Adi M. Treasurywala

Conformational searching methods for small molecules II: genetic algorithm approach

We demonstrate the use of a genetic algorithm (GA) search procedure for finding low‐energy conformations of small to medium organic molecules (1–12 rotatable bonds). GAS are in a class of biologically motivated optimization methods that evolve a population of individuals where individuals who are more “fit” have a higher probability of surviving into subsequent generations. Here, an individual is a conformation of a given molecule and the fitness is the molecules conformational energy. In the course of a simulated evolution, the population produces conformations having increasingly lower energy. We test the GA method on a suite of 72 molecules and compare the performance against the CSEARCH algorithm in Sybyl. For molecules with more than eight rotatable bonds, the GA method is more efficient computationally and as the number of rotatable bonds increases the relative efficiency of the GA method grows. The GA method also found energies equal to or lower than the energy of the relaxed crystal structure in the large majority of cases.

A comparison of a direct search method and a genetic algorithm for conformational searching

We present results from the application of two conformational searching methods: genetic algorithms (GA) and direct search methods for finding low energy conformations of organic molecules. GAs are in a class of biologically motivated optimization methods that evolve a population of individuals in which individuals who are more “fit” have a higher probability of surviving into subsequent generations. The parallel direct search method (PDS) is a type of pattern search method that uses an adaptive grid to search for minima. Both methods found energies equal to or lower than the energy of the relaxed crystal structure in all cases, at a relatively small cost in CPU time. We suggest that either method would be a good candidate to find 3‐D conformations in a large scale screening application.

Docking flexible molecules: A case study of three proteins

A genetic algorithm (GA) conformation search method is used to dock a series of flexible molecules into one of three proteins. The proteins examined are thermolysin (tmn), carboxypeptidase A (cpa), and dihydrofolate reductase (dfr). In the latter two proteins, the crystal ligand was redocked. For thermolysin, we docked eight ligands into a protein conformation derived from a single crystal structure. The bound conformations of the other ligands in tmn are known. In the cpa and dfr cases, and in seven of the eight tmn ligands, the GA docking method found conformations within 1.6 Å root mean square (rms) of the relaxed crystal conformation.

Conformational searching methods for small molecules I: study of the SYBYL SEARCH method

Several methods are available in the literature for the conformational analysis of small molecules. Each of these methods has some advantages and some disadvantages. Also, each of these methods may be expected to perform better or worse on different types of molecules. There is no clear calibration of each of these methods against a “standardized” set of molecules available in the literature. Such a reference work would be useful to the community because it would allow the choice of methods to be based on some facts. We attempted to provide a start to such a calibration in this article with an examination of the SYBYL SEARCH method. Methods for evaluating the performance of this method are described in detail and will be applied to all other available conformational analysis methods in future papers.

Conformational searching methods for small molecules. III. Study of stochastic methods available in SYBYL and MACROMODEL

In a continuing effort to provide the computational community with a reference work comparing all of the available conformer searching methods, we have exposed the standard set of small molecules to two commonly used stochastic searching techniques. Advantages and limitations of these methods are discussed.

The use of an algorithmic method for small molecule superimpositions in the design of antiviral agents

SummaryThe inability to reliably predict relative orientations of drug molecules within our series of antipicornavirus agents has severely limited the usefulness of available structure-activity data in the drug design process. A reported method of overlapping molecules has been evaluated to see if it could provide a solution to this problem. Although it initially succeeded remarkably well with a series of molecules whose bound X-ray structures were known, this success was shown to be only a function of the bound conformation of these molecules. Thus, this method did not provide a general solution to the problem at hand.

Conformational energy downward driver (CEDD): characterization and calibration of the method.

SummaryA method has been developed that allows one to drive a molecule to conformations of lowest energy given the starting conformation, the identity of the rotatable bonds and the step size. This method has proved useful in our hands in the drug design arena where it is frequently more important to get ‘low-energy’ conformers of a molecule that match some other (e.g. pharmacophoric or enzyme pocket) requirements than to exhaustively enumerate all possible low-energy conformations for each of the molecules to be studied. The method has been shown to work in the test cases studied to date. Furthermore, so far it has been shown to be sufficiently fast to be used for molecules containing up to 70 rotatable bonds.