1
|
Reinhardt CR, Manetsch MT, Li WL, Román-Leshkov Y, Head-Gordon T, Kulik HJ. Computational Screening of Putative Catalyst Transition Metal Complexes as Guests in a Ga 4L 612- Nanocage. Inorg Chem 2024; 63:14609-14622. [PMID: 39049593 DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c02113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/27/2024]
Abstract
Metal-organic cages form well-defined microenvironments that can enhance the catalytic proficiency of encapsulated transition metal complexes (TMCs). We introduce a screening protocol to efficiently identify TMCs that are promising candidates for encapsulation in the Ga4L612- nanocage. We obtain TMCs from the Cambridge Structural Database with geometric and electronic characteristics amenable to encapsulation and mine the text of associated manuscripts to curate TMCs with documented catalytic functionality. By docking candidate TMCs inside the nanocage cavity and carrying out electronic structure calculations, we identify a subset of successfully optimized candidates (TMC-34) and observe that encapsulated guests occupy an average of 60% of the cavity volume, in line with previous observations. Notably, some guests occupy as much as 72% of the cavity as a result of linker rotation. Encapsulation has a universal effect on the electrostatic potential (ESP), systematically decreasing the ESP at the metal center of each TMC in the TMC-34 data set, while minimally altering TMC metal partial charges. Collectively these observations support geometry-based screening of potential guests and suggest that encapsulation in Ga4L612- cages could electrostatically stabilize diverse cationic or electropositive intermediates. We highlight candidate guests with associated known reactivity and solubility most amenable for encapsulation in experimental follow-up studies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Clorice R Reinhardt
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Melissa T Manetsch
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Wan-Lu Li
- Kenneth S. Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Yuriy Román-Leshkov
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Teresa Head-Gordon
- Kenneth S. Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Heather J Kulik
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Capone M, Romanelli M, Castaldo D, Parolin G, Bello A, Gil G, Vanzan M. A Vision for the Future of Multiscale Modeling. ACS PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY AU 2024; 4:202-225. [PMID: 38800726 PMCID: PMC11117712 DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.3c00080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
The rise of modern computer science enabled physical chemistry to make enormous progresses in understanding and harnessing natural and artificial phenomena. Nevertheless, despite the advances achieved over past decades, computational resources are still insufficient to thoroughly simulate extended systems from first principles. Indeed, countless biological, catalytic and photophysical processes require ab initio treatments to be properly described, but the breadth of length and time scales involved makes it practically unfeasible. A way to address these issues is to couple theories and algorithms working at different scales by dividing the system into domains treated at different levels of approximation, ranging from quantum mechanics to classical molecular dynamics, even including continuum electrodynamics. This approach is known as multiscale modeling and its use over the past 60 years has led to remarkable results. Considering the rapid advances in theory, algorithm design, and computing power, we believe multiscale modeling will massively grow into a dominant research methodology in the forthcoming years. Hereby we describe the main approaches developed within its realm, highlighting their achievements and current drawbacks, eventually proposing a plausible direction for future developments considering also the emergence of new computational techniques such as machine learning and quantum computing. We then discuss how advanced multiscale modeling methods could be exploited to address critical scientific challenges, focusing on the simulation of complex light-harvesting processes, such as natural photosynthesis. While doing so, we suggest a cutting-edge computational paradigm consisting in performing simultaneous multiscale calculations on a system allowing the various domains, treated with appropriate accuracy, to move and extend while they properly interact with each other. Although this vision is very ambitious, we believe the quick development of computer science will lead to both massive improvements and widespread use of these techniques, resulting in enormous progresses in physical chemistry and, eventually, in our society.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Capone
- Department
of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University
of L’Aquila, L’Aquila 67010, Italy
| | - Marco Romanelli
- Department
of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova 35131, Italy
| | - Davide Castaldo
- Department
of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova 35131, Italy
| | - Giovanni Parolin
- Department
of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova 35131, Italy
| | - Alessandro Bello
- Department
of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova 35131, Italy
- Department
of Physics, Informatics and Mathematics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena 41125, Italy
| | - Gabriel Gil
- Department
of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova 35131, Italy
- Instituto
de Cibernética, Matemática y Física (ICIMAF), La Habana 10400, Cuba
| | - Mirko Vanzan
- Department
of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova 35131, Italy
- Department
of Physics, University of Milano, Milano 20133, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Nochebuena J, Liu S, Cisneros GA. Relative cooperativity in neutral and charged molecular clusters using QM/MM calculations. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:134301. [PMID: 38557841 DOI: 10.1063/5.0203020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
