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Electrostatic Contribution (electrostatic + contribution)
Selected AbstractsEngineering thermal stability of l- asparaginase by in vitro directed evolutionFEBS JOURNAL, Issue 6 2009Georgia A. Kotzia l- Asparaginase (EC 3.5.1.1, l- ASNase) catalyses the hydrolysis of l- Asn, producing l- Asp and ammonia. This enzyme is an anti-neoplastic agent; it is used extensively in the chemotherapy of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. In this study, we describe the use of in vitro directed evolution to create a new enzyme variant with improved thermal stability. A library of enzyme variants was created by a staggered extension process using the genes that code for the l- ASNases from Erwinia chrysanthemi and Erwinia carotovora. The amino acid sequences of the parental l- ASNases show 77% identity, but their half-inactivation temperature (Tm) differs by 10 °C. A thermostable variant of the E. chrysamthemi enzyme was identified that contained a single point mutation (Asp133Val). The Tm of this variant was 55.8 °C, whereas the wild-type enzyme has a Tm of 46.4 °C. At 50 °C, the half-life values for the wild-type and mutant enzymes were 2.7 and 159.7 h, respectively. Analysis of the electrostatic potential of the wild-type enzyme showed that Asp133 is located at a neutral region on the enzyme surface and makes a significant and unfavourable electrostatic contribution to overall stability. Site-saturation mutagenesis at position 133 was used to further analyse the contribution of this position on thermostability. Screening of a library of random Asp133 mutants confirmed that this position is indeed involved in thermostability and showed that the Asp133Leu mutation confers optimal thermostability. [source] Can the calculation of ligand binding free energies be improved with continuum solvent electrostatics and an ideal-gas entropy correction?JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 12 2002Sonja M. Schwarzl Abstract The prediction of a ligand binding constant requires generating three-dimensional structures of the complex concerned and reliably scoring these structures. Here, the scoring problem is investigated by examining benzamidine-like inhibitors of trypsin, a system for which errors in the structures are small. Precise and consistent binding free energies for the inhibitors are determined experimentally for this test system. To examine possible improvement of scoring methods, we test the suitability of continuum electrostatics to account for solvation effects and use an ideal-gas entropy correction to account for the changes in the degrees of freedom of the ligand. The small observed root-mean-square deviation of 0.55 kcal/mol of the calculated relative to the experimental values indicates that the essentials of the binding process have been captured. Even though all six ligands make the same salt bridge and H-bonds to the protein, the electrostatic contribution varies among the ligands by as much as 2 kcal/mol. Moreover, although the ligands are rigid and similar in size, the entropic terms also significantly affect the relative binding affinities (by up to 2.7 kcal/mol). The present approach to solvation and entropy may allow the ranking of the ligands to be considerably improved at a cost that makes the method applicable to the optimization of lead compounds or to the screening of small collections of ligands. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 23: 1143,1149, 2002 [source] Solution structure of the cyclic peptide contryphan-Vn, a Ca2+ -dependent K+ channel modulatorBIOPOLYMERS, Issue 3 2004Tommaso Eliseo Abstract The solution structure of contryphan-Vn, a cyclic peptide with a double cysteine S,S bridge and containing a D -tryptophan extracted from the venom of the cone snail Conus ventricosus, has been determined by NMR spectroscopy using a variety of homonuclear and heteronuclear NMR methods and restrained molecular dynamics simulations. The main conformational features of backbone contryphan-Vn are a type IV ,-turn from Gly 1 to Lys 6 and a type I ,-turn from Lys 6 to Cys 9. As already found in other contryphans, one of the two prolines,the Pro4,is mainly in the cis conformation while Pro7 is trans. A small hydrophobic region probably partly shielded from solvent constituted from the close proximity of side chains of Pro7 and Trp8 was observed together with a persistent salt bridge between Asp2 and Lys6, which has been revealed by the diagnostic observation of specific nuclear Overhauser effects. The salt bridge was used as a restraint in the molecular dynamics in vacuum but without inserting explicit electrostatic contribution in the calculations. The backbone of the unique conformational family found of contryphan-Vn superimposes well with those of contryphan-Sm and contryphan-R. This result indicates that the contryphan structural motif represents a robust and conserved molecular scaffold whose main structural determinants are the size of the intercysteine loop and the presence and location in the sequence of the D -Trp and the two Pro residues. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers, 2004 [source] Progress in the Understanding of Drug,Receptor Interactions, Part,2: Experimental and Theoretical Electrostatic Moments and Interaction Energies of an Angiotensin II Receptor Antagonist (C30H30N6O3S)CHEMISTRY - A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, Issue 24 2007Raffaella Soave Dr. Abstract A combined experimental and theoretical charge density study of an angiotensin II receptor antagonist (1) is presented focusing on electrostatic properties such as atomic charges, molecular electric moments up to the fourth rank and energies of the intermolecular interactions, to gain an insight into the physical nature of the drug,receptor interaction. Electrostatic properties were derived from both the experimental electron density (multipole refinement of X-ray data collected at T=17,K) and the ab initio wavefunction (single molecule and fully periodic calculations at the DFT level). The relevance of S,,,O and S,,,N intramolecular interactions on the activity of 1 is highlighted by using both the crystal and gas-phase geometries and their electrostatic nature is documented by means of QTAIM atomic charges. The derived electrostatic properties are consistent with a nearly spherical electron density distribution, characterised by an intermingling of electropositive and -negative zones rather than by a unique electrophilic region opposed to a nucleophilic area. This makes the first molecular moment scarcely significant and ill-determined, whereas the second moment is large, significant and highly reliable. A comparison between experimental and theoretical components of the third electric moment shows a few discrepancies, whereas the agreement for the fourth electric moment is excellent. The most favourable intermolecular bond is show to be an NH,,,N hydrogen bond with an energy of about 50,kJ,mol,1. Key pharmacophoric features responsible for attractive electrostatic interactions include CH,,,X hydrogen bonds. It is shown that methyl and methylene groups, known to be essential for the biological activity of the drug, provide a significant energetic contribution to the total binding energy. Dispersive interactions are important at the thiophene and at both the phenyl fragments. The experimental estimates of the electrostatic contribution to the intermolecular interaction energies of six molecular pairs, obtained by a new model proposed by Spackman, predict the correct relative electrostatic energies with no exceptions. [source] Continuum molecular electrostatics, salt effects, and counterion binding,A review of the Poisson,Boltzmann theory and its modificationsBIOPOLYMERS, Issue 2 2008Grochowski Abstract This work is a review of the Poisson,Boltzmann (PB) continuum electrostatics theory and its modifications, with a focus on salt effects and counterion binding. The PB model is one of the mesoscopic theories that describes the electrostatic potential and equilibrium distribution of mobile ions around molecules in solution. It serves as a tool to characterize electrostatic properties of molecules, counterion association, electrostatic contributions to solvation, and molecular binding free energies. We focus on general formulations which can be applied to large molecules of arbitrary shape in all-atomic representation, including highly charged biomolecules such as nucleic acids. These molecules present a challenge for theoretical description, because the conventional PB model may become insufficient in those cases. We discuss the conventional PB equation, the corresponding functionals of the electrostatic free energy, including a connection to DFT, simple empirical extensions to this model accounting for finite size of ions, the modified PB theory including ionic correlations and fluctuations, the cell model, and supplementary methods allowing to incorporate site-bound ions in the PB calculations. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 89: 93,113, 2008. This article was originally published online as an accepted preprint. The "Published Online" date corresponds to the preprint version. You can request a copy of the preprint by emailing the Biopolymers editorial office at biopolymers@wiley.com [source] | ||||||||||