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Lagardère L, Maurin L, Adjoua O, El Hage K, Monmarché P, Piquemal JP, Hénin J. Lambda-ABF: Simplified, Portable, Accurate, and Cost-Effective Alchemical Free-Energy Computation. J Chem Theory Comput 2024; 20:4481-4498. [PMID: 38805379 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c01249] [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
We introduce the lambda-Adaptive Biasing Force (lambda-ABF) method for the computation of alchemical free-energy differences. We propose a software implementation and showcase it on biomolecular systems. The method arises from coupling multiple-walker adaptive biasing force with λ-dynamics. The sampling of the alchemical variable is continuous and converges toward a uniform distribution, making manual optimization of the λ schedule unnecessary. Contrary to most other approaches, alchemical free-energy estimates are obtained immediately without any postprocessing. Free diffusion of λ improves orthogonal relaxation compared to fixed-λ thermodynamic integration or free-energy perturbation. Furthermore, multiple walkers provide generic orthogonal space coverage with minimal user input and negligible computational overhead. We show that our high-performance implementations coupling the Colvars library with NAMD and Tinker-HP can address real-world cases including ligand-receptor binding with both fixed-charge and polarizable models, with a demonstrably richer sampling than fixed-λ methods. The implementation is fully open-source, publicly available, and readily usable by practitioners of current alchemical methods. Thanks to the portable Colvars library, lambda-ABF presents a unified user interface regardless of the back-end (NAMD, Tinker-HP, or any software to be interfaced in the future), sparing users the effort of learning multiple interfaces. Finally, the Colvars Dashboard extension of the visual molecular dynamics (VMD) software provides an interactive monitoring and diagnostic tool for lambda-ABF simulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louis Lagardère
- Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique, UMR 7616 CNRS, Paris 75005, France
- Sorbonne Université, Institut Parisien de Chimie Physique et Théorique, FR2622 CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
- Qubit Pharmaceuticals, 29 rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, 75014 Paris, France
| | - Lise Maurin
- Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique, UMR 7616 CNRS, Paris 75005, France
- Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire Jacques-Louis Lions, UMR 7589 CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Olivier Adjoua
- Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique, UMR 7616 CNRS, Paris 75005, France
| | - Krystel El Hage
- Qubit Pharmaceuticals, 29 rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, 75014 Paris, France
| | - Pierre Monmarché
- Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique, UMR 7616 CNRS, Paris 75005, France
- Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire Jacques-Louis Lions, UMR 7589 CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Jean-Philip Piquemal
- Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique, UMR 7616 CNRS, Paris 75005, France
- Qubit Pharmaceuticals, 29 rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, 75014 Paris, France
| | - Jérôme Hénin
- Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique, Université Paris Cité, CNRS, UPR 9080, 75005 Paris, France
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2
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Woods CJ, Hedges LO, Mulholland AJ, Malaisree M, Tosco P, Loeffler HH, Suruzhon M, Burman M, Bariami S, Bosisio S, Calabro G, Clark F, Mey ASJS, Michel J. Sire: An interoperability engine for prototyping algorithms and exchanging information between molecular simulation programs. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:202503. [PMID: 38814008 DOI: 10.1063/5.0200458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024] Open
Abstract
Sire is a Python/C++ library that is used both to prototype new algorithms and as an interoperability engine for exchanging information between molecular simulation programs. It provides a collection of file parsers and information converters that together make it easier to combine and leverage the functionality of many other programs and libraries. This empowers researchers to use sire to write a single script that can, for example, load a molecule from a PDBx/mmCIF file via Gemmi, perform SMARTS searches via RDKit, parameterize molecules using BioSimSpace, run GPU-accelerated molecular dynamics via OpenMM, and then display the resulting dynamics trajectory in a NGLView Jupyter notebook 3D molecular viewer. This functionality is built on by BioSimSpace, which uses sire's molecular information engine to interconvert with programs such as GROMACS, NAMD, Amber, and AmberTools for automated molecular parameterization and the running of molecular dynamics, metadynamics, and alchemical free energy workflows. Sire comes complete with a powerful molecular information search engine, plus trajectory loading and editing, analysis, and energy evaluation engines. This, when combined with an in-built computer algebra system, gives substantial flexibility to researchers to load, search for, edit, and combine molecular information from multiple sources and use that to drive novel algorithms by combining functionality from other programs. Sire is open source (GPL3) and is available via conda and at a free Jupyter notebook server at https://try.openbiosim.org. Sire is supported by the not-for-profit OpenBioSim community interest company.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Woods
- Advanced Computing Research Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- OpenBioSim Community Interest Company, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Lester O Hedges