QM/MM methods have been used to study electronic structure properties and chemical reactivity in complex molecular systems where direct electronic structure calculations are not feasible. In our previous work, we showed that non-polarizable force fields, by design, describe intermolecular interactions through pairwise interactions, overlooking many-body interactions involving three or more particles. In contrast, polarizable force fields account partially for many-body effects through polarization, but still handle van der Waals and permanent electrostatic interactions pairwise. We showed that despite those limitations, polarizable and non-polarizable force fields can reproduce relative cooperativity achieved using density functional theory due to error compensation mechanisms. In this contribution, we assess the performance of QM/MM methods in reproducing these phenomena. Our study highlights the significance of the QM region size and force field choice in QM/MM calculations, emphasizing the importance of parameter validation to obtain accurate interaction energy predictions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jorge Nochebuena
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA
| | - Shubin Liu
- Research Computing Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
| | - G Andrés Cisneros
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Ding Y, Huang J. DP/MM: A Hybrid Model for Zinc-Protein Interactions in Molecular Dynamics. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:616-627. [PMID: 38198685 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c03158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
Zinc-containing proteins are vital for many biological processes, yet accurately modeling them using classical force fields is hindered by complicated polarization and charge transfer effects. This study introduces DP/MM, a hybrid force field scheme that utilizes a deep potential model to correct the atomic forces of zinc ions and their coordinated atoms, elevating them from MM to QM levels of accuracy. Trained on the difference between MM and QM atomic forces across diverse zinc coordination groups, the DP/MM model faithfully reproduces structural characteristics of zinc coordination during simulations, such as the tetrahedral coordination of Cys4 and Cys3His1 groups. Furthermore, DP/MM allows water exchange in the zinc coordination environment. With its unique blend of accuracy, efficiency, flexibility, and transferability, DP/MM serves as a valuable tool for studying structures and dynamics of zinc-containing proteins and also represents a pioneering approach in the evolving landscape of machine learning potentials for molecular modeling.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ye Ding
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China
- School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
- Westlake AI Therapeutics Lab, Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
| | - Jing Huang
- School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
- Westlake AI Therapeutics Lab, Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Wang JN, Xue Y, Li P, Pan X, Wang M, Shao Y, Mo Y, Mei Y. Perspective: Reference-Potential Methods for the Study of Thermodynamic Properties in Chemical Processes: Theory, Applications, and Pitfalls. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:4866-4875. [PMID: 37196031 PMCID: PMC10840091 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
In silico investigations of enzymatic reactions and chemical reactions in condensed phases often suffer from formidable computational costs due to a large number of degrees of freedom and enormous important volume in phase space. Usually, accuracy must be compromised to trade for efficiency by lowering the reliability of the Hamiltonians employed or reducing the sampling time. Reference-potential methods (RPMs) offer an alternative approach to reaching high accuracy of simulation without much loss of efficiency. In this Perspective, we summarize the idea of RPMs and showcase some recent applications. Most importantly, the pitfalls of these methods are also discussed, and remedies to these pitfalls are presented.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jia-Ning Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Yuanfei Xue
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Pengfei Li
- Single Particle, LLC, San Diego 92127, California, United States
| | - Xiaoliang Pan
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman 73019, Oklahoma, United States
| | - Meiting Wang
- School of Medical Engineering, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan, China
| | - Yihan Shao
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman 73019, Oklahoma, United States
| | - Yan Mo
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
- NYU-ECNU Center for Computational Chemistry at NYU Shanghai, Shanghai 200062, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China
| | - Ye Mei
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
- NYU-ECNU Center for Computational Chemistry at NYU Shanghai, Shanghai 200062, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Brandt F, Jacob CR. Efficient automatic construction of atom-economical QM regions with point-charge variation analysis. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:14484-14495. [PMID: 37190855 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp01263h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
The setup of QM/MM calculations is not trivial since many decisions have to be made by the simulation scientist to achieve reasonable and consistent results. The main challenge to be tackled is the construction of the QM region to make sure to take into account all important parts of the adjacent environment and exclude less important ones. In our previous work [F. Brandt and Ch. R. Jacob, Systematic QM Region Construction in QM/MM Calculations Based on Uncertainty Quantification, J. Chem. Theory Comput., 2022, 18, 2584-2596.], we introduced the point charge variation analysis (PCVA) as a simple and reliable tool to systematically construct QM regions based on the sensitivity of the reaction energy with respect to variations of the MM point charges. Here, we assess several simplified variants of this PCVA approach for the example of catechol O-methyltransferase and apply PCVA for another system, the triosephosphate isomerase. Furthermore, we extend its scope by applying it to a DNA system. Our results indicate that PCVA offers an efficient and versatile approach of the automatic construction of atom-economical QM regions, but also identify possible pitfalls and limitations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Felix Brandt
- Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Gaußstraße 17, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany.
