Two approaches for calculating electrostatic effects in proteins are compared and an analysis is presented of the dependence of calculated properties on the model used to define the charge distribution. Changes in electrostatic free energy have been calculated using a screened Coulomb potential (SCP) with a distance-dependent effective dielectric permittivity to model bulk solvent effects and a finite difference approach to solve the Poisson-Boltzmann (FDPB) equation. The properties calculated include shifts in dissociation constants of ionizable groups, the effect of annihilating surface charges on the binding of metals, and shifts in redox potentials due to changes in the charge of ionizable groups. In the proteins considered the charged sites are separated by 3.5-12 A. It is shown that for the systems studied in this distance range the SCP yields calculated values which are at least as accurate as those obtained from solution of the FDPB equation. In addition, in the distance range 3-5 A the SCP gives substantially better results than the FDPB equation. Possible sources of this difference between the two methods are discussed. Shifts in binding constants and redox potentials were calculated with several standard charge sets, and the resulting values show a variation of 20-40% between the 'best' and 'worst' cases. From this study it is concluded that in most applications, changes in electrostatic free energies can be calculated economically and reliably using an SCP approach with a single functional form of the screening function.

The screened Coulombic potential has been shown to describe satisfactorily equilibrium properties like pA" shifts, the effects of charged groups on redox potentials and binding constants of metal ions. To test how well the screening of the electrostatic potential describes the dynamical trajectory of a macromolecular system, a series of comparative simulations have been carried out on a protein system which explicitly included water molecules and a system in vacuo. For the system without solvent the results of using (i) the standard potential form were compared with results of (ii) the potential where the Coulomb term was modified by the inclusion of a distance dependent dielectric, e(r), to model the screening effect of bulk water, and (iii) standard potential modified by reducing the charge on ionized residue side chains. All molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out on bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. Comparisons between the resulting trajectories, averaged structures, hydrogen bonding patterns and properties such as solvent accessible surface area and radius of gyration are described. The results show that the dynamical behaviour of the protein calculated with a screened electrostatic term compares more favourably with the time-dependent structural changes of the full system with explicitly included water than the standard vacuum simulation.

The screened Coulombic potential has been shown to describe satisfactorily equilibrium properties like pA" shifts, the effects of charged groups on redox potentials and binding constants of metal ions. To test how well the screening of the electrostatic potential describes the dynamical trajectory of a macromolecular system, a series of comparative simulations have been carried out on a protein system which explicitly included water molecules and a system in vacuo. For the system without solvent the results of using (i) the standard potential form were compared with results of (ii) the potential where the Coulomb term was modified by the inclusion of a distance dependent dielectric, e(r), to model the screening effect of bulk water, and (iii) standard potential modified by reducing the charge on ionized residue side chains. All molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out on bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. Comparisons between the resulting trajectories, averaged structures, hydrogen bonding patterns and properties such as solvent accessible surface area and radius of gyration are described. The results show that the dynamical behaviour of the protein calculated with a screened electrostatic term compares more favourably with the time-dependent structural changes of the full system with explicitly included water than the standard vacuum simulation.

A series of computer simulations has been carried out on bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor using various models to mimic the effects of explicit bulk solvent on the structure of the protein.The solvent properties included are the polarization of the solute by the polar bulk solvent and the restraining effect on the motional freedom of the solute due to frictional drag at the solventprotein surface interface. The former has been included by using a distance-dependent dielectric permittivity to screen the electrostatic interactions, whereas the latter is simulated by adding a limited number of solvent molecules near the protein surface. To achieve the proper mobility of the water molecules, their motion was restrained by adding a harmonic restraining force. It was found that a very small force constant was sufficient to model the static and dynamical behavior of the fully solvated solute, but that it was necessary to include enough explicit waters to occupy the first solvation shell. 8

We present a new model for E. coil tyroslne aminotransferase based on the X-ray structures of the wild type and Val~gLeu mutant of E. coli aspartate aminotransferase and corr~puter simulation studies. Active site characteristics of the model are correlated with experimental observations on the specificity of these enzymes towards aromatie/dicarboxylic acid substmtes.