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Crossley-Lewis J, Dunn J, Hickman IF, Jackson F, Sunley GJ, Buda C, Mulholland AJ, Allan NL. Multilevel quantum mechanical calculations show the role of promoter molecules in the dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether in H-ZSM-5. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:16693-16707. [PMID: 38809246 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp05987a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2024]
Abstract
Methyl carboxylate esters promote the formation of dimethyl ether (DME) from the dehydration of methanol in H-ZSM-5 zeolite. We employ a multilevel quantum method to explore the possible associative and dissociative mechanisms in the presence, and absence, of six methyl ester promoters. This hybrid method combines density functional theory, with dispersion corrections (DFT-D3), for the full periodic system, with second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) for small clusters representing the reaction site, and coupled cluster with single, double, and perturbative triple substitution (CCSD(T)) for the reacting molecules. The calculated adsorption enthalpy of methanol, and reaction enthalpies of the dehydration of methanol to DME within H-ZSM-5, agree with experiment to within chemical accuracy (∼4 kJ mol-1). For the promoters, a reaction pathway via an associative mechanism gives lower overall reaction enthalpies and barriers compared to the reaction with methanol only. Each stage of this mechanism is explored and related to experimental data. We provide evidence that suggests the promoter's adsorption to the Brønsted acid site is the most important factor dictating its efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joe Crossley-Lewis
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK.
| | - Josh Dunn
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK.
| | - Isabel F Hickman
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK.
| | - Fiona Jackson
- Applied Sciences, bp Innovation and Engineering, BP plc, Saltend, Hull, HU12 8DS, UK
| | - Glenn J Sunley
- Applied Sciences, bp Innovation and Engineering, BP plc, Saltend, Hull, HU12 8DS, UK
| | - Corneliu Buda
- Applied Sciences, bp Innovation and Engineering, BP plc, 30 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606, USA
| | - Adrian J Mulholland
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK.
| | - Neil L Allan
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK.
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2
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Ray D, Das S, Raucci U. Kinetic View of Enzyme Catalysis from Enhanced Sampling QM/MM Simulations. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:3953-3958. [PMID: 38607669 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
The rate constants of enzyme-catalyzed reactions (kcat) are often approximated from the barrier height of the reactive step. We introduce an enhanced sampling QM/MM approach that directly calculates the kinetics of enzymatic reactions, without introducing the transition-state theory assumptions, and takes into account the dynamical equilibrium between the reactive and non-reactive conformations of the enzyme/substrate complex. Our computed kcat values are in order-of-magnitude agreement with the experimental data for two representative enzymatic reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dhiman Ray
- Atomistic Simulations, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Enrico Melen 83, Genova GE 16152, Italy
| | - Sudip Das
- Atomistic Simulations, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Enrico Melen 83, Genova GE 16152, Italy
| | - Umberto Raucci
- Atomistic Simulations, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Enrico Melen 83, Genova GE 16152, Italy
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3
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Wilkins RS, Lund BA, Isaksen GV, Åqvist J, Brandsdal BO. Accurate Computation of Thermodynamic Activation Parameters in the Chorismate Mutase Reaction from Empirical Valence Bond Simulations. J Chem Theory Comput 2024; 20:451-458. [PMID: 38112329 PMCID: PMC10782440 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c01105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Chorismate mutase (CM) enzymes have long served as model systems for benchmarking new methods and tools in computational chemistry. Despite the enzymes' prominence in the literature, the extent of the roles that activation enthalpy and entropy play in catalyzing the conversion of chorismate to prephenate is still subject to debate. Knowledge of these parameters is a key piece in fully understanding the mechanism of chorismate mutases. Within this study, we utilize EVB/MD free energy perturbation calculations at a range of temperatures, allowing us to extract activation enthalpies and entropies from an Arrhenius plot of activation free energies of the reaction catalyzed by a monofunctional Bacillus subtilis CM and the promiscuous enzyme isochorismate pyruvate lyase of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In comparison to the uncatalyzed reaction, our results show that both enzyme-catalyzed reactions exhibit a substantial reduction in activation enthalpy, while the effect on activation entropy is relatively minor, demonstrating that enzyme-catalyzed CM reactions are enthalpically driven. Furthermore, we observe that the monofunctional CM from B. subtilis more efficiently catalyzes this reaction than its promiscuous counterpart. This is supported by a structural analysis of the reaction pathway at the transition state, from which we identified key residues explaining the enthalpically driven nature of the reactions and also the difference in efficiencies between the two enzymes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan Scott Wilkins