| | - Christoph R Jacob
- Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Gaußstraße 17, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Kubař T, Elstner M, Cui Q. Hybrid Quantum Mechanical/Molecular Mechanical Methods For Studying Energy Transduction in Biomolecular Machines. Annu Rev Biophys 2023; 52:525-551. [PMID: 36791746 PMCID: PMC10810093 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-111622-091140] [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] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Abstract
Hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods have become indispensable tools for the study of biomolecules. In this article, we briefly review the basic methodological details of QM/MM approaches and discuss their applications to various energy transduction problems in biomolecular machines, such as long-range proton transports, fast electron transfers, and mechanochemical coupling. We highlight the particular importance for these applications of balancing computational efficiency and accuracy. Using several recent examples, we illustrate the value and limitations of QM/MM methodologies for both ground and excited states, as well as strategies for calibrating them in specific applications. We conclude with brief comments on several areas that can benefit from further efforts to make QM/MM analyses more quantitative and applicable to increasingly complex biological problems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- T Kubař
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany;
| | - M Elstner
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany;
- Institute of Biological Interfaces (IBG-2), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany;
| | - Q Cui
- Department of Chemistry, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA;
- Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Csizi K, Reiher M. Universal
QM
/
MM
approaches for general nanoscale applications. WIRES COMPUTATIONAL MOLECULAR SCIENCE 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/wcms.1656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Markus Reiher
- Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie ETH Zürich Zürich Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Jiang Y, Stull SL, Shao Q, Yang ZJ. Convergence in determining enzyme functional descriptors across Kemp eliminase variants. ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE (BRISTOL, ENGLAND) 2022; 4:044007. [PMID: 37425623 PMCID: PMC10327861 DOI: 10.1088/2516-1075/acad51] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/11/2023]
Abstract
Molecular simulations have been extensively employed to accelerate biocatalytic discoveries. Enzyme functional descriptors derived from molecular simulations have been leveraged to guide the search for beneficial enzyme mutants. However, the ideal active-site region size for computing the descriptors over multiple enzyme variants remains untested. Here, we conducted convergence tests for dynamics-derived and electrostatic descriptors on 18 Kemp eliminase variants across six active-site regions with various boundary distances to the substrate. The tested descriptors include the root-mean-square deviation of the active-site region, the solvent accessible surface area ratio between the substrate and active site, and the projection of the electric field (EF) on the breaking C-H bond. All descriptors were evaluated using molecular mechanics methods. To understand the effects of electronic structure, the EF was also evaluated using quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics methods. The descriptor values were computed for 18 Kemp eliminase variants. Spearman correlation matrices were used to determine the region size condition under which further expansion of the region boundary does not substantially change the ranking of descriptor values. We observed that protein dynamics-derived descriptors, including RMSDactive_site and SASAratio, converge at a distance cutoff of 5 Å from the substrate. The electrostatic descriptor, EFC-H, converges at 6 Å using molecular mechanics methods with truncated enzyme models and 4 Å using quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics methods with whole enzyme model. This study serves as a future reference to determine descriptors for predictive modeling of enzyme engineering.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yaoyukun Jiang
- Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, United States of America
| | - Sebastian L Stull
- Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, United States of America
| | - Qianzhen Shao
- Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, United States of America
| | - Zhongyue J Yang
- Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, United States of America
- Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, United States of America
- Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, United States of America
- Data Science Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, United States of America
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Chen J, Harper JB, Ho J. Improving the Accuracy of Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) Models with Polarized Fragment Charges. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:5607-5617. [PMID: 35952004 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00491] [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
This paper introduces an economical approach for improving the accuracy and convergence of quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) models. The approach is tested on a series of neutral and charged amino acids embedded in a 160-water cluster, where their intramolecular proton transfer energies (neutral amino acid → zwitterionic amino acid) were previously obtained at the ωB97X-D/6-31G(d) level of theory. When the charges on the MM atoms were replaced with those obtained at the same QM level of theory used to treat the QM atoms, this significantly improved the accuracy and convergence of the QM/MM models. In particular, the QM/MM model converged to within 1.4 kcal mol-1 of directly calculated DFT energies for smaller (by as many as 20 waters) QM regions. The use of atomic charges obtained from the natural population analysis yielded the most significant improvement, while other charge schemes such as Mulliken, electrostatic potential, or CM5 led to poorer outcomes. It is further demonstrated that the QM atomic charges can be accurately estimated in a highly efficient manner using an iterative fragmentation approach based on the moving-domain QM/MM method. Similar observations were made when the approach was used to predict the barrier of an SN2 reaction. Thus, the use of QM-quality atomic charges on MM atoms represents a simple and easy-to-implement strategy for improving the accuracy of QM/MM models.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Junbo Chen
