic Drive Northwest, Atlanta, Georgia 30318, United States
| | - Hongyi Zhou
- Center for the Study of Systems Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology , 950 Atlantic Drive Northwest, Atlanta, Georgia 30318, United States
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48
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Li J, Fang H. A comparison of different functions for predicted protein model quality assessment. J Comput Aided Mol Des 2016; 30:553-8. [PMID: 27488386 DOI: 10.1007/s10822-016-9924-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2016] [Accepted: 07/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In protein structure prediction, a considerable number of models are usually produced by either the Template-Based Method (TBM) or the ab initio prediction. The purpose of this study is to find the critical parameter in assessing the quality of the predicted models. A non-redundant template library was developed and 138 target sequences were modeled. The target sequences were all distant from the proteins in the template library and were aligned with template library proteins on the basis of the transformation matrix. The quality of each model was first assessed with QMEAN and its six parameters, which are C_β interaction energy (C_beta), all-atom pairwise energy (PE), solvation energy (SE), torsion angle energy (TAE), secondary structure agreement (SSA), and solvent accessibility agreement (SAE). Finally, the alignment score (score) was also used to assess the quality of model. Hence, a total of eight parameters (i.e., QMEAN, C_beta, PE, SE, TAE, SSA, SAE, score) were independently used to assess the quality of each model. The results indicate that SSA is the best parameter to estimate the quality of the model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Li
- Department of Hematology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210008, People's Republic of China
| | - Huisheng Fang
- School of Life Science and Technology, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210009, People's Republic of China.
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49
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Kmiecik S, Gront D, Kolinski M, Wieteska L, Dawid AE, Kolinski A. Coarse-Grained Protein Models and Their Applications. Chem Rev 2016; 116:7898-936. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.6b00163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 555] [Impact Index Per Article: 69.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Kmiecik
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 1, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Dominik Gront
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 1, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Michal Kolinski
- Bioinformatics
Laboratory, Mossakowski Medical Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Lukasz Wieteska
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 1, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
- Department
of Medical Biochemistry, Medical University of Lodz, Mazowiecka 6/8, 92-215 Lodz, Poland
| | | | - Andrzej Kolinski
- Faculty
of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 1, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
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50
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Zheng Z, Wang T, Li P, Merz KM. KECSA-Movable Type Implicit Solvation Model (KMTISM). J Chem Theory Comput 2016; 11:667-82. [PMID: 25691832 PMCID: PMC4325602 DOI: 10.1021/ct5007828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
![]()
Computation
of the solvation free energy for chemical and biological
processes has long been of significant interest. The key challenges
to effective solvation modeling center on the choice of potential
function and configurational sampling. Herein, an energy sampling
approach termed the “Movable Type” (MT) method, and
a statistical energy function for solvation modeling, “Knowledge-based
and Empirical Combined Scoring Algorithm” (KECSA) are developed
and utilized to create an implicit solvation model: KECSA-Movable
Type Implicit Solvation Model (KMTISM) suitable for the study of chemical
and biological systems. KMTISM is an implicit solvation model, but
the MT method performs energy sampling at the atom pairwise level.
For a specific molecular system, the MT method collects energies from
prebuilt databases for the requisite atom pairs at all relevant distance
ranges, which by its very construction encodes all possible molecular
configurations simultaneously. Unlike traditional statistical energy
functions, KECSA converts structural statistical information into
categorized atom pairwise interaction energies as a function of the
radial distance instead of a mean force energy function. Within the
implicit solvent model approximation, aqueous solvation free energies
are then obtained from the NVT ensemble partition function generated
by the MT method. Validation is performed against several subsets
selected from the Minnesota Solvation Database v2012. Results are
compared with several solvation free energy calculation methods, including
a one-to-one comparison against two commonly used classical implicit
solvation models: MM-GBSA and MM-PBSA. Comparison against a quantum
mechanics based polarizable continuum model is also discussed (Cramer
and Truhlar’s Solvation Model 12).
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Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Zheng
- Institute for Cyber Enabled Research, Department of Chemistry and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, 578 South Shaw Lane, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1322, United States
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