- Hylleraas Centre for Quantum Molecular
Sciences, Department of Chemistry, University
of Tromsø, N9037 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Bjarte Aarmo Lund
- Hylleraas Centre for Quantum Molecular
Sciences, Department of Chemistry, University
of Tromsø, N9037 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Geir Villy Isaksen
- Hylleraas Centre for Quantum Molecular
Sciences, Department of Chemistry, University
of Tromsø, N9037 Tromsø, Norway
| | | | - Bjørn Olav Brandsdal
- Hylleraas Centre for Quantum Molecular
Sciences, Department of Chemistry, University
of Tromsø, N9037 Tromsø, Norway
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4
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Zheng M, Li Y, Zhang Q, Wang W. Impacts of QM region sizes and conformation numbers on modelling enzyme reactions: a case study of polyethylene terephthalate hydrolase. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:31596-31603. [PMID: 37917137 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp04519f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
A quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approach is a broadly used tool in computational enzymology. Treating the QM region with a high-level DFT method is one of the important branches. Here, taking leaf-branch compost cutinase-catalyzed polyethylene terephthalate depolymerization as an example, the convergence behavior of energy barriers as well as key structural and charge features with respect to the size of the QM region (up to 1000 atoms) is systematically investigated. BP86/6-31G(d)//CHARMM and M06-2X/6-311G(d,p)//CHARMM level of theories were applied for geometry optimizations and single-point energy calculations, respectively. Six independent enzyme conformations for all the four catalytic steps (steps (i)-(iv)) were considered. Most of the twenty-four cases show that at least 500 QM atoms are needed while only two rare cases show that ∼100 QM atoms are sufficient for convergence when only a single conformation was considered. This explains why most previous studies showed that 500 or more QM atoms are required while a few others showed that ∼100 QM atoms are sufficient for DFT/MM calculations. More importantly, average energy barriers and key structural/charge features from six conformations show an accelerated convergence than that in a single conformation. For instance, to reach energy barrier convergence (within 2.0 kcal mol-1) for step (ii), only ∼100 QM atoms are required if six conformations are considered while 500 or more QM atoms are needed with a single conformation. The convergence is accelerated to be more rapid if hundreds and thousands of conformations were considered, which aligns with previous findings that only several dozens of QM atoms are required for convergence with semi-empirical QM/MM MD simulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingna Zheng
- Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, PR China.
| | - Yanwei Li
- Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, PR China.
| | - Qingzhu Zhang
- Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, PR China.
| | - Wenxing Wang
- Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, PR China.
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5
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Van Speybroeck V. Challenges in modelling dynamic processes in realistic nanostructured materials at operating conditions. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2023; 381:20220239. [PMID: 37211031 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2022.0239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
The question is addressed in how far current modelling strategies are capable of modelling dynamic phenomena in realistic nanostructured materials at operating conditions. Nanostructured materials used in applications are far from perfect; they possess a broad range of heterogeneities in space and time extending over several orders of magnitude. Spatial heterogeneities from the subnanometre to the micrometre scale in crystal particles with a finite size and specific morphology, impact the material's dynamics. Furthermore, the material's functional behaviour is largely determined by the operating conditions. Currently, there exists a huge length-time scale gap between attainable theoretical length-time scales and experimentally relevant scales. Within this perspective, three key challenges are highlighted within the molecular modelling chain to bridge this length-time scale gap. Methods are needed that enable (i) building structural models for realistic crystal particles having mesoscale dimensions with isolated defects, correlated nanoregions, mesoporosity, internal and external surfaces; (ii) the evaluation of interatomic forces with quantum mechanical accuracy albeit at much lower computational cost than the currently used density functional theory methods and (iii) derivation of the kinetics of phenomena taking place in a multi-length-time scale window to obtain an overall view of the dynamics of the process. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Supercomputing simulations of advanced materials'.
