Asim K. Bera

Role of salt bridge dynamics in inter domain recognition of human impdh isoforms: An insight to inhibitor topology for isoform-ii

Abstract Inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) enzyme involves in the biosynthesis pathway of guanosine nucleotide. Type II isoform of the enzyme is selectively upregulated in neoplastic fast replicating lymphocytes and CML cancer cells. The hIMPDH-II is an excellent target for antileukemic agent. The detailed investigation during MD-Simulation (15 ns) of three different unliganded structures (1B3O, 1JCN and 1JR1) have clearly explored the salt bridge mediated stabilization of inter or intra domain (catalytic domains IN, with res. Id. 28–111 and 233–504, whereas two CBS domains C1, C2 are 112–171 and 172–232) in IMPDH enzyme which are mostly inaccessible in their X-rays structures. The salt bridge interaction in IN—C1 inter-domain of hIMPDH-I, IN—C2 of IMPDH-II and C1—IC of nhIMPDH-II are discriminative features among the isoforms. The IN—C2 recognition in hIMPDH-II (1B3O) is missing in type-I isoform (1JCN). The salt bridge interaction D232—K238 at the surface of protein and the involvement of three conserved water molecules or the hydrophilic centers (WA232 OD1, WB232 OD2 and W238 NZ) to those acidic and basic residues seem to be unique in hIMPDH-II. The hydrophilic susceptibility, geometrical and electronic consequences of this salt bridge interaction could be useful to design the topology of specific inhibitor for hIMPDH-II which may not be effective for hIMPDH-I. Possibly, the aliphatic ligand containing carboxyl, amide or hydrophilic groups with flexible structure may be implicated for hIMPDH-II inhibitor design using the conserved water mimic drug design protocol.

Insight to structural subsite recognition in plant thiol protease-inhibitor complexes : Understanding the basis of differential inhibition and the role of water

BackgroundThis work represents an extensive MD simulation / water-dynamics studies on a series of complexes of inhibitors (leupeptin, E-64, E-64-C, ZPACK) and plant cysteine proteases (actinidin, caricain, chymopapain, calotropin DI) of papain family to understand the various interactions, water binding mode, factors influencing it and the structural basis of differential inhibition.ResultsThe tertiary structure of the enzyme-inhibitor complexes were built by visual interactive modeling and energy minimization followed by dynamic simulation of 120 ps in water environment. DASA study with and without the inhibitor revealed the potential subsite residues involved in inhibition. Though the interaction involving main chain atoms are similar, critical inspection of the complexes reveal significant differences in the side chain interactions in S2-P2 and S3-P3 pairs due to sequence differences in the equivalent positions of respective subsites leading to differential inhibition.ConclusionThe key finding of the study is a conserved site of a water molecule near oxyanion hole of the enzyme active site, which is found in all the modeled complexes and in most crystal structures of papain family either native or complexed. Conserved water molecules at the ligand binding sites of these homologous proteins suggest the structural importance of the water, which changes the conventional definition of chemical geometry of inhibitor binding domain, its shape and complimentarity. The water mediated recognition of inhibitor to enzyme subsites (Pn...H2O....Sn) of leupeptin acetyl oxygen to caricain, chymopapain and calotropinDI is an additional information and offer valuable insight to potent inhibitor design.

Conserved water-mediated H-bonding dynamics of catalytic His159 and Asp158: insight into a possible acid–base coupled mechanism in plant thiol protease

Cysteine protease is ubiquitous in nature. Excess activity of this enzyme causes intercellular proteolysis, muscle tissue degradation, etc. The role of water-mediated interactions in the stabilization of catalytically significant Asp158 and His159 was investigated by performing molecular dynamics simulation studies of 16 three-dimensional structures of plant thiol proteases. In the simulated structures, the hydrophilic W1, W2 and WD1 centers form hydrogen bonds with the OD1 atom of Asp158 and the ND1 atom of His159. In the solvated structures, another water molecule, WE, forms a hydrogen bond with the NE2 atom of His159. In the absence of the water molecule WE, Trp177 (NE1) and Gln19 (NE2) directly interact with the NE2 atom of His159. All these hydrophilic centers (the locations of W1, W2, WD1, and WE) are conserved, and they play a critical role in the stabilization of His–Asp complexes. In the water dynamics of solvated structures, the water molecules W1 and W2 form a water...water hydrogen-bonded network with a few other water molecules. A few dynamical conformations or transition states involving direct (His159 ND1...Asp158 OD1) and water-mediated (His159 ND1...W2...Asp158 OD1) hydrogen-bonded complexes are envisaged from these studies.

