Galactokinase, the enzyme which catalyses the first committed step in the Leloir pathway, has attracted interest due to its potential as a biocatalyst and as a possible drug target in the treatment of type I galactosemia. The mechanism of the enzyme is not fully elucidated. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of galactokinase with the active site residues Arg-37 and Asp-186 altered predicted that two regions (residues 174-179 and 231-240) had different dynamics as a consequence.Interestingly, the same two regions were also affected by alterations in Arg-105, Glu-174 and Arg-228. These three residues were identified as important in catalysis in previous computational studies on human galactokinase. Alteration of Arg-105 to methionine resulted in a modest reduction in activity with little change in stability. When Arg-228 was changed to methionine, the enzyme's interaction with both ATP and galactose was affected. This variant was significantly less stable than the wild-type protein. Changing Glu-174 to glutamine (but not to aspartate) resulted in no detectable activity and a less stable enzyme. Overall, these combined in silico and in vitro studies demonstrate the importance of a negative charge at position 174 and highlight the critical role of the dynamics in to key regions of the protein. We postulate that these regions may be critical for mediating the enzyme's structure and function.

Galactokinase catalyses the site- and stereospecific phosphorylation of α-d-galactose. As such it has attracted interest as a biocatalyst for the introduction of phosphate groups into monosaccharides. However, attempts to broaden the substrate range of human galactokinase have generally resulted in substantially reduced activity. The enzyme also has biotechnological potential in enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for type II galactosaemia. The return-to-consensus approach can be used to identify residues that can be altered to increase protein stability and enzyme activity. This approach identified six residues of potential interest in human galactokinase. Some of the single consensus variants (M60V, D268E, A334S and G373S) increased the catalytic turnover of the enzyme, but none resulted in improved stability. When all six changes were introduced into the protein (M60V/M180V/D268E/A334S/R366Q/G373S), thermal stability was increased. Molecular dynamics simulations suggested that these changes altered the protein's conformation at key sites. The number of salt bridges and hydrogen bonds was also increased. Combining the six consensus variations with Y379W (a variant with greater substrate promiscuity) increased the stability of this variant and its turnover towards some substrates. Thus, the six consensus variants can be used to stabilise catalytically interesting variants of human galactokinase and might also be useful if the protein were to be used in ERT.

Many eukaryotic regulatory proteins adopt distinct bound and unbound conformations, and use this structural flexibility to bind specifically to multiple partners. However, we lack an understanding of how an interface can select some ligands, but not others. Here, we present a molecular dynamics approach to identify and quantitatively evaluate the interactions responsible for this selective promiscuity. We apply this approach to the anticancer target PD-1 and its ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2. We discover that while unbound PD-1 exhibits a hard-to-drug hydrophilic interface, conserved specific triggers encoded in the cognate ligands activate a promiscuous binding pathway that reveals a flexible hydrophobic binding cavity. Specificity is then established by additional contacts that stabilize the PD-1 cavity into distinct bound-like modes. Collectively, our studies provide insight into the structural basis and evolution of multiple binding partners, and also suggest a biophysical approach to exploit innate binding pathways to drug seemingly undruggable targets.

Additional Information:Question ResponsePlease select a section/category for your manuscript.Biocatalysis for organic synthesis -Novel and significant advances in biocatalysis for organic synthesis, including chemo-, regio-and enantioselective biotransformation, screening and engineering of novel enzymes for biocatalysis, biocatalyst immobilization, and nonaqueous biocatalysis.Abstract: Proteins are highly mobile structures. In addition to gross conformational changes occurring on, for example, ligand binding, they are also subject to constant thermal motion. The mobility of the protein varies through its structure and can be modulated by ligand binding and other events. It is becoming increasingly clear that this mobility plays an important role in key functions of proteins including catalysis, allostery, cooperativity and regulation. Thus, in addition to an optimum structure, proteins most likely also require an optimal dynamic state. Alteration of this dynamic state through protein engineering will affect protein function. A dramatic example of this is seen in some inherited metabolic diseases where alternation of residues distant from the active site affects the mobility of the protein and impairs function. We postulate that using molecular dynamics simulations, experimental data or a combination of the two it should be possible to engineer the mobility of active sites. This may be useful in, for example, increasing the promiscuity of enzymes. Thus, a paradigm for protein engineering is suggested in which the mobility of the active site is rationally modified. This might be combined with more "traditional" approaches such as altering functional groups in the active site. Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation Manuscript #ABAB-D-16-00805 Modulating mobility: a paradigm for protein engineering? Margaret McAuley and David J. TimsonReviewer: Flexibility of protein plays an important role in protein functions such as activity and stability. Up to now, a number of studies strategized for engineering the protein towards desirable properties are published. The manuscript has a great summary of recent studies based on modulating mobility of protein especially in activity aspect. I recommend its publication after addressing the following issue.Response: We thank the reviewer for his/her support and encouraging remarks.There are also many reports about the improvement of stability of protein by modulating the flexibility of protein. Such as, "Park.H.J et al, Computational approach for designing thermostable Candidaantarctica lipase B by molecular dynamics simulation; Zhu, F., et al, Rational substitution of surface acidic residues for enhancing the thermostability of thermolysin; Chen, J et al, Improving stability of nitrile hydratase by bridging the salt-bridges in specific thermal-sensitive regions, and so on". It would be attractive if the authors could incorporate some examples that explain the relationship between activity and stability modulated by flexibility of prote...

Galactokinase catalyses the phosphorylation of α-d-galactose and some structurally related monosaccharides. The enzyme is of interest due to its potential as a biocatalyst for the production of sugar 1-phosphates and due to its involvement in the inherited metabolic disease type II galactosemia. It has been previously shown that a region (residues 231-245) in human galactokinase often has altered mobility when active site residues are varied. We hypothesised that the reverse may be true and that designing changes to this region might affect the functioning of the active site of the enzyme. Focussing on four residues (Leu-231, Gln-242, Glu-244 and Glu-245) we conducted molecular dynamics simulations to explore the effects of changing these residues to glycine or serine. In most cases the variations resulted in local changes to the 231-245 region and global changes to the root mean squared fluctuation (RMSF) of the protein. The four serine variants were expressed as recombinant proteins. All had altered steady state enzyme kinetic parameters with α-d-galactose as a substrate. However, these changes were generally less than ten-fold in magnitude. Changes were also observed with 2-deoxy-α-d-galactose, α-d-galactosamine and α-d-talose as substrates, including (in some cases) loss of detectable activity, suggesting that these variations can tune the specificity of the enzyme. This study demonstrates that activity and specificity of human galactokinase can be modulated by variations designed to affect active site flexibility. It is likely that this principle can be generalised to other enzymes.

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Figure 1. Cross-sectional schematic of the nanotube fabrication process. The completed nanostructures are shown (F) in their template, with the intermediate stages of the process given by (A)-(E). The process begins with sputtering a multi-layer film consisting of Ta2O5, Au and Al on a glass substrate (A), followed by anodisation to produce an array of nanopores (B). A NaOH chemical etch removes the alumina remaining at the base of the pore (C), allowing a polymer to be electro-deposited (D). A further chemical etch widens the pore around the polymer (E), into which the palladium can be electro-deposited (F).