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Clemente CM, Capece L, Martí MA. Best Practices on QM/MM Simulations of Biological Systems. J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:2609-2627. [PMID: 37100031 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.2c01522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/28/2023]
Abstract
During the second half of the 20th century, following structural biology hallmark works on DNA and proteins, biochemists shifted their questions from "what does this molecule look like?" to "how does this process work?". Prompted by the theoretical and practical developments in computational chemistry, this led to the emergence of biomolecular simulations and, along with the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, to the development of hybrid QM/MM methods. QM/MM methods are necessary whenever the problem we want to address involves chemical reactivity and/or a change in the system's electronic structure, with archetypal examples being the studies of an enzyme's reaction mechanism and a metalloprotein's active site. In the last decades QM/MM methods have seen an increasing adoption driven by their incorporation in widely used biomolecular simulation software. However, properly setting up a QM/MM simulation is not an easy task, and several issues need to be properly addressed to obtain meaningful results. In the present work, we describe both the theoretical concepts and practical issues that need to be considered when performing QM/MM simulations. We start with a brief historical perspective on the development of these methods and describe when and why QM/MM methods are mandatory. Then we show how to properly select and analyze the performance of the QM level of theory, the QM system size, and the position and type of the boundaries. We show the relevance of performing prior QM model system (or QM cluster) calculations in a vacuum and how to use the corresponding results to adequately calibrate those derived from QM/MM. We also discuss how to prepare the starting structure and how to select an adequate simulation strategy, including those based on geometry optimizations as well as free energy methods. In particular, we focus on the determination of free energy profiles using multiple steered molecular dynamics (MSMD) combined with Jarzynski's equation. Finally, we describe the results for two illustrative and complementary examples: the reaction performed by chorismate mutase and the study of ligand binding to hemoglobins. Overall, we provide many practical recommendations (or shortcuts) together with important conceptualizations that we hope will encourage more and more researchers to incorporate QM/MM studies into their research projects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camila M Clemente
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (FCEyN-UBA) e Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Pabellón 2 de Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina
| | - Luciana Capece
- Departamento de Química Inorgánica Analítica y Química Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (FCEyN-UBA) e Instituto de Química de los Materiales, Ambiente y Energía (INQUIMAE) CONICET, Pabellòn 2 de Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina
| | - Marcelo A Martí
- Departamento de Química Biológica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (FCEyN-UBA) e Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (IQUIBICEN) CONICET, Pabellón 2 de Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina
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Amanollahi Z, Lampe L, Bensberg M, Neugebauer J, Feldt M. On the accuracy of orbital based multi-level approaches for closed-shell transition metal chemistry. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:4635-4648. [PMID: 36662158 DOI: 10.1039/d2cp05056k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
In this work, we investigate the accuracy of the local molecular orbital molecular orbital (LMOMO) scheme and projection-based wave function-in-density functional theory (WF-in-DFT) embedding for the prediction of reaction energies and barriers of typical reactions involving transition metals. To analyze the dependence of the accuracy on the system partitioning, we apply a manual orbital selection for LMOMO as well as the so-called direct orbital selection (DOS) for both approaches. We benchmark these methods on 30 closed shell reactions involving 16 different transition metals. This allows us to devise guidelines for the manual selection as well as settings for the DOS that provide accurate results within an error of 2 kcal mol-1 compared to local coupled cluster. To reach this accuracy, on average 55% of the occupied orbitals have to be correlated with coupled cluster for the current test set. Furthermore, we find that LMOMO gives more reliable relative energies for small embedded regions than WF-in-DFT embedding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zohreh Amanollahi
- Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT), Albert-Einstein-Str. 29A, 18059 Rostock, Germany.
| | - Lukas Lampe
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 36, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Moritz Bensberg
- ETH Zürich, Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 2, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Johannes Neugebauer
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 36, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Milica Feldt
- Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT), Albert-Einstein-Str. 29A, 18059 Rostock, Germany.
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Douglas-Gallardo OA, Murillo-López JA, Oller J, Mulholland AJ, Vöhringer-Martinez E. Carbon Dioxide Fixation in RuBisCO Is Protonation-State-Dependent and Irreversible. ACS Catal 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.2c01677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Oscar A. Douglas-Gallardo
- Departamento de Físico-Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
- Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
| | - Juliana A. Murillo-López
- Departamento de Físico-Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
| | - Javier Oller
- Departamento de Físico-Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
- Departamento de Química Orgánica y Fisicoquímica, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380000, Chile
| | - Adrian J. Mulholland
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom
| | - Esteban Vöhringer-Martinez
- Departamento de Físico-Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
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9
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Pan X, Van R, Epifanovsky E, Liu J, Pu J, Nam K, Shao Y. Accelerating Ab Initio Quantum Mechanical and Molecular Mechanical (QM/MM) Molecular Dynamics Simulations with Multiple Time Step Integration and a Recalibrated Semiempirical QM/MM Hamiltonian. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c02262. [PMID: 35653199 PMCID: PMC9715852 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c02262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations employing ab initio quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (ai-QM/MM) potentials are considered to be the state of the art, but the high computational cost associated with the ai-QM calculations remains a theoretical challenge for their routine application. Here, we present a modified protocol of the multiple time step (MTS) method for accelerating ai-QM/MM MD simulations of condensed-phase reactions. Within a previous MTS protocol [Nam J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2014, 10, 4175], reference forces are evaluated using a low-level (semiempirical QM/MM) Hamiltonian and employed at inner time steps to propagate the nuclear motions. Correction forces, which arise from the force differences between high-level (ai-QM/MM) and low-level Hamiltonians, are applied at outer time steps, where the MTS algorithm allows the time-reversible integration of the correction forces. To increase the outer step size, which is bound by the highest-frequency component in the correction forces, the semiempirical QM Hamiltonian is recalibrated in this work to minimize the magnitude of the correction forces. The remaining high-frequency modes, which are mainly bond stretches involving hydrogen atoms, are then removed from the correction forces. When combined with a Langevin or SIN(R) thermostat, the modified MTS-QM/MM scheme remains robust with an up to 8 (with Langevin) or 10 fs (with SIN(R)) outer time step (with 1 fs inner time steps) for the chorismate mutase system. This leads to an over 5-fold speedup over standard ai-QM/MM simulations, without sacrificing the accuracy in the predicted free energy profile of the reaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoliang Pan
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma 73019-5251, United States
| | - Richard Van
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma 73019-5251, United States
| | - Evgeny Epifanovsky
- Q-Chem, Inc., 6601 Owens Drive, Suite 105, Pleasanton, California 94588, United States
| | - Jian Liu
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Jingzhi Pu
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 402 N Blackford St., LD326, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, United States
| | - Kwangho Nam
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, United States
| | - Yihan Shao
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma 73019-5251, United States
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López R, Díaz N, Francisco E, Martín-Pendás A, Suárez D. QM/MM Energy Decomposition Using the Interacting Quantum Atoms Approach. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:1510-1524. [PMID: 35212531 PMCID: PMC8965874 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c01372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The interacting quantum atoms (IQA) method decomposes the quantum mechanical (QM) energy of a molecular system in terms of one- and two-center (atomic) contributions within the context of the quantum theory of atoms in molecules. Here, we demonstrate that IQA, enhanced with molecular mechanics (MM) and Poisson-Boltzmann surface-area (PBSA) solvation methods, is naturally extended to the realm of hybrid QM/MM methodologies, yielding intra- and inter-residue energy terms that characterize all kinds of covalent and noncovalent bonding interactions. To test the robustness of this approach, both metal-water interactions and QM/MM boundary artifacts are characterized in terms of the IQA descriptors derived from QM regions of varying size in Zn(II)- and Mg(II)-water clusters. In addition, we analyze a homologous series of inhibitors in complex with a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-12) by carrying out QM/MM-PBSA calculations on their crystallographic structures followed by IQA energy decomposition. Overall, these applications not only show the advantages of the IQA QM/MM approach but also address some of the challenges lying ahead for expanding the QM/MM methodology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto López
- Departamento de Química y Física Aplicadas, Universidad de León, Facultad de Biología, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071 León (Castilla y León), Spain
| | - Natalia Díaz
- Departamento de Química Física y Analítica, Universidad de Oviedo, Facultad de Química, Julián Clavería 8, 33006 Oviedo (Asturias), Spain
| | - Evelio Francisco
- Departamento de Química Física y Analítica, Universidad de Oviedo, Facultad de Química, Julián Clavería 8, 33006 Oviedo (Asturias), Spain
| | - Angel Martín-Pendás
- Departamento de Química Física y Analítica, Universidad de Oviedo, Facultad de Química, Julián Clavería 8, 33006 Oviedo (Asturias), Spain
| | - Dimas Suárez
- Departamento de Química Física y Analítica, Universidad de Oviedo, Facultad de Química, Julián Clavería 8, 33006 Oviedo (Asturias), Spain
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11
