The effect of protein internal cavities on ligand migration and binding in myoglobin

Using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures, we have studied carbon monoxide (CO) migration in the interior of sperm whale myoglobin and binding to teh heme iron. The effect of protein internal cavities was examined by comparing the wild-type protein with mutants in which the cavities were blocked by bulky amino acid sidechains. After photodissociation at 3 K, CO ligands reside in the primary docking site (B) from where they can migrate to other sites (C, D) that were identified as the Xe4 and Xe1 cavities. These studies were complemented by flash photolysis experiments at room temperature, which revealed that the protein cavities enable efficient excape of ligands from the protein after dissociation from the heme iron.     

Electron spin-lattice relaxation rates for high-spin Fe(III) complexes in glassy solvents at temperatures between 6 and 298 K

The temperature dependence of spin-lattice relaxation rates was analyzed for four high-spin nonheme iron proteins between 5 and 20 K, for three high-spin iron porphyrins between 5 and 118 K, and for four high-spin heme proteins between 5 and 150 to 298 K. For the nonheme proteins the zero-field splittings, D, are less than 0.7 cm(-1), and the relaxation is dominated by the Orbach and Raman processes. For the iron porphyrins and heme proteins D is between 4 and 12 cm(-1) and the relaxation is dominated by the Orbach process between about 5 and 100 K and by a local mode at higher temperatures. The relaxation rates for the heme proteins in glassy matrices extrapolated to values at room temperature that are similar to values obtained by NMR relaxivity in fluid solution. This similarity suggests that for high-spin Fe(III) heme proteins with effective intramolecular spin-lattice relaxation processes, the additional motional freedom gained when a relatively large protein goes from glassy solid to liquid solution at room temperature has little impact on spin-lattice relaxation.     

The human brain hexacoordinated neuroglobin three-dimensional structure

Neuroglobin, mainly expressed in vertebrate brain and retina, is a recently identified member of the globin superfamily. Augmenting O2 supply, neuroglobin promotes survival of neurons upon hypoxic injury, potentially limiting brain damage. In the absence of exogenous ligands, neuroglobin displays a six-coordinated heme. O2 and CO bind to the heme-iron, displacing the endogenous HisE7 heme distal ligand. Hexacoordinated human neuroglobin displays a classical globin fold, adapted to host the reversible bis-histidyl heme complex, and an elongated protein matrix cavity, held to facilitate O2 diffusion to the heme. The structure of neuroglobin suggests that the classical globin fold is endowed with striking adaptability, indicating that hemoglobin and myoglobin are just two examples within a wide and functionally diversified protein homology superfamily.     

CO vibration as a probe of ligand dissociation and transfer in myoglobin

We report femtosecond visible pump, midinfrared probe, spectrally integrated experiments resolving the dynamics of CO in myoglobin upon photodissociation. Our results show a progressive change in absorption strength of the CO vibrational transition during its transfer from the heme to the docking site, whereas the vibrational frequency change is faster than our time resolution. A phenomenological model gives good qualitative agreement with our data for a time constant of 400 fs for the change in oscillator strength. Density-functional calculations demonstrate that indeed vibrational frequency and absorption strength are not linearly coupled and that the absorption strength varies in a slower manner due to charge transfer from the heme iron to CO.     

用分子对接方法预测HIV-1整合酶与金精三羧酸抑制剂的相互作用

用分子对接方法 (Docking)研究了HIV 1整合酶与其抑制剂金精三羧酸的结合过程 .为弄清金属离子在结合中所起的作用 ,选择含有一个Mg+ 2 或不含Mg+ 2 的两种不同的整合酶受体分别与金精三羧酸对接 .结果表明 ,Mg+ 2 对稳定配体与受体的结合起了重要作用 .金精三羧酸配体与含有一个金属Mg+ 2 的整合酶受体对接 ,最优结合自由能为 - 4 5 .19kJ/mol.当Mg+ 2 失去后 ,整合酶的活性中心构象将发生变化 ,使金精三羧酸抑制剂与整合酶的结合自由能 (- 2 4 .35kJ/mol)明显增加 .预测了未知的HIV 1整合酶与其抑制剂金精三羧酸的复合物结构 ,并可对基于结构的抗HIV 1整合酶的药物设计提供重要信息     

