The presence of an aromatic residue (Trp, Phe, Tyr) facing the nonpolar face of galactose is a common feature of galactose-specific lectins. The interactions such as those between the C-H groups of galactose and the pi-electron cloud of aromatic residues have been characterized as weak hydrogen bonds between soft acids and soft bases, largely governed by dispersive and charge transfer interactions. An analysis of the binding sites of several galactose-specific lectins revealed that the spatial position-orientation of galactose relative to the binding site aromatic residue varies substantially. The effect of variations in position-orientations of galactose on the interaction energies of galactose-aromatic residue complexes has not been determined so far. In view of this, MP2/6-311G++** calculations were performed on galactose- and glucose-aromatic residue analogue complexes in eight position-orientations. The results show that the strength of the C-H...pi interactions in galactose-aromatic residue complexes is comparable to that of a hydrogen bond. Rather than the type of aromatic residue, the position-orientation of the saccharide appears to be more critical in determining the strength of their interactions. Earlier studies have found the binding site aromatic residue to be critical, but its role was not clear. This study shows that the aromatic residue is important for discriminating galactose from glucose, in addition to its contribution to binding energy.

An aromatic amino acid is present in the binding site of a number of sugar binding proteins. The interaction of the saccharide with the aromatic residue is determined by their relative position as well as orientation. The position-orientation of the saccharide relative to the aromatic residue was found to vary in different sugar-binding proteins. In the present study, interaction energies of the complexes of galactose (Gal) and of glucose (Glc) with aromatic residue analogs have been calculated by ab initio density functional (U-B3LYP/ 6-31G**) theory. The position-orientations of the saccharide with respect to the aromatic residue observed in various Gal-, Glc-, and mannose-protein complexes were chosen for the interaction energy calculations. The results of these calculations show that galactose can interact with the aromatic residue with similar interaction energies in a number of position-orientations. The interaction energy of Gal-aromatic residue analog complex in position-orientations observed for the bound saccharide in Glc/Man-protein complexes is comparable to the Glc-aromatic residue analog complex in the same position-orientation. In contrast, there is a large variation in interaction energies of complexes of Glc-and of Gal-with the aromatic residue analog in position-orientations observed in Gal-protein complexes. Furthermore, the conformation wherein the O6 atom is away from the aromatic residue is preferred for the exocyclic -CH 2 OH group in Galaromatic residue analog complexes. The implications of these results for saccharide binding in Gal-specific proteins and the possible role of the aromatic amino acid to ensure proper positioning and orientation of galactose in the binding site have been discussed.

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HIV-1 protease is an essential enzyme in the life cycle of the HIV-1 virus. The conformational dynamics of the flap region of the protease is critical for the ligand binding mechanism, as well as for the catalytic activity. The monoclonal antibody F11.2.32 raised against HIV-1 protease inhibits its activity on binding. We have studied the conformational dynamics of protease in its free, inhibitor ritonavir and antibody bound forms using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that upon Ab binding to the epitope region (residues 36-46) of protease, the overall flexibility of the protease is decreased including the flap region and the active site, which is similar to the decrease in flexibility observed by inhibitor binding to the protease. This suggests an allosteric mechanism to inhibit protease activity. Further, the protease mutants G40E and G40R are known to have decreased activity and were also subjected to MD simulations. We find that the loss of flexibility in the mutants is similar to that observed in the protease bound to the Ab/inhibitor. these insights highlight the role played by dynamics in the function of the protease and how control of flexibility through Ab binding and site specific mutations can inhibit protease activity.The HIV-1 protease belongs to the family of aspartyl protease. It cleaves the newly synthesized polyproteins, which is the vital step to create the mature protein components of an infectious HIV-1 virus 1 . Thus, HIV-1 protease is an essential enzyme in the life-cycle of the HIV-1 virus and a potential target for the structure-based drug design. There are several commercial drugs available in the market against the HIV-1 protease. The success rate of these drugs is low due to the occurrence of drug-resistant mutations in the HIV-1 protease 2 . For example, the thermodynamic integration (TI) and MD simulation studies by Chen and his group suggested that there is a change in the shape and conformation of the binding pocket upon certain drug-resistant mutations and this consequently reduces the binding affinity of inhibitor 3 . Also, conventional method of drug delivery targets active sites and many enzymes with related function may have very similar active sites. This may cause adverse side-effects. Therefore, there is a requirement to generate new generation drugs that can function away from active-site and these are allosteric drugs 4-7 . To identify a new target on HIV-1 protease, there is a need to understand the complete structure and dynamics of HIV-1 protease to inhibits its enzymatic activity. The HIV-1 protease is a homodimeric enzyme with each monomer comprising of 99 amino-acid residues 8 . The active site (residues Asp25, Thr26 and Gly27 from both chains A and B) of the protease is covered by two flaps (residues 43-58) from each chain 9,10 . F11.2.32 is a monoclonal antibody (mAb) raised against the HIV-1 protease. The peptide P36-46 ( 36 MNLPGRWKPKM 46 ) corresponding to the epitope/elbow region of the protease binds to the complementarity determining regions (CDRs) of ...

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