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Lawan N, Tinikul R, Surawatanawong P, Mulholland AJ, Chaiyen P. QM/MM Molecular Modeling Reveals Mechanism Insights into Flavin Peroxide Formation in Bacterial Luciferase. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:399-411. [PMID: 34989561 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c01187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Bacterial luciferase (Lux) catalyzes oxidation of reduced flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and aldehyde to form oxidized FMN and carboxylic acid via molecular oxygen with concomitant light generation. The enzyme is useful for various detection applications in biomedical experiments. Upon reacting with oxygen, the reduced FMN generates C4a-peroxy-FMN (FMNH-C4a-OO-) as a reactive intermediate, which is required for light generation. However, the mechanism and control of FMNH-C4a-OO- formation are not clear. This work investigated the reaction of FMNH-C4a-OO- formation in Lux using QM/MM methods. The B3LYP/6-31G*/CHARMM27 calculations indicate that Lux controls the formation of FMNH-C4a-OO- via the conserved His44 residue. The steps in intermediate formation are found to be as follows: (i) H+ reacts with O2 to generate +OOH. (ii) +OOH attacks C4a of FMNH- to generate FMNH-C4a-OOH. (iii) H+ is transferred from FMNH-C4a-OOH to His44 to generate FMNH-C4a-OO- while His44 stabilizes FMNH-C4a-OO- by forming a hydrogen bond to an oxygen atom. This controlling key mechanism for driving the change from FMNH-C4a-OOH to the FMNH-C4a-OO- adduct is confirmed because FMNH-C4a-OO- is more stable than FMNH-C4a-OOH in the luciferase active site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Narin Lawan
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
| | - Ruchanok Tinikul
- Department of Biochemistry and Center for Excellence in Protein and Enzyme Technology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Panida Surawatanawong
- Department of Chemistry and Center of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Adrian J Mulholland
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom
| | - Pimchai Chaiyen
- Department of Biochemistry and Center for Excellence in Protein and Enzyme Technology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
- School of Biomolecular Science and Engineering, Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Wangchan Valley, Rayong 21210, Thailand
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12
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Bensberg M, Neugebauer J. Direct orbital selection within the domain-based local pair natural orbital coupled-cluster method. J Chem Phys 2021; 155:224102. [PMID: 34911318 DOI: 10.1063/5.0071347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Domain-based local pair natural orbital coupled cluster (DLPNO-CC) has become increasingly popular to calculate relative energies (e.g., reaction energies and reaction barriers). It can be applied within a multi-level DLPNO-CC-in-DLPNO-CC ansatz to reduce the computational cost and focus the available computational resources on a specific subset of the occupied orbitals. We demonstrate how this multi-level DLPNO-CC ansatz can be combined with our direct orbital selection (DOS) approach [M. Bensberg and J. Neugebauer, J. Chem. Phys. 150, 214106 (2019)] to automatically select orbital sets for any multi-level calculation. We find that the parameters for the DOS procedure can be chosen conservatively such that they are transferable between reactions. The resulting automatic multi-level DLPNO-CC method requires no user input and is extremely robust and accurate. The computational cost is easily reduced by a factor of 3 without sacrificing accuracy. We demonstrate the accuracy of the method for a total of 61 reactions containing up to 174 atoms and use it to predict the relative stability of conformers of a Ru-based catalyst.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moritz Bensberg
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 36, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Johannes Neugebauer
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 36, 48149 Münster, Germany
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13
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Kang H, Zheng M. Influence of the quantum mechanical region size in QM/MM modelling: A case study of fluoroacetate dehalogenase catalyzed C F bond cleavage. COMPUT THEOR CHEM 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.comptc.2021.113399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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14
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The Mechanism of Rubisco Catalyzed Carboxylation Reaction: Chemical Aspects Involving Acid-Base Chemistry and Functioning of the Molecular Machine. Catalysts 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/catal11070813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years, a great deal of attention has been paid by the scientific community to improving the efficiency of photosynthetic carbon assimilation, plant growth and biomass production in order to achieve a higher crop productivity. Therefore, the primary carboxylase enzyme of the photosynthetic process Rubisco has received considerable attention focused on many aspects of the enzyme function including protein structure, protein engineering and assembly, enzyme activation and kinetics. Based on its fundamental role in carbon assimilation Rubisco is also targeted by the CO2-fertilization effect, which is the increased rate of photosynthesis due to increasing atmospheric CO2-concentration. The aim of this review is to provide a framework, as complete as possible, of the mechanism of the RuBP carboxylation/hydration reaction including description of chemical events occurring at the enzyme “activating” and “catalytic” sites (which involve Broensted acid-base reactions) and the functioning of the complex molecular machine. Important research results achieved over the last few years providing substantial advancement in understanding the enzyme functioning will be discussed.
