Accounting for electronic polarization effects in biomolecular simulation (by using a polarizable force field) can increase the accuracy of simulation results. However, the use of gas-phase estimates of atomic polarizabilities αi usually leads to overpolarization in condensed-phase systems. In the current work, a combined QM/MM approach has been employed to obtain condensed-phase estimates of atomic polarizabilities for water and methanol (QM) solutes in the presence of (MM) solvents of different polarity. In a next step, the validity of the linear response and isotropy assumptions were evaluated based on the observed condensed-phase distributions of αi values. The observed anisotropy and low average values for the polarizability of methanol's carbon atom in polar solvents was explained in terms of strong solute-solvent interactions involving its adjacent hydroxyl group. Our QM/MM estimates for atomic polarizabilities were found to be close to values used in previously reported polarizable water and methanol models. Using our estimate for αO of methanol, a single set of polarizable force field parameters was obtained that is directly transferable between environments of different polarity.

Binding affinity prediction of potential drugs to target and off-target proteins is an essential asset in drug development. These predictions require the calculation of binding free energies. In such calculations, it is a major challenge to properly account for both the dynamic nature of the protein and the possible variety of ligand-binding orientations, while keeping computational costs tractable. Recently, an iterative Linear Interaction Energy (LIE) approach was introduced, in which results from multiple simulations of a protein-ligand complex are combined into a single binding free energy using a Boltzmann weighting-based scheme. This method was shown to reach experimental accuracy for flexible proteins while retaining the computational efficiency of the general LIE approach. Here, we show that the iterative LIE approach can be used to predict binding affinities in an automated way. A workflow was designed using preselected protein conformations, automated ligand docking and clustering, and a (semi-)automated molecular dynamics simulation setup. We show that using this workflow, binding affinities of aryloxypropanolamines to the malleable Cytochrome P450 2D6 enzyme can be predicted without a priori knowledge of dominant protein-ligand conformations. In addition, we provide an outlook for an approach to assess the quality of the LIE predictions, based on simulation outcomes only.

The absence of an adequate reversal strategy to prevent and stop potential life-threatening bleeding complications is a major drawback to the clinical use of the direct oral inhibitors of blood coagulation factor Xa. Here we show that specific modifications of the substrate-binding aromatic S4 subpocket within the factor Xa active site disrupt high-affinity engagement of the direct factor Xa inhibitors. These modifications either entail amino-acid substitution of S4 subsite residues Tyr99 and/or Phe174 (chymotrypsinogen numbering), or extension of the 99-loop that borders the S4 subsite. The latter modifications led to the engineering of a factor Xa variant that is able to support coagulation in human plasma spiked with (supra-)physiological concentrations of direct factor Xa inhibitors. As such, this factor Xa variant has the potential to be employed to bypass the direct factor Xa inhibitor-mediated anticoagulation in patients that require restoration of blood coagulation.

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Recently an iterative method was proposed to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of ligand-protein binding affinity prediction through linear interaction energy (LIE) theory. For ligand binding to flexible Cytochrome P450s (CYPs), this method was shown to decrease the root-mean-square error and standard deviation of error prediction by combining interaction energies of simulations starting from different conformations. Thereby, different parts of protein-ligand conformational space are sampled in parallel simulations. The iterative LIE framework relies on the assumption that separate simulations explore different local parts of phase space, and do not show transitions to other parts of configurational space that are already covered in parallel simulations. In this work, a method is proposed to (automatically) detect such transitions during the simulations that are performed to construct LIE models and to predict binding affinities. Using noise-canceling techniques and splines to fit time series of the raw data for the interaction energies, transitions during simulation between different parts of phase space are identified. Boolean selection criteria are then applied to determine which parts of the interaction energy trajectories are to be used as input for the LIE calculations. Here we show that this filtering approach benefits the predictive quality of our previous CYP 2D6-aryloxypropanolamine LIE model. In addition, an analysis is performed of the gain in computational efficiency that can be obtained from monitoring simulations using the proposed filtering method and by prematurely terminating simulations accordingly.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00894-015-2883-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Recently we reported a combined QM/MM approach to estimate condensed-phase values of atomic polarizabilities for use in (bio)molecular simulation. The setup relies on a MM treatment of the solvent when determining atomic polarizabilities to describe the response of a QM described solute to its external electric field. In this work, we study the effect of using alternative descriptions of the solvent molecules when evaluating atomic polarizabilities of a methanol solute. In a first step, we show that solute polarizabilities are not significantly affected upon substantially increasing the MM dipole moments towards values that are typically reported in literature for water solvent molecules. Subsequently, solute polarization is evaluated in the presence of a QM described solvent (using the frozen-density embedding method). In the latter case, lower oxygen polarizabilities were obtained than when using MM point charges to describe the solvent, due to introduction of Pauli-repulsion effects.

In this work, parameters are optimized for a charge-on-spring based polarizable force field for linear alcohols. We show that parameter transferability can be obtained using a systematic approach in which the effects of parameter changes on physico-chemical properties calculated from simulation are predicted. Our previously described QM/MM calculations are used to attribute condensed-phase polarizabilities, and starting from the non-polarizable GROMOS 53A5/53A6 parameter set, van der Waals and Coulomb interaction parameters are optimized to reproduce pure-liquid (thermodynamic, dielectric, and transport) properties, as well as hydration free energies. For a large set of models, which were obtained by combining small perturbations of 10 distinct parameters, values for pure-liquid properties of the series methanol to butanol were close to experiment. From this large set of models, we selected 34 models without special repulsive van der Waals parameters to distinguish between hydrogen-bonding and non-hydrogen-bonding atom pairs, to make the force field simple and transparent. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

AimsGenetic factors explain a proportion of the inter-individual variation in the risk for atherosclerotic events, but the genetic basis of atherosclerosis and atherothrombosis in families with Mendelian forms of premature atherosclerosis is incompletely understood. We set out to unravel the molecular pathology in a large kindred with an autosomal dominant inherited form of premature atherosclerosis.Methods and ResultsParametric linkage analysis was performed in a pedigree comprising 4 generations, of which a total of 11 members suffered from premature vascular events. A parametric LOD-score of 3.31 was observed for a 4.4 Mb interval on chromosome 12. Upon sequencing, a non-synonymous variant in KERA (c.920C>G; p.Ser307Cys) was identified. The variant was absent from nearly 28,000 individuals, including 2,571 patients with premature atherosclerosis. KERA, a proteoglycan protein, was expressed in lipid-rich areas of human atherosclerotic lesions, but not in healthy arterial specimens. Moreover, KERA expression in plaques was significantly associated with plaque size in a carotid-collar Apoe−/− mice (r2 = 0.69; p<0.0001).ConclusionA rare variant in KERA was identified in a large kindred with premature atherosclerosis. The identification of KERA in atherosclerotic plaque specimen in humans and mice lends support to its potential role in atherosclerosis.