- School of Chemistry, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
| | - Jason B Harper
- School of Chemistry, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
| | - Junming Ho
- School of Chemistry, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Nazemi A, Steeves AH, Kastner DW, Kulik HJ. Influence of the Greater Protein Environment on the Electrostatic Potential in Metalloenzyme Active Sites: The Case of Formate Dehydrogenase. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:4069-4079. [PMID: 35609244 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c02260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The Mo/W-containing metalloenzyme formate dehydrogenase (FDH) is an efficient and selective natural catalyst that reversibly converts CO2 to formate under ambient conditions. In this study, we investigate the impact of the greater protein environment on the electrostatic potential (ESP) of the active site. To model the enzyme environment, we used a combination of classical molecular dynamics and multiscale quantum-mechanical (QM)/molecular-mechanical (MM) simulations. We leverage charge shift analysis to systematically construct QM regions and analyze the electronic environment of the active site by evaluating the degree of charge transfer between the core active site and the protein environment. The contribution of the terminal chalcogen ligand to the ESP of the metal center is substantial and dependent on the chalcogen identity, with similar, less negative ESPs for Se and S terminal chalcogens in comparison to O regardless of whether the metal is Mo or W. The orientation of the side chains and conformations of the cofactor also affect the ESP, highlighting the importance of sampling dynamic fluctuations in the protein. Overall, our observations suggest that the terminal chalcogen ligand identity plays an important role in the enzymatic activity of FDH, suggesting opportunities for a rational bioinspired catalyst design.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Azadeh Nazemi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Adam H Steeves
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - David W Kastner
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.,Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Heather J Kulik
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Brandt F, Jacob CR. Systematic QM Region Construction in QM/MM Calculations Based on Uncertainty Quantification. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:2584-2596. [PMID: 35271768 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c01093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
While QM/MM studies of enzymatic reactions are widely used in computational chemistry, the results of such studies are subject to numerous sources of uncertainty, and the effect of different choices by the simulation scientist that are required when setting up QM/MM calculations is often unclear. In particular, the selection of the QM region is crucial for obtaining accurate and reliable results. Simply including amino acids by their distance to the active site is mostly not sufficient as necessary residues are missing or unimportant residues are included without evidence. Here, we take a first step toward quantifying uncertainties in QM/MM calculations by assessing the sensitivity of QM/MM reaction energies with respect to variations of the MM point charges. We show that such a point charge variation analysis (PCVA) can be employed to judge the accuracy of QM/MM reaction energies obtained with a selected QM region and devise a protocol to systematically construct QM regions that minimize this uncertainty. We apply such a PCVA to the example of catechol O-methyltransferase and demonstrate that it provides a simple and reliable approach for the construction of the QM region. Our PCVA-based scheme is computationally efficient and requires only calculations for a system with a minimal QM region. Our work highlights the promise of applying methods of uncertainty quantification in computational chemistry.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Felix Brandt
- Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Gaußstr. 17, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Christoph R Jacob
- Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Gaußstr. 17, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Demapan D, Kussmann J, Ochsenfeld C, Cui Q. Factors That Determine the Variation of Equilibrium and Kinetic Properties of QM/MM Enzyme Simulations: QM Region, Conformation, and Boundary Condition. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:2530-2542. [PMID: 35226489 PMCID: PMC9652774 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
To analyze the impact of various technical details on the results of quantum mechanical (QM)/molecular mechanical (MM) enzyme simulations, including the QM region size, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is studied as a model system using an approximate QM/MM method (DFTB3/CHARMM). The results show that key equilibrium and kinetic properties for methyl transfer in COMT exhibit limited variations with respect to the size of the QM region, which ranges from ∼100 to ∼500 atoms in this study. With extensive sampling, local and global structural characteristics of the enzyme are largely conserved across the studied QM regions, while the nature of the transition state (e.g., secondary kinetic isotope effect) and reaction exergonicity are largely maintained. Deviations in the free energy profile with different QM region sizes are similar in magnitude to those observed with changes in other simulation protocols, such as different initial enzyme conformations and boundary conditions. Electronic structural properties, such as the covariance matrix of residual charge fluctuations, appear to exhibit rather long-range correlations, especially when the peptide backbone is included in the QM region; this observation holds when a range-separated DFT approach is used as the QM region, suggesting that delocalization error is unlikely the origin. Overall, the analyses suggest that multiple simulation details determine the results of QM/MM enzyme simulations with comparable contributions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Darren Demapan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Munich (LMU), Butenandtstr. 7 (C), D-81377 Munich, Germany.,Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Jörg Kussmann
- Department of Chemistry, University of Munich (LMU), Butenandtstr. 7 (C), D-81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Christian Ochsenfeld
- Department of Chemistry, University of Munich (LMU), Butenandtstr. 7 (C), D-81377 Munich, Germany
| | - Qiang Cui