- Advanced Computing Research Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- OpenBioSim Community Interest Company, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Adrian J Mulholland
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Maturos Malaisree
- Centre for Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | | | | | - Matthew Burman
- OpenBioSim Community Interest Company, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Sofia Bariami
- EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Stefano Bosisio
- EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Gaetano Calabro
- EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Finlay Clark
- EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Antonia S J S Mey
- EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Julien Michel
- OpenBioSim Community Interest Company, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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3
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Boresch S. On Analytical Corrections for Restraints in Absolute Binding Free Energy Calculations. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:3605-3609. [PMID: 38640478 PMCID: PMC11094717 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2024] [Revised: 04/16/2024] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024]
Abstract
Double decoupling absolute binding free energy simulations require an intermediate state at which the ligand is held solely by restraints in a position and orientation resembling the bound state. One possible choice consists of one distance, two angle, and three dihedral angle restraints. Here, I demonstrate that in practically all cases the analytical correction derived under the rigid rotator harmonic oscillator approximation is sufficient to account for the free energy of the restraints.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Boresch
- Department of Chemistry, University
of Vienna, Währinger
Straße 17, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
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4
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Macaya L, González D, Vöhringer-Martinez E. Nonbonded Force Field Parameters from MBIS Partitioning of the Molecular Electron Density Improve Binding Affinity Predictions of the T4-Lysozyme Double Mutant. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:3269-3277. [PMID: 38546407 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01912] [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: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
The use of computer simulation for binding affinity prediction is growing in drug discovery. However, its wider use is constrained by the accuracy of the free energy calculations. The key sources of error are the force fields used to depict molecular interactions and insufficient sampling of the configurational space. To improve the quality of the force field, we developed a Python-based computational workflow. The workflow described here uses the minimal basis iterative stockholder (MBIS) method to determine atomic charges and Lennard-Jones parameters from the polarized molecular density. This is done by performing electronic structure calculations on various configurations of the ligand when it is both bound and unbound. In addition, we validated a simulation procedure that accounts for the protein and ligand degrees of freedom to precisely calculate binding free energies. This was achieved by comparing the self-adjusted mixture sampling and nonequilibrium thermodynamic integration methods using various protein and ligand conformations. The accuracy of predicting binding affinity is improved by using MBIS-derived force field parameters and a validated simulation procedure. This improvement surpasses the chemical precision for the eight aromatic ligands, reaching a root-mean-square error of 0.7 kcal/mol.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Macaya
- Departamento de Físico-Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, 4070386 Concepción, Chile
| | - Duván González
- Departamento de Físico-Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, 4070386 Concepción, Chile
| | - Esteban Vöhringer-Martinez
- Departamento de Físico-Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, 4070386 Concepción, Chile
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5
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Karrenbrock M, Rizzi V, Procacci P, Gervasio FL. Addressing Suboptimal Poses in Nonequilibrium Alchemical Calculations. J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:1595-1605. [PMID: 38323915 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c06516] [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: 02/08/2024]
Abstract
Alchemical transformations can be used to quantitatively estimate absolute binding free energies at a reasonable computational cost. However, most of the approaches currently in use require knowledge of the correct (crystallographic) pose. In this paper, we present a combined Hamiltonian replica exchange nonequilibrium alchemical method that allows us to reliably calculate absolute binding free energies, even when starting from suboptimal initial binding poses. Performing a preliminary Hamiltonian replica exchange enhances the sampling of slow degrees of freedom of the ligand and the target, allowing the system to populate the correct binding pose when starting from an approximate docking pose. We apply the method on 6 ligands of the first bromodomain of the BRD4 bromodomain-containing protein. For each ligand, we start nonequilibrium alchemical transformations from both the crystallographic pose and the top-scoring docked pose that are often significantly different. We show that the method produces statistically equivalent binding free energies, making it a useful tool for computational drug discovery pipelines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurice Karrenbrock