光谱法研究人胞红蛋白与铜(Ⅱ)离子的相互作用

胞红蛋白(Cygb)是近期在脊椎动物中发现的一种球蛋白家族成员,具有典型珠蛋白的“3+3”式的α-螺旋三明治折叠结构。利用紫外可见吸收光谱、荧光光谱、同步荧光光谱及圆二色(CD)光谱法研究了Cu2+离子与Cygb的相互作用。结果表明,当Cu2+离子加入到Cygb溶液中后,Cygb在280 nm处的紫外吸收强度增大,说明Cu2+与Cygb发生了相互作用;Cu2+使Cygb的内源性荧光发生猝灭,其猝灭方式为静态猝灭。同步荧光光谱研究表明,Cu2+可使色氨酸和酪氨酸的微环境发生较小的改变,与酪氨酸相比Cu2+对Cygb的键合部位更接近于色氨酸。圆二色光谱研究表明,Cu2+对Cygb的二级结构未引起明显变化。     

Docking accuracy enhanced by QM-derived protein charges

Effects of protein polari sation on docking accuracy were investigated using molecular docking programme AutoDock 4 in which topology-specific empirical Gasteiger charges were replaced with Polarised protein-specific charges (PPC) to represent quantum mechanics- polarised protein. Docking was successfully conducted for 50 diverse protein–ligand complexes. The docking with PPC charges shows a decrease in the root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) values of ligands compared to those from the docking with Gasteiger charges. Ligand binding orientations and their key interactions such as hydrogen bonding interactions in X-ray structures were substantially reproduced in complexes docked using PPC scheme with 98% of the RMSDs of the best docking poses less than 2 Å compared to 74% in the docking with Gasteiger charges. Considerable improvements in docking accuracy were observed by simply altering the atomic partial charges in the scoring function, which reflects the importance of protein polarisation in molecular docking. Further research can be carried out to (1) include polarisation of both ligands and proteins to account for polarisation effects within protein and between protein and ligand, and (2) develop a PPC-based scoring function to increase the docking accuracies for protein–ligand complexes from a larger variety of protein families.     

1H NMR Saturation Transfer Studies of Exogenous Ligands Binding to Metmyoglobin

Two-dimensional(2D) ¹H. nuclear magnetic resonance exchange spectroscopy, 1D saturation transfer have been utilized to study the binding of imidazole(lm), 1-Methylimidazole(Melm), 1-Ethylimidazole(Etlm) to the heme iron of metmyoglobin. Some heme peripheral proton resonance's of these complexes have been first time assigned. The rates and equilibrium constants for Im, Melrn, Etlm binding to metMb are calculated from the 2D peak amplitudes. Analysis of the heme methyl shifts indicates that the orientations of the binding Im, Melm, Etlm are very similar. The steric effects and hydrogen bonding between the distal histidine and bound ligand are important factors regulating affinity.     

The Interaction of a New Schiff Base Ligand with Human Serum Albumin: Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Studies

The interaction of a new heterocyclic Schiff base bearing pyridine and pyrimidine cycles, with human serum albumin (HSA) using molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation methods was examined. Molecular docking studies showed that the ligand was bonded to the IB domain of the protein. It was found that there was one hydrogen bond interaction between HSA and the ligand. The standard Gibbs free energy for binding of the ligand to HSA was calculated as ?9.63 kcal.mol^?1. The results of the molecular dynamics simulation showed that the root mean square deviation (RMSD) of the non-liganded HSA and the HSA–ligand complex reached equilibration after 1000 ps. The study of the radius of gyration revealed that there was a conformational change when the HSA–ligand complex was formed. Finally, analyzing the RMS fluctuations (RMSF) suggested that the structure of the ligand binding site remained approximately rigid during the simulation.     

Mössbauer spectroscopic evidence on the heme binding to the proximal histidine in unfolded carbonmonoxy myoglobin by guanidine hydrochloride

The unfolded heme structure in myoglobin is controversial because of no chance of direct X-ray structure analyses. The unfolding of carbonmonoxy myoglobin (MbCO) by guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) was studied by the Mössbauer spectroscopy. The spectra show the presence of a sort of spectrum in the unfolded MbCO, independent on the concentration of GdnHCl from 1 to 6 M and the increase of the fraction of unfolded MbCO, depending on the GdnHCl concentration. The isomer shift of the iron of heme in the unfolded MbCO was identified to be different from that of the native MbCO as the globin structure in Mb collapses under the unfolded conditions. This result and the existing related Mössbauer data proved that the heme in the unfolded MbCO may remain coordinated to the proximal histidine.     