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15
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Macetti G, Genoni A. Three-Layer Multiscale Approach Based on Extremely Localized Molecular Orbitals to Investigate Enzyme Reactions. J Phys Chem A 2021; 125:6013-6027. [PMID: 34190569 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.1c05040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations are widely used embedding techniques to computationally investigate enzyme reactions. In most QM/MM computations, the quantum mechanical region is treated through density functional theory (DFT), which offers the best compromise between chemical accuracy and computational cost. Nevertheless, to obtain more accurate results, one should resort to wave function-based methods, which however lead to a much larger computational cost already for relatively small QM subsystems. To overcome this drawback, we propose the coupling of our QM/ELMO (quantum mechanics/extremely localized molecular orbital) approach with molecular mechanics, thus introducing the three-layer QM/ELMO/MM technique. The QM/ELMO strategy is an embedding method in which the chemically relevant part of the system is treated at the quantum mechanical level, while the rest is described through frozen ELMOs. Since the QM/ELMO method reproduces results of fully QM computations within chemical accuracy and with a much lower computational effort, it can be considered a suitable strategy to extend the range of applicability and accuracy of the QM/MM scheme. In this paper, other than briefly presenting the theoretical bases of the QM/ELMO/MM technique, we will also discuss its validation on the well-tested deprotonation of acetyl coenzyme A by aspartate in citrate synthase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Macetti
- Université de Lorraine & CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques (LPCT), UMR CNRS 7019, 1 Boulevard Arago, F-57078 Metz, France
| | - Alessandro Genoni
- Université de Lorraine & CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques (LPCT), UMR CNRS 7019, 1 Boulevard Arago, F-57078 Metz, France
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16
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Parravicini V, Jagau TC. Embedded equation-of-motion coupled-cluster theory for electronic excitation, ionisation, electron attachment, and electronic resonances. Mol Phys 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/00268976.2021.1943029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Parravicini
- Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumThis article is dedicated to Professor John Stanton on the occasion of his 60th birthday
| | - Thomas-C. Jagau
- Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumThis article is dedicated to Professor John Stanton on the occasion of his 60th birthday
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17
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Suardíaz R, Lythell E, Hinchliffe P, van der Kamp M, Spencer J, Fey N, Mulholland AJ. Catalytic mechanism of the colistin resistance protein MCR-1. Org Biomol Chem 2021; 19:3813-3819. [PMID: 33606866 PMCID: PMC8097703 DOI: 10.1039/d0ob02566f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2020] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The mcr-1 gene encodes a membrane-bound Zn2+-metalloenzyme, MCR-1, which catalyses phosphoethanolamine transfer onto bacterial lipid A, making bacteria resistant to colistin, a last-resort antibiotic. Mechanistic understanding of this process remains incomplete. Here, we investigate possible catalytic pathways using DFT and ab initio calculations on cluster models and identify a complete two-step reaction mechanism. The first step, formation of a covalent phosphointermediate via transfer of phosphoethanolamine from a membrane phospholipid donor to the acceptor Thr285, is rate-limiting and proceeds with a single Zn2+ ion. The second step, transfer of the phosphoethanolamine group to lipid A, requires an additional Zn2+. The calculations suggest the involvement of the Zn2+ orbitals directly in the reaction is limited, with the second Zn2+ acting to bind incoming lipid A and direct phosphoethanolamine addition. The new level of mechanistic detail obtained here, which distinguishes these enzymes from other phosphotransferases, will aid in the development of inhibitors specific to MCR-1 and related bacterial phosphoethanolamine transferases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reynier Suardíaz
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK. and School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK and Departamento de Química Física, Facultad de Química, Universidad Complutense, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Emily Lythell
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK. and School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | - Philip Hinchliffe
- School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | - Marc van der Kamp
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK. and School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | - James Spencer
- School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | - Natalie Fey
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.
| | - Adrian J Mulholland
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.
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18
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Macetti G, Wieduwilt EK, Genoni A. QM/ELMO: A Multi-Purpose Fully Quantum Mechanical Embedding Scheme Based on Extremely Localized Molecular Orbitals. J Phys Chem A 2021; 125:2709-2726. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.0c11450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Macetti
- Université de Lorraine & CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques (LPCT), UMR CNRS 7019, 1 Boulevard Arago, F-57078 Metz, France
| | - Erna K. Wieduwilt
- Université de Lorraine & CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques (LPCT), UMR CNRS 7019, 1 Boulevard Arago, F-57078 Metz, France
| | - Alessandro Genoni
- Université de Lorraine & CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques (LPCT), UMR CNRS 7019, 1 Boulevard Arago, F-57078 Metz, France
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19
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Douglas-Gallardo OA, Shepherd I, Bennie SJ, Ranaghan KE, Mulholland AJ, Vöhringer-Martinez E. Electronic structure benchmark calculations of CO 2 fixing elementary chemical steps in RuBisCO using the projector-based embedding approach. J Comput Chem 2020; 41:2151-2157. [PMID: 32640497 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.26380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RuBisCO) is the main enzyme involved in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) fixation in the biosphere. This enzyme catalyzes a set of five chemical steps that take place in the same active-site within magnesium (II) coordination sphere. Here, a set of electronic structure benchmark calculations have been carried out on a reaction path proposed by Gready et al. by means of the projector-based embedding approach. Activation and reaction energies for all main steps catalyzed by RuBisCO have been calculated at the MP2, SCS-MP2, CCSD, and CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ and cc-pVDZ levels of theory. The treatment of the magnesium cation with post-HF methods is explored to determine the nature of its involvement in the mechanism. With the high-level ab initio values as a reference, we tested the performance of a set of density functional theory (DFT) exchange-correlation (xc) functionals in reproducing the reaction energetics of RuBisCO carboxylase activity on a set of model fragments. Different DFT xc-functionals show large variation in activation and reaction energies. Activation and reaction energies computed at the B3LYP level are close to the reference SCS-MP2 results for carboxylation, hydration and protonation reactions. However, for the carbon-carbon bond dissociation reaction, B3LYP and other functionals give results that differ significantly from the ab initio reference values. The results show the applicability of the projector-based embedding approach to metalloenzymes. This technique removes the uncertainty associated with the selection of different DFT xc-functionals and so can overcome some of inherent limitations of DFT calculations, complementing, and potentially adding to modeling of enzyme reaction mechanisms with DFT methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oscar A Douglas-Gallardo
