In-crystal affinity ranking of fragment hit compounds reveals a relationship with their inhibitory activities

Crystallographic Fragment Screen of Coxsackievirus A16 2A Protease identifies new opportunities for the development of broad-spectrum anti-enterovirals

Enteroviruses are the causative agents of paediatric hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and a target for pandemic preparedness due to the risk of higher order complications in a large-scale outbreak. The 2A protease of these viruses is responsible for the self-cleavage of the poly protein, allowing for correct folding and assembly of capsid proteins in the final stages of viral replication. These 2A proteases are highly conserved between Enterovirus species, such as Enterovirus A71 and Coxsackievirus A16 . Inhibition of the 2A protease deranges capsid folding and assembly, preventing formation of mature virions in host cells and making the protease a valuable target for antiviral activity. Herein, we describe a crystallographic fragment screening campaign that identified 75 fragments which bind to the 2A protease including 38 unique compounds shown to bind within the active site. These fragments reveal a path for the development of non-peptidomimetic inhibitors of the 2A protease with broad-spectrum anti-enteroviral activity.

Exploring Photoswitchable Binding Interactions with Small-Molecule- and Peptide-Based Inhibitors of Trypsin

The ability to photochemically activate a drug, both when and where needed, requires optimisation of the difference in biological activity between each isomeric state. As a step to this goal, we report small-molecule- and peptide-based inhibitors of the same protease-trypsin-to better understand how photoswitchable drugs interact with their biological target. The best peptidic inhibitor displayed a more than fivefold difference in inhibitory activity between isomeric states, whereas the best small-molecule inhibitor only showed a 3.4-fold difference. Docking and molecular modelling suggest this result is due to a large change in 3D structure in the key binding residues of the peptidic inhibitor upon isomerisation; this is not observed for the small-molecule inhibitor. Hence, we demonstrate that significant structural changes in critical binding motifs upon irradiation are essential for maximising the difference in biological activity between isomeric states. This is an important consideration in the design of future photoswitchable drugs for clinical applications.

Elucidating polymorphs of crystal structures by intensity-based hierarchical clustering analysis of multiple diffraction data sets

In macromolecular structure determination using X-ray diffraction from multiple crystals, the presence of different structures (structural polymorphs) necessitates the classification of the diffraction data for appropriate structural analysis. Hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) is a promising technique that has so far been used to extract isomorphous data, mainly for single-structure determination. Although in principle the use of HCA can be extended to detect polymorphs, the absence of a reference to define the threshold used to group the isomorphous data sets (the `isomorphic threshold') poses a challenge. Here, unit-cell-based and intensity-based HCAs have been applied to data sets for apo trypsin and inhibitor-bound trypsin that were mixed post data acquisition to investigate the efficacy of HCA in classifying polymorphous data sets. Single-step intensity-based HCA successfully classified polymorphs with a certain `isomorphic threshold'. In data sets for several samples containing an unknown degree of structural heterogeneity, polymorphs could be identified by intensity-based HCA using the suggested `isomorphic threshold'. Polymorphs were also detected in single crystals using data collected using the continuous helical scheme. These findings are expected to facilitate the determination of multiple structural snapshots by exploiting automated data collection and analysis.

Water regulates the residence time of Benzamidine in Trypsin

The process of ligand-protein unbinding is crucial in biophysics. Water is an essential part of any biological system and yet, many aspects of its role remain elusive. Here, we simulate with state-of-the-art enhanced sampling techniques the binding of Benzamidine to Trypsin which is a much studied and paradigmatic ligand-protein system. We use machine learning methods to determine efficient collective coordinates for the complex non-local network of water. These coordinates are used to perform On-the-fly Probability Enhanced Sampling simulations, which we adapt to calculate also the ligand residence time. Our results, both static and dynamic, are in good agreement with experiments. We find that the presence of a water molecule located at the bottom of the binding pocket allows via a network of hydrogen bonds the ligand to be released into the solution. On a finer scale, even when unbinding is allowed, another water molecule further modulates the exit time.

Water is an essential part of any biological system, yet many aspects of its role remain elusive. Here the authors show, in a paradigmatic ligand-protein system, that water modulates the ligand residence time in a complex and non-local way, with possible implications in drug design.

In situ crystal data-collection and ligand-screening system at SPring-8

An in situ X-ray diffraction measurement system using a crystallization plate has been constructed at the SPring-8 protein crystallography beamline. Utilizing small-wedge measurements and incorporating a liquid dispenser to prepare protein–ligand complex crystals, this system will make ligand screening possible.