Long-range reactive dynamics in myoglobin

We report the complete vibrational spectrum of the probe nucleus 57Fe at the oxygen-binding site of the protein myoglobin. The Fe-pyrrole nitrogen stretching modes of the heme group, identified here, probe asymmetric interactions with the protein environment. Collective oscillations of the polypeptide, rather than localized heme vibrations, dominate the low frequency region. We conclude that the heme "doming" mode is significantly delocalized, so that distant sites respond to oxygen binding on vibrational time scales. This has ramifications for understanding long-range interactions in biomolecules, such as those that mediate cooperativity in allosteric proteins.     

Spectroscopic and docking studies of the binding of two stereoisomeric antioxidant catechins to serum albumins

The interactions of two stereoisomeric antioxidant flavonoids, catechin (C) and epicatechin (EC) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human serum albumin (HSA), have been investigated by steady state and time resolved fluorescence, phosphorescence, circular dichroism (CD), FTIR and protein–ligand docking studies. The steady-state fluorescence studies indicate a single binding site for both the ligands. FTIR spectra suggest that in both the albumins, C and EC stabilize the α-helix at the cost of a corresponding loss in the β-sheet structure. CD studies have been carried out using (±)C, and both the epimers (+)C and (?)C. The low temperature phosphorescence and protein–ligand [(+), (?) and (±) forms of C and EC] docking studies indicate that the ligands bind in the proximity of Trp 134 of BSA and Trp 214 of HSA, thereby changing their solvent accessible surface areas (ASA). Asn 158 and Glu 130 side chains are found to be within the hydrogen bonding distance from the phenolic –OH groups of C and EC in the case of BSA complex. C and EC are located within the binding pocket of sub-domain IIa of HSA.     

基于结构的O-GlcNAc转移酶抑制剂的虚拟筛选

利用O-GlcNAc 转移酶同UDP-GlcNAc复合物的晶体结构,针对其催化位点,对ZINC库中的7134792个分子和FOG库中的4287550个分子进行三轮(HTVS、SP、XP)虚拟筛选,结果发现具有更好类药性的FOG库中包含更多对接得分更低的小分子,且具有更多新颖的化学片段.ZINC库中具有较低对接得分的分子可分为2类,分别占据UDP-GlcNAc的UDP和GlcNAc的结合位置,在此基础上设计得到的分子具有更好的对接得分.证明FOG分子库具有产生更多对接得分更低的分子,所预测和设计的小分子化合物可以成为潜在的抑制剂药物分子.     

Interaction of Sulfadiazine with Model Water Soluble Proteins: A Combined Fluorescence Spectroscopic and Molecular Modeling Approach

The binding behavior of antibacterial drug sulfadiazine (SDZ) with water soluble globular proteins like bovine as well as human serum albumin (BSA and HSA, respectively) and lysozyme (LYS) was monitored by fluorescence titration and molecular docking calculations. The experimental data reveal that the quenching of the intrinsic protein fluorescence in presence of SDZ is due to the strong interaction in the drug binding site of the respective proteins. The Stern-Volmer plot shows positive deviation at higher quencher concentration for all the proteins and was explained in terms of a sphere of action model. The calculated fluorophore-quencher distances vary within 4?~?11 Å in different cases. Fluorescence experiments at different temperature indicate thermodynamically favorable binding of SDZ with the proteins with apparently strong association constant (~10⁴–10⁵ M^?1) and negative free energy of interaction within the range of ?26.0?~??36.8 kJ mol^?1. The experimental findings are in good agreement with the respective parameters obtained from best energy ranked molecular docking calculation results of SDZ with all the three proteins.     