- Departamento de Físico-Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
| | - Ian Shepherd
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Simon J Bennie
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Kara E Ranaghan
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Adrian J Mulholland
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Esteban Vöhringer-Martinez
- Departamento de Físico-Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
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20
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The Impact of Electron Correlation on Describing QM/MM Interactions in the Attendant Molecular Dynamics Simulations of CO in Myoglobin. Sci Rep 2020; 10:8539. [PMID: 32444817 PMCID: PMC7244521 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65475-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The impact of the dispersion and electron correlation effects on describing quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) interactions in QM/MM molecular dynamics (MD) simulations was explored by performing a series of up to 2 ns QM/MM MD simulations on the B states of the myoglobin-carbon monoxide (MbCO) system. The results indicate that both dispersion and electron correlations play significant roles in the simulation of the ratios of two B states (B1/B2), which suggests that the inclusion of the electron correlation effects is essential for accurately modeling the interactions between QM and MM subsystems. We found that the QM/MM interaction energies between the CO and the surroundings statistically present a linear correlation with the electric fields along the CO bond. This indicates that QM/MM interactions can be described by a simple physical model of a dipole with constant moment under the action of the electric fields. The treatment provides us with an accurate and effective approach to account for the electron correlation effects in QM/MM MD simulations.
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21
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Sirirak J, Lawan N, Van der Kamp MW, Harvey JN, Mulholland AJ. Benchmarking quantum mechanical methods for calculating reaction energies of reactions catalyzed by enzymes. PEERJ PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 2020. [DOI: 10.7717/peerj-pchem.8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
To assess the accuracy of different quantum mechanical methods for biochemical modeling, the reaction energies of 20 small model reactions (chosen to represent chemical steps catalyzed by commonly studied enzymes) were calculated. The methods tested included several popular Density Functional Theory (DFT) functionals, second-order Møller Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) and its spin-component scaled variant (SCS-MP2), and coupled cluster singles and doubles and perturbative triples (CCSD(T)). Different basis sets were tested. CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ results for all 20 reactions were used to benchmark the other methods. It was found that MP2 and SCS-MP2 reaction energy calculation results are similar in quality to CCSD(T) (mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.2 and 1.3 kcal mol−1, respectively). MP2 calculations gave a large error in one case, and are more subject to basis set effects, so in general SCS-MP2 calculations are a good choice when CCSD(T) calculations are not feasible. Results with different DFT functionals were of reasonably good quality (MAEs of 2.5–5.1 kcal mol−1), whereas popular semi-empirical methods (AM1, PM3, SCC-DFTB) gave much larger errors (MAEs of 11.6–14.6 kcal mol−1). These results should be useful in guiding methodological choices and assessing the accuracy of QM/MM calculations on enzyme-catalyzed reactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jitnapa Sirirak
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
| | - Narin Lawan
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
| | | | | | - Adrian J. Mulholland
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
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22
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Bensberg M, Neugebauer J. Orbital Alignment for Accurate Projection-Based Embedding Calculations along Reaction Paths. J Chem Theory Comput 2020; 16:3607-3619. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.0c00104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Moritz Bensberg
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 40, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Johannes Neugebauer
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 40, 48149 Münster, Germany
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23
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Jagger BR, Kochanek SE, Haldar S, Amaro RE, Mulholland AJ. Multiscale simulation approaches to modeling drug-protein binding. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2020; 61:213-221. [PMID: 32113133 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2020.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2019] [Revised: 01/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Simulations can provide detailed insight into the molecular processes involved in drug action, such as protein-ligand binding, and can therefore be a valuable tool for drug design and development. Processes with a large range of length and timescales may be involved, and understanding these different scales typically requires different types of simulation methodology. Ideally, simulations should be able to connect across scales, to analyze and predict how changes at one scale can influence another. Multiscale simulation methods, which combine different levels of treatment, are an emerging frontier with great potential in this area. Here we review multiscale frameworks of various types, and selected applications to biomolecular systems with a focus on drug-ligand binding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin R Jagger
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States
| | - Sarah E Kochanek
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States
| | - Susanta Haldar
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK
| | - Rommie E Amaro
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, United States.
| | - Adrian J Mulholland
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK.
