Ran Friedman

Wordom: A user-friendly program for the analysis of molecular structures, trajectories, and free energy surfaces

Wordom is a versatile, user‐friendly, and efficient program for manipulation and analysis of molecular structures and dynamics. The following new analysis modules have been added since the publication of the original Wordom paper in 2007: assignment of secondary structure, calculation of solvent accessible surfaces, elastic network model, motion cross correlations, protein structure network, shortest intra‐molecular and inter‐molecular communication paths, kinetic grouping analysis, and calculation of mincut‐based free energy profiles. In addition, an interface with the Python scripting language has been built and the overall performance and user accessibility enhanced. The source code of Wordom (in the C programming language) as well as documentation for usage and further development are available as an open source package under the GNU General Purpose License from http://wordom.sf.net.

Amyloid aggregation on lipid bilayers and its impact on membrane permeability.

Fibrillar protein aggregates (amyloids) are involved in several common pathologies, e.g., Alzheimers disease and type II diabetes. Accumulating evidence suggests that toxicity in amyloid-related diseases originates from the deposition of protein aggregates on the cell membrane, which results in bilayer disruption and cell leakage. The molecular mechanism of damage to the membrane, however, is still obscure. To shed light on it we have performed coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of fibril-forming amphipathic peptides in the presence of lipid vesicles. The simulation results show that highly amyloidogenic peptides fibrillate on the surface of the vesicle, damaging the bilayer and promoting leakage. In contrast, the ordered aggregation of peptides with low amyloidogenicity is hindered by the vesicles. Remarkably, leakage from the vesicle is caused by growing aggregates, but not mature fibrils. The simulation results provide a basis for understanding the range of aggregation behavior that is observed in experiments with fibril-forming (poly)peptides.

Discovery of Plasmepsin Inhibitors by Fragment-Based Docking and Consensus Scoring

Plasmepsins (PMs) are essential proteases of the plasmodia parasites and are therefore promising targets for developing drugs against malaria. We have discovered six inhibitors of PM II by high‐throughput fragment‐based docking of a diversity set of ∼40 000 molecules, and consensus scoring with force field energy functions. Using the common scaffold of the three most active inhibitors (IC50=2–5 μM), another seven inhibitors were identified by substructure search. Furthermore, these 13 inhibitors belong to at least three different classes of compounds. The in silico approach was very effective since a total of 13 active compounds were discovered by testing only 59 molecules in an enzymatic assay. This hit rate is about one to two orders of magnitude higher than those reported for medium‐ and high‐throughput screening techniques in vitro. Interestingly, one of the inhibitors identified by docking was halofantrine, an antimalarial drug of unknown mechanism. Explicit water molecular dynamics simulations were used to discriminate between two putative binding modes of halofantrine in PM II.

Aggregation of amyloids in a cellular context: modelling and experiment.

Amyloid-related diseases are a group of illnesses in which an abnormal accumulation of proteins into fibrillar structures is evident. Results from a wide range of studies, ranging from identification of amyloid-β dimers in the brain to biophysical characterization of the interactions between amyloidogenic peptides and lipid membranes during fibril growth shed light on the initial events which take place during amyloid aggregation. Accounts of fibril disaggregation and formation of globular aggregates due to interactions with lipids or fatty acids further demonstrate the complexity of the aggregation process and the difficulty to treat amyloid-related diseases. There is an inherent difficulty in generalizing from studies of aggregation in vitro, but the involvement of too many cellular components limits the ability to follow amyloid aggregation in a cellular (or extracellular) context. Fortunately, the development of experimental methods to generate stable globular aggregates suggests new means of studying the molecular events associated with amyloid aggregation. Furthermore, simulation studies enable deeper understanding of the experimental results and provide useful predictions that can be tested in the laboratory. Computer simulations can nowadays provide molecular or even atomistic details that are experimentally not available or very difficult to obtain. In the present review, recent developments on modelling and experiments of amyloid aggregation are reviewed, and an integrative account on how isolated interactions (as observed in vitro and in silico) combine during the course of amyloid-related diseases is presented. Finally, it is argued that an integrative approach is necessary to get a better understanding of the protein aggregation process.