In-Silico Study on the Interaction of Saffron Ligands and Beta-Lactoglobulin by Molecular Dynamics and Molecular Docking Approach

Safranal, crocetin, and dimethylcrocetin are secondary metabolites found in saffron and have a wide range of biological activities. An investigation of their interaction with a transport protein, such as β-lactoglobulin (β-lg), at the atomic level could be a valuable factor in controlling their transport to biological sites. The interaction of these ligands and β-lg as a transport protein was investigated using molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation methods. The molecular docking results showed that safranal and crocetin bind on the surface of β-lg. However, dimethylcrocetin binds in the internal cavity of β-lg. The β-lg affinity for binding saffron ligands decreases in the following order: crocetin > dimethylcrocetin > safranal. The analysis of MD simulation trajectories showed that the β-lg and β-lg–ligand complexes became stable at approximately 3000 ps and that there was little conformational change in the β-lg–safranal and β-lg–dimethylcrocetin complexes over a 10-ns timescale. In addition, the profiles of atomic fluctuations showed the rigidity of the ligand binding site during the simulation time.     

Spectroscopy and Molecular Docking Study on the Interaction Behavior Between Nobiletin and Pepsin

In this study, the binding mode of nobiletin (NOB) with pepsin was investigated by spectroscopic and molecular docking methods. NOB can interact with pepsin to form a NOB-pepsin complex. The binding constant, number of binding sites and thermodynamic parameters were measured, which indicated that NOB could spontaneously bind with pepsin through hydrophobic and electrostatic forces with one binding site. Molecular docking results revealed that NOB bound into the pepsin cavity. Synchronous and three-dimensional fluorescence spectra results provide data concerning conformational and some micro-environmental changes of pepsin. Furthermore, the binding of NOB can inhibit pepsin activity in vitro. The present study provides direct evidence at a molecular level to show that NOB could induce changes in the enzyme pepsin structure and function.     

Study on the effect of protein on drug efficacy: cefonicid sodium–pepsin binding mechanism

The mechanism of interaction between cefonicid sodium and pepsin was investigated by various spectroscopic methods and molecular docking. Cefoncid sodium quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of pepsin at pH of 2.0 to form a new complex in a 1:1 binding mode driven by Van der Waals and hydrogen bonds. The mechanism of quenching was static. The results of molecular docking indicated that the cefonicid sodium-binding site was located in the active site of pepsin. The protein binding rates of cefonicid sodium in gastric juice was calculated and the binding model was established. It is concluded that cefonicid sodium is not suitable for oral administration.     

Studying high-spin ferric heme proteins by pulsed EPR spectroscopy: Analysis of the ferric form of the E7Q mutant of human neuroglobin

In this work, the high-spin ferric form of the E7Q mutant of human neuroglobin (E7Q-NGB) is studied by X-band continuous-wave electron paramagnetic resonance (CW EPR) and hyperfine sublevel correlation (HYSCORE) spectroscopy. It is shown that the use of matched pulses in the HYSCORE experiment is essential to observe the nitrogen spectral contributions. The validity of approximating the high-spin Fe(III) system (S=5/2) as an effectiveS=1/2 system is tested and the consequences for the HYSCORE simulations are highlighted. Comparative HYSCORE experiments combined with deuterium exchange experiments for aquometmyoglobin and ferric E7Q-NGB clearly show that the heme iron of the latter protein is pentacoordinated, lacking the distal water. Furthermore, CW EPR experiments show that, at high pH, the E10K residue is coordinating to the heme iron in this globin. These observations are corroborated by resonance Raman experiments and could also be reproduced for other E7 mutants of human and mouse neuroglobin. Finally, the proton and nitrogen hyperfine and nuclear quadrupole parameters obtained for ferric E7Q-NGB are discussed in detail.     

Deoxyribonucleic Acid and Bovine Serum Albumin Interaction with the Asymmetric Schiff Base Ligand and Its Molybdenum (VI) Complex: Multi Spectroscopic and Molecular Docking Studies

The interaction of an asymmetric Schiff base ligand derived from allylamine and 2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde and its molybdenum (VI) complex with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were studied using spectroscopic and molecular docking methods. The spectroscopic results revealed that the DNA and BSA affinity for binding the Mo(VI) complex is greater than its ligand. Furthermore, the molecular docking calculations showed that H-bond, hydrophobic, π-π and π-cation interactions had the dominant roles in the stability of the compound-BSA complexes. The DNA interaction results suggested that the compounds interacted with DNA by the groove binding mechanism.