- Departments of Chemistry, Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Taguchi M, Oyama R, Kaneso M, Hayashi S. Hybrid QM/MM Free-Energy Evaluation of Drug-Resistant Mutational Effect on the Binding of an Inhibitor Indinavir to HIV-1 Protease. J Chem Inf Model 2022; 62:1328-1344. [PMID: 35212226 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c01193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
A human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) protease is a homodimeric aspartic protease essential for the replication of HIV. The HIV-1 protease is a target protein in drug discovery for antiretroviral therapy, and various inhibitor molecules of transition state analogues have been developed. However, serious drug-resistant mutants have emerged. For understanding the molecular mechanism of the drug resistance, an accurate examination of the impacts of the mutations on ligand binding and enzymatic activity is necessary. Here, we present a molecular simulation study on the ligand binding of indinavir, a potent transition state analogue inhibitor, to the wild-type protein and a V82T/I84V drug-resistant mutant of the HIV-1 protease. We employed a hybrid ab initio quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) free-energy optimization technique which combines a highly accurate QM description of the ligand molecule and its interaction with statistically ample conformational sampling of the MM protein environment by long-time molecular dynamics simulations. Through the free-energy calculations of protonation states of catalytic groups at the binding pocket and of the ligand-binding affinity changes upon the mutations, we successfully reproduced the experimentally observed significant reduction of the binding affinity upon the drug-resistant mutations and elucidated the underlying molecular mechanism. The present study opens the way for understanding the molecular mechanism of drug resistance through the direct quantitative comparison of ligand binding and enzymatic reaction with the same accuracy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Masahiko Taguchi
- Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.,Institute for Quantum Life Science, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Kizugawa, Kyoto 619-0215, Japan
| | - Ryo Oyama
- Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Masahiro Kaneso
- Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Shigehiko Hayashi
- Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Mehmood R, Kulik HJ. Quantum-Mechanical/Molecular-Mechanical (QM/MM) Simulations for Understanding Enzyme Dynamics. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2397:227-248. [PMID: 34813067 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1826-4_12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods have become widely used for computational modeling of enzyme structure and mechanism. In these approaches, a portion of the enzyme of great interest (e.g., where a chemical reaction is occurring) is treated with QM, whereas the surrounding region is treated with MM. A critical challenge with these methods is the choice of the region to partition into QM and which to treat with MM along with numerous practical choices that must be made at each step of the modeling procedure. Here, we attempt to simplify this process by describing the steps involved in preparing protein structures, choosing the appropriate QM region size and electronic structure methods, preparing all necessary input files, and troubleshooting common errors for QM/MM simulations of enzymes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rimsha Mehmood
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Heather J Kulik
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Liu M, Nazemi A, Taylor MG, Nandy A, Duan C, Steeves AH, Kulik HJ. Large-Scale Screening Reveals That Geometric Structure Matters More Than Electronic Structure in the Bioinspired Catalyst Design of Formate Dehydrogenase Mimics. ACS Catal 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.1c04624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Mingjie Liu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Azadeh Nazemi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Michael G. Taylor
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Aditya Nandy
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Chenru Duan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Adam H. Steeves
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Heather J. Kulik
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Medina FE, Jaña GA. QM/MM Study of a VIM-1 Metallo-β-Lactamase Enzyme: The Catalytic Reaction Mechanism. ACS Catal 2021. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.1c04786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fabiola E. Medina
- Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Autopista Concepción-Talcahuano, 7100 Talcahuano, Chile
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Bío-Bío, 4051381 Concepción, Chile
| | - Gonzalo A. Jaña
- Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Autopista Concepción-Talcahuano, 7100 Talcahuano, Chile
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Yagi K, Re S, Mori T, Sugita Y. Weight average approaches for predicting dynamical properties of biomolecules. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2021; 72:88-94. [PMID: 34592697 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2021.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Revised: 08/21/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Recent advances in atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of biomolecules allow us to explore their conformational spaces widely, observing large-scale conformational fluctuations or transitions between distinct structures. To reproduce or refine experimental data using MD simulations, structure ensembles, which are characterized by multiple structures and their statistical weights on the rugged free-energy landscapes, are often used. Here, we summarize weight average approaches for various experimental measurements. Weight average approaches are now applied to hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics MD simulations to predict fast vibrational motions in a protein with a high accuracy for better understanding of molecular functions from atomic structures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kiyoshi Yagi
- RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Suyong Re
- RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-6-5 Minatojima-Minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan; Artificial Intelligence Center for Health and Biomedical Research, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health, and Nutrition 7-6-8, Saito-Asagi, Ibaraki, Osaka, 567-0085, Japan
| | - Takaharu Mori
- RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Yuji Sugita
- RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-6-5 Minatojima-Minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan; RIKEN Center for Computational Science, 7-1-26 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan.