The protonation state of the catalytic aspartates in plasmepsin II

Assigning the correct protonation state to the catalytic residues is essential for a realistic modelling of an enzymes active site. Plasmepsins are pharmaceutically relevant aspartic proteases involved in haemoglobin degradation by Plasmodium spp. In aspartic proteases, one of the two catalytic aspartates is protonated, while the other is negatively charged. Here, multiple explicit‐water molecular dynamics simulations of plasmepsin II, uncomplexed and with a hydroxypropylamine peptidomimetic inhibitor, indicate that protonation of Asp214 favours a stable active site structure. Moreover, the protonation state of the catalytic aspartate has a strong influence on a linear chain of hydrogen bonds with the adjacent side chains.

Membrane Protein Structure, Function and Dynamics: A Perspective from Experiments and Theory

Membrane proteins mediate processes that are fundamental for the flourishing of biological cells. Membrane-embedded transporters move ions and larger solutes across membranes; receptors mediate communication between the cell and its environment and membrane-embedded enzymes catalyze chemical reactions. Understanding these mechanisms of action requires knowledge of how the proteins couple to their fluid, hydrated lipid membrane environment. We present here current studies in computational and experimental membrane protein biophysics, and show how they address outstanding challenges in understanding the complex environmental effects on the structure, function, and dynamics of membrane proteins.

Molecular modelling and simulations in cancer research

The complexity of cancer and the vast amount of experimental data available have made computer-aided approaches necessary. Biomolecular modelling techniques are becoming increasingly easier to use, whereas hardware and software are becoming better and cheaper. Cross-talk between theoretical and experimental scientists dealing with cancer-research from a molecular approach, however, is still uncommon. This is in contrast to other fields, such as amyloid-related diseases, where molecular modelling studies are widely acknowledged. The aim of this review paper is therefore to expose some of the more common approaches in molecular modelling to cancer scientists in simple terms, illustrating success stories while also revealing the limitations of computational studies at the molecular level.

Molecular dynamics simulations of palmitate entry into the hydrophobic pocket of the fatty acid binding protein

The entry of substrate into the active site is the first event in any enzymatic reaction. However, due to the short time interval between the encounter and the formation of the stable complex, the detailed steps are experimentally unobserved. In the present study, we report a molecular dynamics simulation of the encounter between palmitate molecule and the Toad Liver fatty acid binding protein, ending with the formation of a stable complex resemblance in structure of other proteins of this family. The forces operating on the system leading to the formation of the tight complex are discussed.

Ions and the protein surface revisited : extensive molecular dynamics simulations and analysis of protein structures in alkali-chloride solutions

Proteins interact with ions in various ways. The surface of proteins has an innate capability to bind ions, and it is also influenced by the screening of the electrostatic potential owing to the presence of salts in the bulk solution. Alkali metal ions and chlorides interact with the protein surface, but such interactions are relatively weak and often transient. In this paper, computer simulations and analysis of protein structures are used to characterize the interactions between ions and the protein surface. The results show that the ion-binding properties of protein residues are highly variable. For example, alkali metal ions are more often associated with aspartate residues than with glutamates, whereas chlorides are most likely to be located near arginines. When comparing NaCl and KCl solutions, it was found that certain surface residues attract the anion more strongly in NaCl. This study demonstrates that protein-salt interactions should be accounted for in the planning and execution of experiments and simulations involving proteins, particularly if subtle structural details are sought after.

On the orientation of the catalytic dyad in aspartic proteases

The recent re‐refinement of the X‐ray structure of apo plasmepsin II from Plasmodium falciparum suggests that the two carboxylate groups in the catalytic dyad are noncoplanar, (Robbins et al., Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr 2009;65: 294–296) in remarkable contrast with the vast majority of structures of aspartic proteases. Here, evidence for the noncoplanarity of the catalytic aspartates is provided by analysis of multiple explicit water molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of plasmepsin II, human β‐secretase, and HIV‐protease. In the MD runs of plasmepsin II, the angle between the planes of the two carboxylates of the catalytic dyad is almost always in the range 60°–120°, in agreement with the perpendicular orientation in the re‐refined X‐ray structure. The noncoplanar arrangement is prevalent also in the β‐secretase simulations, as well as in the runs with the inhibitor‐bound proteases. Quantum‐mechanics calculations provide further evidence that before catalysis the noncoplanar arrangement is favored energetically in eukaryotic aspartic proteases. Remarkably, the coplanar orientation of the catalytic dyad is observed in MD simulations of HIV‐protease at 100 K but not at 300 K, which indicates that the noncoplanar arrangement is favored by conformational entropy. This finding suggests that the coplanar orientation in the crystal structures of apo aspartic proteases is promoted by the very low temperature used for data collection (usually around 100 K). Proteins 2010.