In situ diffraction data collection using crystallization plates has been utilized for macromolecules to evaluate crystal quality without requiring additional sample treatment such as cryocooling. Although it is difficult to collect complete data sets using this technique due to the mechanical limitation of crystal rotation, recent advances in methods for data collection from multiple crystals have overcome this issue. At SPring-8, an in situ diffraction measurement system was constructed consisting of a goniometer for a plate, an articulated robot and plate storage. Using this system, complete data sets were obtained utilizing the small-wedge measurement method. Combining this system with an acoustic liquid handler to prepare protein–ligand complex crystals by applying fragment compounds to trypsin crystals for in situ soaking, binding was confirmed for seven out of eight compounds. These results show that the system functioned properly to collect complete data for structural analysis and to expand the capability for ligand screening in combination with a liquid dispenser.

Independent gradient model based on Hirshfeld partition: A new method for visual study of interactions in chemical systems

The powerful independent gradient model (IGM) method has been increasingly popular in visual analysis of intramolecular and intermolecular interactions in recent years. However, we frequently observed that there is an evident shortcoming of IGM map in graphically studying weak interactions, that is its isosurfaces are usually too bulgy; in these cases, not only the graphical effect is poor, but also the color on some areas on the isosurfaces is inappropriate and may lead to erroneous analysis conclusions. In addition, the IGM method was originally proposed based on promolecular density, which is quite crude and does not take actual electronic structure into account. In this article, we propose an improvement version of IGM, namely IGM based on Hirshfeld partition of molecular density (IGMH), which replaces the free-state atomic densities involved in the IGM method with the atomic densities derived by Hirshfeld partition of actual molecular electron density. This change makes IGM have more rigorous physical background. A large number of application examples in this article, including molecular and periodic systems, weak and chemical bond interactions, fully demonstrate the important value of IGMH in intuitively understanding interactions in chemical systems. Comparisons also showed that the IGMH usually has markedly better graphical effect than IGM and overcomes known problems in IGM. Currently IGMH analysis has been supported in our wavefunction analysis code Multiwfn (http://sobereva.com/multiwfn). We hope that IGMH will become a new useful method among chemists for exploring interactions in wide variety of chemical systems.

Capturing Protein-Ligand Recognition Pathways in Coarse-Grained Simulation

Protein-ligand recognition is dynamic and complex. A key approach in deciphering the mechanism underlying the recognition process is to capture the kinetic process of the ligand in its act of binding to its designated protein cavity. Toward this end, ultralong all-atom molecular dynamics simulation has recently emerged as a popular method of choice because of its ability to record these events at high spatial and temporal resolution. However, success via this route comes at an exorbitant computational cost. Herein, we demonstrate that coarse-grained models of the protein, when systematically optimized to maintain its tertiary fold, can capture the complete process of spontaneous protein-ligand binding from bulk media to the cavity at crystallographic precision and within wall clock time that is orders of magnitude shorter than that of all-atom simulations. The exhaustive sampling of ligand exploration in protein and solvent, harnessed by coarse-grained simulation, leads to elucidation of new ligand recognition pathways and discovery of non-native binding poses.

Allostery in Coagulation Factor VIIa Revealed by Ensemble Refinement of Crystallographic Structures

A critical step in injury-induced initiation of blood coagulation is the formation of the complex between the trypsin-like protease coagulation factor VIIa (FVIIa) and its cofactor tissue factor (TF), which converts FVIIa from an intrinsically poor enzyme to an active protease capable of activating zymogens of downstream coagulation proteases. Unlike its constitutively active ancestor trypsin, FVIIa is allosterically activated (by TF). Here, ensemble refinement of crystallographic structures, which uses multiple copies of the entire structure as a means of representing structural flexibility, is applied to explore the impacts of inhibitor binding to trypsin and FVIIa, as well as cofactor binding to FVIIa. To assess the conformational flexibility and its role in allosteric pathways in these proteases, main-chain hydrogen bond networks are analyzed by calculating the hydrogen-bond propensity. Mapping pairwise propensity differences between relevant structures shows that binding of the inhibitor benzamidine to trypsin has a minor influence on the protease flexibility. For FVIIa, in contrast, the protease domain is "locked" into the catalytically competent trypsin-like configuration upon benzamidine binding as indicated by the stabilization of key structural features: the nonprime binding cleft and the oxyanion hole are stabilized, and the effect propagates from the active site region to the calcium-binding site and to the vicinity of the disulphide bridge connecting with the light chain. TF binding to FVIIa furthermore results in stabilization of the 170 loop, which in turn propagates an allosteric signal from the TF-binding region to the active site. Analyses of disulphide bridge energy and flexibility reflect the striking stability difference between the unregulated enzyme and the allosterically activated form after inhibitor or cofactor binding. The ensemble refinement analyses show directly, for the first time to our knowledge, whole-domain structural footprints of TF-induced allosteric networks present in x-ray crystallographic structures of FVIIa, which previously only have been hypothesized or indirectly inferred.