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Yagi K, Sugita Y. Anharmonic Vibrational Calculations Based on Group-Localized Coordinates: Applications to Internal Water Molecules in Bacteriorhodopsin. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:5007-5020. [PMID: 34296615 PMCID: PMC10986902 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
An efficient anharmonic vibrational method is developed exploiting the locality of molecular vibration. Vibrational coordinates localized to a group of atoms are employed to divide the potential energy surface (PES) of a system into intra- and inter-group contributions. Then, the vibrational Schrödinger equation is solved based on a PES, in which the inter-group coupling is truncated at the harmonic level while accounting for the intra-group anharmonicity. The method is applied to a pentagonal hydrogen bond network (HBN) composed of internal water molecules and charged residues in a membrane protein, bacteriorhodopsin. The PES is calculated by the quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculation at the level of B3LYP-D3/aug-cc-pVDZ. The infrared (IR) spectrum is computed using a set of coordinates localized to each water molecule and amino acid residue by second-order vibrational quasi-degenerate perturbation theory (VQDPT2). Benchmark calculations show that the proposed method yields the N-D/O-D stretching frequencies with an error of 7 cm-1 at the cost reduced by more than five times. In contrast, the harmonic approximation results in a severe error of 150 cm-1. Furthermore, the size of QM regions is carefully assessed to find that the QM regions should include not only the pentagonal HBN itself but also its HB partners. VQDPT2 calculations starting from transient structures obtained by molecular dynamics simulations have shown that the structural sampling has a significant impact on the calculated IR spectrum. The incorporation of anharmonicity, sufficiently large QM regions, and structural samplings are of essential importance to reproduce the experimental IR spectrum. The computational spectrum paves the way for decoding the IR signal of strong HBNs and helps elucidate their functional roles in biomolecules.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kiyoshi Yagi
- Theoretical
Molecular Science Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster
for Pioneering Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
| | - Yuji Sugita
- Theoretical
Molecular Science Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster
for Pioneering Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
- Computational
Biophysics Research Team, RIKEN Center for
Computational Science, 7-1-26 Minatojima-Minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan
- Laboratory
for Biomolecular Function Simulation, RIKEN
Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-6-5 Minatojima-Minamimachi,
Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Harder, better, faster, stronger: Large-scale QM and QM/MM for predictive modeling in enzymes and proteins. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2021; 72:9-17. [PMID: 34388673 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2021.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Computational prediction of enzyme mechanism and protein function requires accurate physics-based models and suitable sampling. We discuss recent advances in large-scale quantum mechanical (QM) modeling of biochemical systems that have reduced the cost of high-accuracy models. Tradeoffs between sampling and accuracy have motivated modeling with molecular mechanics (MM) in a multiscale QM/MM or iterative approach. Limitations to both conventional density-functional theory and classical MM force fields remain for describing noncovalent interactions in comparison to experiment or wavefunction theory. Because predictions of enzyme action (i.e. electrostatics), free energy barriers, and mechanisms are sensitive to the protocol and embedding method in QM/MM, convergence tests and systematic methods for quantifying QM-level interactions are a needed, active area of development.