Conserved water mediated recognition and the dynamics of active site Cys 331 and Tyr 411 in hydrated structure of human IMPDH-II

Inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) of human is involved in GMP biosynthesis pathway, increased level of IMPDH‐II (an isoform of enzyme) activity have found in leukemic and sarcoma cells. Modeling and extensive molecular dynamics simulation (15 ns) studies of IMPDH‐II (1B3O PDB structure) have indicated the intricate involvement of four conserved water molecules (W 1, W 2, W 3, and W 4) in the conformational transition or the mobilities of “flap” (residues 400–450) and “loop” (residues 325–342) regions in enzyme. The stabilization of active site residues Asn 303, Gly 324, Ser 329, Cys 331, Asp 364, and Tyr 411 through variable H‐bonding coordination from the conserved water molecular center seems interesting in the uninhibited hydrated form of human IMPDH‐II structures. This conformational transition or the flexibility of mobile regions, water molecular recognition to active site residues Cys 331 and Tyr 411, and the presence of a hydrophilic cavity ∼540 Å3 (enclaved by the loop and flap region) near the C‐terminal surface of this enzyme may explore a rational hope toward the water mimic inhibitor or anticancer agent design for human. Copyright

Conserved water-mediated H-bonding dynamics of catalytic Asn 175 in plant thiol protease.

The role of invariant water molecules in the activity of plant cysteine protease is ubiquitous in nature. On analysing the 11 different Protein DataBank (PDB) structures of plant thiol proteases, the two invariant water molecules W1 and W2 (W220 and W222 in the template 1PPN structure) were observed to form H-bonds with the Ob atom of Asn 175. Extensive energy minimization and molecular dynamics simulation studies up to 2 ns on all the PDB and solvated structures clearly revealed the involvement of the H-bonding association of the two water molecules in fixing the orientation of the asparagine residue of the catalytic triad. From this study, it is suggested that H-bonding of the water molecule at the W1 invariant site better stabilizes the Asn residue at the active site of the catalytic triad.

Recognition and Stabilization of A Unique CPRI—Structural Motif in Cucurbitaceae Family Trypsin Inhibitor Peptides: Molecular Dynamics Based Homology Modeling Using the X-ray Structure of MCTI-II

Abstract The high resolution crystallographic structure of MCTI-II complexed with beta trypsin (PDB entry 1MCT) was used to model the corresponding structures of the six inhibitor peptides belonging to Cucurbitaceae family (MCTI-I, LA-1, LA-2, CMTI-I, CMTI-III, CMTI- IV). Two model inhibitors, LA-1 and LA-2 were refined by molecular dynamics to estimate the average solution structure. The difference accessible surface area (DASA) study of the inhibitors with and without trypsin revealed the Arginine and other residues of the inhibitors which bind to trypsin. The hydration dynamics study of LA1 and LA2 also confirm the suitability of water molecules at the active Arg site. Moreover, the presence of a unique 3D-structural motif comprises with the four CPRI residues from the amino terminal is thought to be conserved in all the six studied inhibitors, which seems essential for the directional fixation for proper complexation of the Arg (5) residue towards the trypsin S1-binding pocket. The role of the disulphide linkage in the geometrical stabilization of CPRI (Cysteine, Proline, Arginine, Isoleucine) motif has also been envisaged from the comparative higher intra molecular Cys (3) -Cys (20) disulphide dihedral energies.

Regiospecificity of nucleotide-amino acid mating vs. water dynamics: a key to protein-nucleic acid assemblies: structure of unidecahydrated inosine-5'-monophosphate and L-glutamic acid (2C10H13N4O8P.C5H11NO4.11H2O) cocrystal at atomic resolution

The crystal structure of a unidecahydrated cocomplex between two Inosine-5′-monophosphates (IMP) and one L-glutamic acid has been determined by X-ray crystallographic methods. The crystal belongs to the monoclinic space group P21 with cell dimensions a = 8.650(1), b = 21.900(1), c = 12.370(1) Å, and β = 110.4°(9). This structure reveals extensive hydrogen bonding of glutamic acid to the nucleotide through direct and water-mediated interactions. The phosphate oxygens (O3B and O1B) seem to prefer nonspecific interaction with the functional sites of glutamic acid (OE2 ······O1B = 1.78 Å, NA······O3B = 2.73 Å, OH······O3B = 3.06 Å), whereas the bases prefer specific (O······N3B = 2.88 Å) binding. A solvent mediated N7A···W5···N7B hydrogen bond used for stabilization of the stacked purine bases has been observed as in other amino acid–nucleotide cocrystals. Glutamic acid occupies the same hydrophilic region in the nucleotide cocrystal as was found in glutamine–inosine monophosphate (Gln–IMP) and in serine–inosine monophosphate (Ser–IMP) complexes through substantial replacement of free and bound water molecules. This points to the dynamic hydrogen bonding nature of the water molecules and their stereochemical cooperation for the placement of amino acid through the polycoordination within the crystal.