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, CH-1206 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Valerio Rizzi
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, CH-1206 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Piero Procacci
- Chemistry Department, University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 3-13, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
| | - Francesco Luigi Gervasio
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, CH-1206 Geneva, Switzerland
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland, University of Geneva, CH-1206 Geneva, Switzerland
- Chemistry Department, University College London (UCL), WC1E 6BT London, U.K
- Swiss Bioinformatics Institute, University of Geneva, CH-1206 Geneva, Switzerland
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6
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Guner-Yılmaz OZ, Kurkcuoglu O, Akten ED. Tunnel-like region observed as a potential allosteric site in Staphylococcus aureus Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Arch Biochem Biophys 2024; 752:109875. [PMID: 38158117 DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2023.109875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/17/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) catalyzing the sixth step of glycolysis has been investigated for allosteric features that might be used as potential target for specific inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus). X-ray structure of bacterial enzyme for which a tunnel-like opening passing through the center previously proposed as an allosteric site has been subjected to six independent 500 ns long Molecular Dynamics simulations. Harmonic bond restraints were employed at key residues to underline the allosteric feature of this region. A noticeable reduction was observed in the mobility of NAD+ binding domains when restrictions were applied. Also, a substantial decrease in cross-correlations between distant Cα fluctuations was detected throughout the structure. Mutual information (MI) analysis revealed a similar decrease in the degree of correspondence in positional fluctuations in all directions everywhere in the receptor. MI between backbone and side-chain torsional variations changed its distribution profile and decreased considerably around the catalytic sites when restraints were employed. Principal component analysis clearly showed that the restrained state sampled a narrower range of conformations than apo state, especially in the first principal mode due to restriction in the conformational flexibility of NAD+ binding domain. Clustering the trajectory based on catalytic site residues displayed a smaller repertoire of conformations for restrained state compared to apo. Representative snapshots subjected to k-shortest pathway analysis revealed the impact of bond restraints on the allosteric communication which displayed distinct optimal and suboptimal pathways for two states, where observed frequencies of critical residues Gln51 and Val283 at the proposed site changed considerably.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ozge Kurkcuoglu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ebru Demet Akten
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey.
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7
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Liu R, Li W, Yao Y, Wu Y, Luo HB, Li Z. Accelerating and Automating the Free Energy Perturbation Absolute Binding Free Energy Calculation with the RED-E Function. J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:7755-7767. [PMID: 38048439 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
The accurate prediction of the binding affinities between small molecules and biological macromolecules plays a fundamental role in structure-based drug design, which is still challenging. The free energy perturbation-based absolute binding free energy (FEP-ABFE) approach has shown potential in its reliability. To correctly calculate the energy related to the ligand being restrained by the receptor, additional restraints between the ligand and the receptor are needed. However, determining the restraint parameters for individual ligands empirically is too trivial to be automated, and usually gives rise to numerical instabilities, which set back the applications of FEP-ABFE. To address these issues, we derived the analytical expression for the probability distribution of energy differences, P(ΔU), during the process of restraint addition, which is called the RED-E (restraint energy distribution at equilibrium position) function. Simulations indicated that the RED-E function can accurately describe P(ΔU) when restraints are added at the equilibrium position. Based on the RED-E function, an automatic restraint selection method was proposed to select the best restraint. With this method, there is a high phase-space overlap between the free and restrained states, such that using a 2-λ perturbation can accurately calculate the free energy of the restraint addition, which is a nearly 6 times acceleration compared with current widely used 12-λ perturbation method. The RED-E function gives insight into the non-Gaussian behavior of the sampled P(ΔU) in certain FEP processes in an analytical way. The highly automated and accelerated restraint selection also makes it possible for the large-scale application of FEP-ABFE in real drug discovery practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Runduo Liu
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Wenchao Li
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yufen Yao
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yinuo Wu