Collapse
|
21
|
Cheng Q, DeYonker NJ. QM-Cluster Model Study of the Guaiacol Hydrogen Atom Transfer and Oxygen Rebound with Cytochrome P450 Enzyme GcoA. J Phys Chem B 2021; 125:3296-3306. [PMID: 33784103 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c10761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The key step of the O-demethylation of guaiacol by GcoA of the cytochrome P450-reductase pair was studied with DFT using two 10-residue and three 15-residue QM-cluster models. For each model, two reaction pathways were examined, beginning with a different guaiacol orientation. Based on this study, His354, Phe349, Glu249, and Pro250 residues were found to be important for keeping the heme in a planar geometry throughout the reaction. Val241 and Gly245 residues were needed in the QM-cluster models to provide the hydrophobic pocket for an appropriate guaiacol pose in the reaction. The aromatic triad Phe75, Phe169, and Phe395 may be necessary to facilitate guaiacol migrating into the enzyme active site, but it does not qualitatively affect kinetics and thermodynamics of the proposed mechanism. All QM-cluster models created by RINRUS agree very well with previous experimental work. This study provides details for better understanding enzymatic O-demethylation of lignins to form catechol derivatives by GcoA.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qianyi Cheng
- Department of Chemistry, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38152, United States
| | - Nathan J DeYonker
- Department of Chemistry, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38152, United States
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Wang JN, Liu W, Li P, Mo Y, Hu W, Zheng J, Pan X, Shao Y, Mei Y. Accelerated Computation of Free Energy Profile at Ab Initio Quantum Mechanical/Molecular Mechanics Accuracy via a Semiempirical Reference Potential. 4. Adaptive QM/MM. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:1318-1325. [PMID: 33593057 PMCID: PMC8335528 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.0c01149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Although quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods are now routinely applied to the studies of chemical reactions in condensed phases and enzymatic reactions, they may experience technical difficulties when the reactive region is varying over time. For instance, when the solvent molecules are directly participating in the reaction, the exchange of water molecules between the QM and MM regions may occur on a time scale comparable to the reaction time. To cope with this situation, several adaptive QM/MM schemes have been proposed. However, these methods either add significantly to the computational cost or introduce artificial restraints to the system. In this work, we developed a novel adaptive QM/MM scheme and applied it to the study of a nucleophilic addition reaction. In this scheme, the configuration sampling was performed with a small QM region (without solvent molecules), and the thermodynamic properties under another potential energy function with a larger QM region (with a certain number of solvent molecules and/or different levels of QM theory) are computed via extrapolation using the reference-potential method. Our simulation results show that this adaptive QM/MM scheme is numerically stable, at least for the case studied in this work. Furthermore, this method also offers an inexpensive way to examine the convergence of the QM/MM calculation with respect to the size of the QM region.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jia-Ning Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Wei Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Pengfei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Yan Mo
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
- NYU-ECNU Center for Computational Chemistry at NYU Shanghai, Shanghai 200062, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030006, China
| | - Wenxin Hu
- The Computer Center, School of Data Science & Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Jun Zheng
- The Computer Center, School of Data Science & Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Xiaoliang Pan
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States
| | - Yihan Shao
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States
| | - Ye Mei
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
- NYU-ECNU Center for Computational Chemistry at NYU Shanghai, Shanghai 200062, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030006, China
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Abstract
QM/MM simulations have become an indispensable tool in many chemical and biochemical investigations. Considering the tremendous degree of success, including recognition by a 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, are there still "burning challenges" in QM/MM methods, especially for biomolecular systems? In this short Perspective, we discuss several issues that we believe greatly impact the robustness and quantitative applicability of QM/MM simulations to many, if not all, biomolecules. We highlight these issues with observations and relevant advances from recent studies in our group and others in the field. Despite such limited scope, we hope the discussions are of general interest and will stimulate additional developments that help push the field forward in meaningful directions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Cui
- Departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
| | - Tanmoy Pal
- Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
| | - Luke Xie
- Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Vennelakanti V, Qi HW, Mehmood R, Kulik HJ. When are two hydrogen bonds better than one? Accurate first-principles models explain the balance of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors found in proteins. Chem Sci 2021; 12:1147-1162. [PMID: 35382134 PMCID: PMC8908278 DOI: 10.1039/d0sc05084a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/18/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Hydrogen bonds (HBs) play an essential role in the structure and catalytic action of enzymes, but a complete understanding of HBs in proteins challenges the resolution of modern structural (i.e., X-ray diffraction) techniques and mandates computationally demanding electronic structure methods from correlated wavefunction theory for predictive accuracy. Numerous amino acid sidechains contain functional groups (e.g., hydroxyls in Ser/Thr or Tyr and amides in Asn/Gln) that can act as either HB acceptors or donors (HBA/HBD) and even form simultaneous, ambifunctional HB interactions. To understand the relative energetic benefit of each interaction, we characterize the potential energy surfaces of representative model systems with accurate coupled cluster theory calculations. To reveal the relationship of these energetics to the balance of these interactions in proteins, we curate a set of 4000 HBs, of which >500 are ambifunctional HBs, in high-resolution protein structures. We show that our model systems accurately predict the favored HB structural properties. Differences are apparent in HBA/HBD preference for aromatic Tyr versus aliphatic Ser/Thr hydroxyls because Tyr forms significantly stronger O–H⋯O HBs than N–H⋯O HBs in contrast to comparable strengths of the two for Ser/Thr. Despite this residue-specific distinction, all models of residue pairs indicate an energetic benefit for simultaneous HBA and HBD interactions in an ambifunctional HB. Although the stabilization is less than the additive maximum due both to geometric constraints and many-body electronic effects, a wide range of ambifunctional HB geometries are more favorable than any single HB interaction. Correlated wavefunction theory predicts and high-resolution crystal structure analysis confirms the important, stabilizing effect of simultaneous hydrogen bond donor and acceptor interactions in proteins.![]()
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vyshnavi Vennelakanti
- Department of Chemical Engineering
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Cambridge
- USA
- Department of Chemistry
| | - Helena W. Qi
- Department of Chemical Engineering
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Cambridge
- USA
- Department of Chemistry
| | - Rimsha Mehmood
- Department of Chemical Engineering
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Cambridge
- USA
- Department of Chemistry
| | - Heather J. Kulik
- Department of Chemical Engineering
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Cambridge
- USA
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Raucci U, Chiariello MG, Rega N. Modeling Excited-State Proton Transfer to Solvent: A Dynamics Study of a Super Photoacid with a Hybrid Implicit/Explicit Solvent Model. J Chem Theory Comput 2020; 16:7033-7043. [PMID: 33112132 PMCID: PMC8016186 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.0c00782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
![]()
The rapid growth of time-resolved
spectroscopies and the theoretical
advances in ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) pave the way to look
at the real-time molecular motion following the electronic excitation.