Indole fragments for the design of lead molecules against pancreatitis

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Water access and ligand dissociation at the binding site of proteins

Although water is undoubtedly an essential mediator of protein-ligand interactions, whether or not such water molecules are critical for the progress of ligand dissociation remains unclear. To gain a more complete understanding, molecular dynamics simulations are performed with two molecular systems, rigid model binding sites and trypsin-benzamidine. Free-energy landscapes are calculated with a suitably chosen solvent coordinate, which well describes water access to the ligand binding site. The results of free energy provided clear description of water-ligand exchange process, where two different mechanisms appear depending on whether the binding site is buried or not. As the site is more buried, water access is more difficult. When water does not access the site, ligand dissociation produces a large energy barrier, i.e., slow dissociation kinetics. This indicates that control of ligand dissociation kinetics becomes possible with burying the binding site. However, the results also showed that appropriate burying is important because burying reduces not only water access but also ligand binding. The role of the protein structural change is also discussed; it likely plays a similar role to water access because during ligand dissociation, it can make new coordination with the ligand binding site like water. These results contribute to the future pharmaceutical drug design and will be useful for fundamental exploration of various molecular events.

A comparative study of trypsin specificity based on QM/MM molecular dynamics simulation and QM/MM GBSA calculation

Hydrogen bonding and polar interactions play a key role in identification of protein-inhibitor binding specificity. Quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics molecular dynamics (QM/MM MD) simulations combined with DFT and semi-empirical Hamiltonian (AM1d, RM1, PM3, and PM6) methods were performed to study the hydrogen bonding and polar interactions of two inhibitors BEN and BEN1 with trypsin. The results show that the accuracy of treating the hydrogen bonding and polar interactions using QM/MM MD simulation of PM6 can reach the one obtained by the DFT QM/MM MD simulation. Quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area (QM/MM-GBSA) method was applied to calculate binding affinities of inhibitors to trypsin and the results suggest that the accuracy of binding affinity prediction can be significantly affected by the accurate treatment of the hydrogen bonding and polar interactions. In addition, the calculated results also reveal the binding specificity of trypsin: (1) the amidinium groups of two inhibitors generate favorable salt bridge interaction with Asp189 and form hydrogen bonding interactions with Ser190 and Gly214, (2) the phenyl of inhibitors can produce favorable van der Waals interactions with the residues His58, Cys191, Gln192, Trp211, Gly212, and Cys215. This systematic and comparative study can provide guidance for the choice of QM/MM MD methods and the designs of new potent inhibitors targeting trypsin.

An ESIPT fluorescent probe sensitive to protein α-helix structures

A benzazole derivative,1, was observed to undergo the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process with α-helical proteins. The cell images showed a difference in the staining of normal and cancerous prostate cells by1, which might be due to the different membrane protein levels.

Protein crystallography and fragment-based drug design

Crystallography is a major tool for structure-driven drug design, as it allows knowledge of the 3D structure of protein targets and protein-ligand complexes. However, the route for crystal structure determination involves many steps, some of which may hamper its high-throughput use. Recent efforts have produced significant advances in experimental and computational tools and protocols. They include automatic crystallization tools, faster data collection devices, more efficient phasing methods and improved ligand-fitting procedures. The timescales of drug-discovery processes have been also reduced by using a fragment-based screening approach. Herein, the achievements in protein crystallography over the last 5 years are reviewed, and advantages and disadvantages of the fragment-based approaches to drug discovery that make use of x-ray crystallography as a primary screening method are examined. In particular, in some detail, five recent case studies pertaining to the development of new hits or leads in relevant therapeutic areas, such as cancer, immune response, inflammation, metabolic syndrome and neurology are described.

Funnel metadynamics as accurate binding free-energy method

A detailed description of the events ruling ligand/protein interaction and an accurate estimation of the drug affinity to its target is of great help in speeding drug discovery strategies. We have developed a metadynamics-based approach, named funnel metadynamics, that allows the ligand to enhance the sampling of the target binding sites and its solvated states. This method leads to an efficient characterization of the binding free-energy surface and an accurate calculation of the absolute protein-ligand binding free energy. We illustrate our protocol in two systems, benzamidine/trypsin and SC-558/cyclooxygenase 2. In both cases, the X-ray conformation has been found as the lowest free-energy pose, and the computed protein-ligand binding free energy in good agreement with experiments. Furthermore, funnel metadynamics unveils important information about the binding process, such as the presence of alternative binding modes and the role of waters. The results achieved at an affordable computational cost make funnel metadynamics a valuable method for drug discovery and for dealing with a variety of problems in chemistry, physics, and material science.