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24
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Foglia NO, González Lebrero MC, Biekofsky RR, Estrin DA. Reaction Path Analysis from Potential Energy Contributions Using Forces: An Accessible Estimator of Reaction Coordinate Adequacy. J Chem Theory Comput 2020; 16:1618-1629. [PMID: 31999449 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.9b01081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The calculation of potential energy and free-energy profiles along complex chemical reactions or rare event processes is of great interest because of their importance for many areas in chemistry, molecular biology, and material science. One typical way to generate these profiles is to add a bias potential to modify the energy surface, which can act on a selected degree of freedom in the system. However, in these cases, the quality of the result is strongly dependent on the selection of the degree of freedom over which this bias potential acts. The present work introduces a simple method for the analysis of the degree of freedom selected to describe a chemical process. The proposed methodology is based on the decomposition of contributions to the potential energy profiles by the integration of forces along a reaction path, which allows evaluating the different contributions to the energy change. This could be useful for discriminating the contributions to the energy arising from different regions of the system, which is particularly useful in systems with complex environments that must be represented using hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics schemes. Furthermore, this methodology allows in generating a quick and simple analysis of the degree of freedom which is used to describe the potential energy profile associated with the reactive process. This is computationally more accessible than the corresponding free-energy profile and can therefore be used as a simple estimator of reaction coordinate adequacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolás O Foglia
- Departamento de Quı́mica Inorgánica, Analı́tica y Quı́mica Fı́sica/INQUIMAE-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pab. II, Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina
| | - Mariano C González Lebrero
- Departamento de Quı́mica Inorgánica, Analı́tica y Quı́mica Fı́sica/INQUIMAE-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pab. II, Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina
| | - Rodolfo R Biekofsky
- Moebius Research Ltd., Systems Biomedicine, 24 Chedworth House, West Green Rd, N15 5EH London, U.K
| | - Darío A Estrin
- Departamento de Quı́mica Inorgánica, Analı́tica y Quı́mica Fı́sica/INQUIMAE-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pab. II, Buenos Aires C1428EHA, Argentina
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25
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Nutho B, Mulholland AJ, Rungrotmongkol T. The reaction mechanism of Zika virus NS2B/NS3 serine protease inhibition by dipeptidyl aldehyde: a QM/MM study. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2019; 21:14945-14956. [PMID: 31236554 DOI: 10.1039/c9cp02377a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has become a global public health problem, associated with microcephaly in newborns and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. Currently, there are no commercially available anti-ZIKV drugs. The viral protease NS2B/NS3, which is involved in viral replication and maturation, is a potential drug target. Peptidomimetic aldehyde inhibitors bind covalently to the catalytic S135 of the NS3 protease. Here, we apply hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) free-energy simulations at the PDDG-PM3/ff14SB level to investigate the inhibition mechanism of the ZIKV protease by a dipeptidyl aldehyde inhibitor (acyl-KR-aldehyde). The results show that proton transfer from the catalytic S135 to H51 occurs in concert with nucleophilic addition on the aldehyde warhead by S135. The anionic covalent complex between the dipeptidyl aldehyde and the ZIKV protease is analogous to the tetrahedral intermediate for substrate hydrolysis. Spontaneous protonation by H51 forms the hemiacetal. In addition, we use correlated ab initio QM/MM potential energy path calculations at levels up to LCCSD(T)/(aug)-cc-pVTZ to obtain accurate potential energy profiles of the reaction, which also support a concerted mechanism. These results provide detailed insight into the mechanism of ZIKV protease inhibition by a peptidyl aldehyde inhibitor, which will guide in the design of inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bodee Nutho
- Program in Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
| | - Adrian J Mulholland
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.
| | - Thanyada Rungrotmongkol
- Biocatalyst and Environmental Biotechnology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. and Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
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26
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Bensberg M, Neugebauer J. Direct orbital selection for projection-based embedding. J Chem Phys 2019; 150:214106. [DOI: 10.1063/1.5099007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Moritz Bensberg
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 40, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Johannes Neugebauer
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 40, 48149 Münster, Germany
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27
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Wahab HA, Amaro RE, Cournia Z. A Celebration of Women in Computational Chemistry. J Chem Inf Model 2019; 59:1683-1692. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Rommie E. Amaro
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, 3234 Urey Hall, #0340, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0340, United States
| | - Zoe Cournia
- Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
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28
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Bensberg M, Neugebauer J. Automatic basis-set adaptation in projection-based embedding. J Chem Phys 2019; 150:184104. [DOI: 10.1063/1.5084550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Moritz Bensberg
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 40, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Johannes Neugebauer
- Theoretische Organische Chemie, Organisch-Chemisches Institut and Center for Multiscale Theory and Computation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstraße 40, 48149 Münster, Germany
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