The adaptive resolution scheme (AdResS) is a multiscale molecular dynamics simulation approach that can concurrently couple atomistic (AT) and coarse-grained (CG) resolution regions, i.e., the molecules can freely adapt their resolution according to their current position in the system. Coupling to supramolecular CG models, where several molecules are represented as a single CG bead, is challenging but it provides higher computational gains and connection to the established MARTINI CG force field. Difficulties that arise from such coupling have been so far bypassed with bundled AT water models, where additional harmonic bonds between oxygen atoms within a given supramolecular water bundle are introduced. While these models simplify the supramolecular coupling, they also cause in certain situations spurious artifacts, such as partial unfolding of biomolecules. In this work, we present a new clustering algorithm SWINGER that can concurrently make, break and remake water bundles and in conjunction with the AdResS permits the use of original AT water models. We apply our approach to simulate a hybrid SPC/MARTINI water system and show that the essential properties of water are correctly reproduced with respect to the standard monoscale simulations. The developed hybrid water model can be used in biomolecular simulations, where a significant speed up can be obtained without compromising the accuracy of the AT water model.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5939482
Elevated expression of the immunoproteasome has been associated with autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, and various types of cancer. Selective inhibitors of the immunoproteasome are not only scarce, but also almost entirely restricted to peptide-based compounds. Herein, we describe nonpeptidic reversible inhibitors that selectively block the chymotrypsin-like (ß5i) subunit of the human immunoproteasome in the low micromolar range. The most potent of the reversibly acting compounds were then converted into covalent, irreversible, nonpeptidic inhibitors that retained selectivity for the ß5i subunit. In addition, these inhibitors discriminate between the immunoproteasome and the constitutive proteasome in cell-based assays. Along with their lack of cytotoxicity, these data point to these nonpeptidic compounds being suitable for further investigation as ß5i-selective probes for possible application in noncancer diseases related to the immunoproteasome.
COBISS.SI-ID: 4050545
When does a diffusing particle reach its target for the first time? This first-passage time (FPT) problem is central to the kinetics of molecular reactions in chemistry and molecular biology. Here, we explain the behavior of smooth FPT densities, for which all moments are finite, and demonstrate universal yet generally non-Poissonian long-time asymptotics for a broad variety of transport processes. While Poisson-like asymptotics arise generically in the presence of an effective repulsion in the immediate vicinity of the target, a time-scale separation between direct and reflected indirect trajectories gives rise to a universal proximity effect: Direct paths, heading more or less straight from the point of release to the target, become typical and focused, with a narrow spread of the corresponding first-passage times. Conversely, statistically dominant indirect paths exploring the entire system tend to be massively dissimilar. The initial distance to the target particularly impacts gene regulatory or competitive stochastic processes, for which few binding events often determine the regulatory outcome. The proximity effect is independent of details of the transport, highlighting the robust character of the FPT features uncovered here.
COBISS.SI-ID: 6067738
Drug discovery is usually focused on a single protein target; in this process, existing compounds that bind to related proteins are often ignored. We describe ProBiS plugin, extension of our earlier ProBiS-ligands approach, which for a given protein structure allows prediction of its binding sites and, for each binding site, the ligands from similar binding sites in the Protein Data Bank. We developed a new database of precalculated binding site comparisons of about 290000 proteins to allow fast prediction of binding sites in existing proteins. The plugin enables advanced viewing of predicted binding sites, ligands’ poses, and their interactions in three-dimensional graphics. Using the InhA query protein, an enoyl reductase enzyme in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis fatty acid biosynthesis pathway, we predicted its possible ligands and assessed their inhibitory activity experimentally. This resulted in three previously unrecognized inhibitors with novel scaffolds, demonstrating the plugin’s utility in the early drug discovery process.
COBISS.SI-ID: 38810629
We present a multiscale simulation of a DNA molecule in 1 M NaCl salt solution environment, employing the adaptive resolution simulation approach that allows the solvent molecules, i.e., water and ions, to change their resolution from atomistic to coarse-grained and vice versa adaptively on-the-fly. The region of high resolution moves together with the DNA center-of-mass so that the DNA itself is always modeled at high resolution. We show that our multiscale simulations yield a stable DNA–solution system, with statistical properties similar to those produced by the conventional all-atom molecular dynamics simulation. Special attention is given to the collective properties, such as the dielectric constant, as they provide a sensitive quality measure of our multiscale approach.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5756698