Electrical fluctuations on the surfaces of proteins from hydrodynamic data

Interaction of the new inhibitor paxlovid (PF-07321332) and ivermectin with the monomer of the main protease SARS-CoV-2: A volumetric study based on molecular dynamics, elastic networks, classical thermodynamics and SPT

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the study of drugs, most notably ivermectin and more recently Paxlovid (PF-07321332) which is in phase III clinical trials with experimental data showing covalent binding to the viral protease Mpro. Theoretical developments of catalytic site-directed docking support thermodynamically feasible non-covalent binding to Mpro. Here we show that Paxlovid binds non-covalently at regions other than the catalytic sites with energies stronger than reported and at the same binding site as the ivermectin B1a homologue, all through theoretical methodologies, including blind docking. We volumetrically characterize the non-covalent interaction of the ivermectin homologues (avermectins B1a and B1b) and Paxlovid with the mMpro monomer, through molecular dynamics and scaled particle theory (SPT). Using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT), we estimated the electric dipole moment fluctuations at the surface of each of complex involved in this study, with similar trends to that observed in the interaction volume. Using fluctuations of the intrinsic volume and the number of flexible fragments of proteins using anisotropic and Gaussian elastic networks (ANM+GNM) suggests the complexes with ivermectin are more dynamic and flexible than the unbound monomer. In contrast, the binding of Paxlovid to mMpro shows that the mMpro-PF complex is the least structurally dynamic of all the species measured in this investigation. The results support a differential molecular mechanism of the ivermectin and PF homologues in the mMpro monomer. Finally, the results showed that Paxlovid despite beingbound in different sites through covalent or non-covalent forms behaves similarly in terms of its structural flexibility and volumetric behaviour.

Electric Field Induced Dewetting of Hydrophobic Nanocavities at Ambient Temperature

The understanding of water dewetting in nanoporous materials is of great importance in various fields of science and technology. Herein, we report molecular dynamics simulation results of dewetting of water droplet in hydrophobic nanocavities between graphene walls under the influence of electric field. At ambient temperature, the rate of dewetting induced by electric field is significantly large. Whereas, it is a very low rate of dewetting induced by high temperature (423 K) due to the strong interaction of the hydrogen-bonding networks of water droplets in nanocavities. In addition, the electric filed induced formation of a water column has been found in a vacuum chamber. When the electric field is turned off, the water column will transform into a water droplet. Importantly, the results demonstrate that the rate of electric field-induced dewetting increases with growth of the electric field. Overall, our results suggest that electric field may have a great potential application for nanomaterial dewetting.

Ferroelectric hexagonal and rhombic monolayer ice phases

Two new monolayer ice phases are predicted from molecular dynamics simulations, both proven to be ferroelectric.

Symmetry interplay in Brownian photomotors: From a single-molecule device to ensemble transport

Unlike most of Brownian motor models in which the state of a point particle is described by a single scalar fluctuating parameter, we consider light-induced dichotomic fluctuations of electron density distributions in an extended molecule moving in the electrostatic periodic potential of a polar substrate. This model implies that the potential energy profiles of two motor states differ substantially and their symmetry is dictated by the interplay between the symmetries of the substrate potential and of molecular electronic states. As shown, a necessary condition for the occurrence of directed motion, the asymmetry of the potential energy profiles, is satisfied for (i) symmetric electron density distributions in molecules on asymmetric substrates and (ii) asymmetric electron density distributions in molecules on symmetric substrates. In the former case, the average velocity of directed motion is independent of molecular orientations and the ensemble of molecules moves as a whole, whereas in the latter case, oppositely oriented molecules move counterdirectionally thus causing the ensemble to diffuse. Using quantum chemical data for a specific organic-based photomotor as an example, we demonstrate that the behavior of molecular ensembles is controllable by switching on/off resonance laser radiation: they can be transported as a whole or separated into differently oriented molecules depending on the ratio of symmetric and antisymmetric contributions to the substrate electrostatic potential and to the molecular electron density distributions.