Influences of cooperative hydrogen bonding economy on protein-nucleic acid complexation : Structure of unidecahydrated Inosine C5'-monophosphate and L-glutamine (2C10H13N4O8P.C5H10N2O3.11H2O) cocrystal at atomic resolution

The crystal structure of a unidecahydrated co-complex between two Inosine 5′-monophosphate (IMP) and one L-glutamine has been determined at atomic resolution by X-ray crystallographic methods. The crystal belongs to the monoclinic space group P21 with cell dimensions a = 8.690(2), b = 21.900(3), c = 12.370(1) Å, and β = 110.59(3)°. This structure reveals the recognition mechanism of glutamine to the nucleotide through direct and water-mediated hydrogen bonds. The phosphate oxygen (O23) seems to prefer the nonspecific interaction with the functional sites of glutamine (NA· · ·O23 = 2.672, OH· · ·O23 = 3.063, OE· · ·O23 = 3.104 Å), whereas the bases prefer specific (N23· · ·O = 2.874 Å) bindings. But here no specific interaction has been observed at N17 and N27, which were observed in serine—IMP complex. However, the solvent mediated N17· · ·OW3· · ·N27 hydrogen bonds for stabilization of the stacked purine bases have been observed as in other aminoacid-nucleotide cocrystals. The striking habit of glutamine to occupy the nearly same region of the nucleotide cocrystal as was found in the serine—IMP complex through substantial replacement of free and bound water molecules, shows certainly the cooperative hydrogen bonding economy of water molecules.

Hydrogen bonding cooperativity of water to nucleotide recognition : structure of octadecahydrated inosine 5'-monophosphate, 2(C10H12N4O8P).18H2O at atomic resolution

The crystal structure of an octadecahydrated complex between two inosine 5′-monophosphate (IMP) has been determined at atomic resolution, which reveals the hydrogen bonding and the coordination cooperativity of water molecules to nucleotide recognition. The crystal belongs to monoclinic space group P21 with cell dimensions a = 8.65(1), b = 21.90(1), c = 12.37(1)Å, and β = 110.38(9)°. The ribose hydroxyls, purine N7, keto(O6) bonded water molecules W1, W2, W5, W6, W8 and the phosphate bridge forming water oxygens of W4, W7, W11 appear to play an invariant role in their hydrogen bonding interactions with the IMPs. The synergistic role of the water molecules W5, W6, W8 in the purine staking domain N27⋯W5=2.583,O16⋯W8=2.759,O2627⋯W6=2.723 Åhave been clearly observed for the first time. The complexation of the water molecules through variable hydrogen bonding coordination indicate their functional involvement through extensive cooperative donor-acceptor network mechanism. The occurrence of hydrogen-bonded water spines, water bridges and their interplay in the structural association of IMPs could indicate the possible viability of those aquatic centers in the biological situation.

Research strategies for design and development of NSAIDs: clue to balance potency and toxicity of acetanilide compounds.

Abstract Despite the fact that many modern drug therapies are based on the concept of enzyme inhibition, inhibition of several enzymes leads to pathological disorders. Clinically used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) bind to the active site of the membrane protein, cyclooxygenase (COX) and inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandins, the mediators for causing inflammation. At the same time, inhibition of hepatic cysteine proteases by some NSAID metabolites like NAPQI is implicated in the pathogenesis of hepatotoxicity. As a part of our efforts to develop new effective NSAIDs, a comprehensive investigation starting from synthesis to the study of the final metabolism of acetanilide group of compound has been envisaged with appropriate feedback from kinetic studies to enhance our knowledge and technical competency to feed the know-how to the medicinal chemist to screen out and design new acetanilide derivatives of high potency and low toxicity. Structure-function relationship based on the interaction of acetanilide with its cognate enzyme, cyclooxygenase has been studied critically with adequate comparison with several other available crystal structures of COX-NSAID complexes. Furthermore, to make the receptor based drug design strategy a novel and comprehensive one, both the mechanism of metabolism of acetanilide and structural basis of inhibition of cysteine proteases by the reactive metabolite (NAPQI) formed by cytochrome P450 oxidation of acetanilide have been incorporated in the study. It is hoped that this synergistic approach and the results obtained from such consorted structural investigation at atomic level may guide to dictate synthetic modification with judicious balance between cyclooxygenase inhibition and hepatic cysteine protease inhibition to enhance the potential of such molecular medicine to relieve inflammation on one hand and low hepatic toxicity on the other.