Here, we exploited the capabilities of AIMD combined with a hybrid
implicit/explicit model of solvation to investigate the ultrafast
excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) reaction of a super photoacid,
known as QCy9, in water solution. QCy9 transfers a proton to a water
solvent molecule within 100 fs upon the electronic excitation in aqueous
solution, and it is the strongest photoacid reported in the literature
so far. Because of the ultrafast kinetics, it has been experimentally
hypothesized that the ESPT escapes the solvent dynamics control (Huppert
et al., J. Photochem. Photobiol. A2014,277, 90). The sampling of the solvent configuration
space on the ground electronic state is the first key step toward
the simulation of the ESPT event. Therefore, several configurations
in the Franck–Condon region, describing an average solvation,
were chosen as starting points for the excited-state dynamics. In
all cases, the excited-state evolution spontaneously leads to the
proton transfer event, whose rate is strongly dependent on the hydrogen
bond network around the proton acceptor solvent molecule. Our study
revealed that the explicit representation at least of three solvation
shells around the proton acceptor molecule is necessary to stabilize
the excess proton. Furthermore, the analysis of the solvent molecule
motions in proximity of the reaction site suggested that even in the
case of the strongest photoacid, the ESPT is actually assisted by
the solvation dynamics of the first and second solvation shells of
the water accepting molecule.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Umberto Raucci
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S.Angelo, via Cintia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
| | - Maria Gabriella Chiariello
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S.Angelo, via Cintia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy
| | - Nadia Rega
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di M.S.Angelo, via Cintia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy.,CRIB, Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sui Biomateriali, Piazzale Tecchio, I-80125 Napoli, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Klajman K, Dybala-Defratyka A, Paneth P. Computational Investigations of Position-Specific Vapor Pressure Isotope Effects in Ethanol-Toward More Powerful Isotope Models for Food Forensics. ACS OMEGA 2020; 5:18499-18506. [PMID: 32743228 PMCID: PMC7393642 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c02446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2020] [Accepted: 07/01/2020] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
With the advent of new experimental techniques, measurements of individual, per-position, vapor pressure isotope effects (VPIEs) became possible. Frequently, they are in opposite directions (larger and smaller than unity), leading to the cancellation when only bulk values are determined. This progress has not been yet paralleled by the theoretical description of phase change processes that would allow for computational prediction of the values of these isotope effects. Herein, we present the first computational protocol that allowed us to predict carbon VPIEs for ethanol-the molecule of great importance in authentication protocols that rely on the precise information about position-specific isotopic composition. Only the model comprising explicit treatment of the surrounding first-shell molecules provided good agreement with the measured values of isotope effects. Additionally, we find that the internal vibrations of molecules of the model to predict isotope effects work better than the entire set of normal modes of the system.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kamila Klajman
- Institute
of Applied Radiation Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, Zeromskiego 116, 90-924 Lodz, Poland
- Product
Authentication Laboratory, Bionanopark Ltd., Dubois 114/116, 93-465 Lodz, Poland
| | - Agnieszka Dybala-Defratyka
- Institute
of Applied Radiation Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, Zeromskiego 116, 90-924 Lodz, Poland
| | - Piotr Paneth
- Institute
of Applied Radiation Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, Zeromskiego 116, 90-924 Lodz, Poland
| |
Collapse
|