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Hai-Bin Luo
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Biological Resources of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China
- Song Li' Academician Workstation of Hainan University (School of Pharmaceutical Sciences), Yazhou Bay, Sanya 572000, China
| | - Zhe Li
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
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8
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Hurley MFD, Raddi RM, Pattis JG, Voelz VA. Expanded ensemble predictions of absolute binding free energies in the SAMPL9 host-guest challenge. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:32393-32406. [PMID: 38009066 PMCID: PMC10760931 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp02197a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2023]
Abstract
As part of the SAMPL9 community-wide blind host-guest challenge, we implemented an expanded ensemble workflow to predict absolute binding free energies for 13 small molecules against pillar[6]arene. Notable features of our protocol include consideration of a variety of protonation and enantiomeric states for both host and guests, optimization of alchemical intermediates, and analysis of free energy estimates and their uncertainty using large numbers of simulation replicates performed using distributed computing. Our predictions of absolute binding free energies resulted in a mean absolute error of 2.29 kcal mol-1 and an R2 of 0.54. Overall, results show that expanded ensemble calculations using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations are a valuable and efficient computational tool in predicting absolute binding free energies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert M Raddi
- Department of Chemistry, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| | - Jason G Pattis
- Department of Chemistry, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| | - Vincent A Voelz
- Department of Chemistry, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
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9
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Papadourakis M, Sinenka H, Matricon P, Hénin J, Brannigan G, Pérez-Benito L, Pande V, van Vlijmen H, de Graaf C, Deflorian F, Tresadern G, Cecchini M, Cournia Z. Alchemical Free Energy Calculations on Membrane-Associated Proteins. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:7437-7458. [PMID: 37902715 PMCID: PMC11017255 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00365] [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: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023]
Abstract
Membrane proteins have diverse functions within cells and are well-established drug targets. The advances in membrane protein structural biology have revealed drug and lipid binding sites on membrane proteins, while computational methods such as molecular simulations can resolve the thermodynamic basis of these interactions. Particularly, alchemical free energy calculations have shown promise in the calculation of reliable and reproducible binding free energies of protein-ligand and protein-lipid complexes in membrane-associated systems. In this review, we present an overview of representative alchemical free energy studies on G-protein-coupled receptors, ion channels, transporters as well as protein-lipid interactions, with emphasis on best practices and critical aspects of running these simulations. Additionally, we analyze challenges and successes when running alchemical free energy calculations on membrane-associated proteins. Finally, we highlight the value of alchemical free energy calculations calculations in drug discovery and their applicability in the pharmaceutical industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michail Papadourakis
- Biomedical
Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 4 Soranou Ephessiou, 11527 Athens, Greece
| | - Hryhory Sinenka
- Institut
de Chimie de Strasbourg, UMR7177, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, F-67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France
| | - Pierre Matricon
- Sosei
Heptares, Steinmetz Building,
Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge CB21 6DG, United
Kingdom
| | - Jérôme Hénin
- Laboratoire
de Biochimie Théorique UPR 9080, CNRS and Université Paris Cité, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Grace Brannigan
- Center
for Computational and Integrative Biology, Rutgers University−Camden, Camden, New Jersey 08103, United States of America
- Department
of Physics, Rutgers University−Camden, Camden, New Jersey 08102, United States
of America
| | - Laura Pérez-Benito
- CADD,
In Silico Discovery, Janssen Research &
Development, Turnhoutseweg 30, 2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Vineet Pande
- CADD,
In Silico Discovery, Janssen Research &
Development, Turnhoutseweg 30, 2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Herman van Vlijmen
- CADD,
In Silico Discovery, Janssen Research &
Development, Turnhoutseweg 30, 2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Chris de Graaf
- Sosei
Heptares, Steinmetz Building,
Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge CB21 6DG, United
Kingdom
| | - Francesca Deflorian
- Sosei
Heptares, Steinmetz Building,
Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge CB21 6DG, United
Kingdom
| | - Gary Tresadern
- CADD,
In Silico Discovery, Janssen Research &
Development, Turnhoutseweg 30, 2340 Beerse, Belgium
| | - Marco Cecchini
- Institut
de Chimie de Strasbourg, UMR7177, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, F-67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France
| | - Zoe Cournia
- Biomedical
Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, 4 Soranou Ephessiou, 11527 Athens, Greece
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