| 1. |
- Aaldering, L. J., et al.
(författare)
-
Development of an Efficient G-Quadruplex-Stabilised Thrombin-Binding Aptamer Containing a Three-Carbon Spacer Molecule
- 2017
-
Ingår i: ChemBioChem. - : Wiley-VCH Verlag. - 1439-4227 .- 1439-7633. ; 18:8, s. 755-763
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The thrombin-binding aptamer (TBA), which shows anticoagulant properties, is one of the most studied G-quadruplex-forming aptamers. In this study, we investigated the impact of different chemical modifications such as a three-carbon spacer (spacer-C3), unlocked nucleic acid (UNA) and 3′-amino-modified UNA (amino-UNA) on the structural dynamics and stability of TBA. All three modifications were incorporated at three different loop positions (T3, T7, T12) of the TBA G-quadruplex structure to result in a series of TBA variants and their stability was studied by thermal denaturation; folding was studied by circular dichroism spectroscopy and thrombin clotting time. The results showed that spacer-C3 introduction at the T7 loop position (TBA-SP7) significantly improved stability and thrombin clotting time while maintaining a similar binding affinity as TBA to thrombin. Detailed molecular modelling experiments provided novel insights into the experimental observations, further supporting the efficacy of TBA-SP7. The results of this study could provide valuable information for future designs of TBA analogues with superior thrombin inhibition properties.
|
|
| 2. |
- Awasthi, Saurabh, et al.
(författare)
-
Advanced Glycation End Products Modulate Structure and Drug Binding Properties of Albumin
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Molecular Pharmaceutics. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1543-8384 .- 1543-8392. ; 12:9, s. 3312-3322
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The extraordinary ligand binding properties of albumin makes it a key player in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many vital drugs. Albumin is highly susceptible for nonenzymatic glycation mediated structural modifications, and there is a need to determine structural and functional impact of specific AGEs modifications. The present study was aimed toward determining the AGE mediated structure and function changes, primarily looking into the effect on binding affinity of drugs in the two major drug binding sites of albumin. The impact of the two most predominant AGEs modifications, i.e., carboxyethyllysine (CEL) and argpyrimidine (Arg-P), was studied on the basis of the combination of in vitro and in silico experiments. In vitro studies were carried out by AGEs modification of bovine serum albumin (BSA) for the formation of Arg-P and CEL followed by drug interaction studies. In silico studies involved molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and docking studies for native and AGEs modified BSAs. In particular the side chain modification was specifically carried out for the residues in the drug binding sites, i.e., Arg-194, Arg-196, Arg-198, and Arg-217, and Lys-204 (site I) and Arg-409 and Lys-413 (site II). The equilibrated structures of native BSA (n-BSA) and glycated BSA (G-BSA) as obtained from MD were used for drug binding studies using molecular docking approach. It was evident from the results of both in vitro and in silico drug interaction studies that AGEs modification results in the reduced drug binding affinity for tolbutamide (TLB) and ibuprofen (IBP) in sites I and II. Moreover, the AGEs modification mediated conformational changes resulted in the shallow binding pockets with reduced accessibility for drugs.
|
|
| 3. |
- Mudedla, S. K., et al.
(författare)
-
Enhancement of Internal Motions of Lysozyme through Interaction with Gold Nanoclusters and its Optical Imaging
- 2015
-
Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 119:1, s. 653-664
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the interaction of gold nanoclusters with proteins has important ramifications in various fields. We present a study of the interaction between gold nanoclusters and lysozyme investigated using classical molecular dynamics and center-of-mass pulling simulations. The results reveal that the gold nanoclusters induce significant structural changes in lysozyme. Because the internal motions of lysozyme are related to its function, the changes in these internal motions have been quantified using principal component analysis of the molecular dynamics trajectories. The internal motions of lysozyme that are important for its function have been altered because of the interaction with the gold nanocluster. We have also explored how these induced changes in the lysozyme structure affect specific optical properties of the gold nanocluster using the complex polarization propagator method within the time-dependent density functional theory framework, which is of relevance for studies of the optical imaging of lysozyme using gold nanoclusters as molecular probes.
|
|
| 4. |
- Arul Murugan, N., et al.
(författare)
-
Unusual binding-site-specific photophysical properties of a benzothiazole-based optical probe in amyloid beta fibrils
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : The Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 20:31, s. 20334-20339
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical imaging of amyloid fibrils serves as a cost-effective route for the diagnosis of Alzheimer-like conformational diseases. However{,} the challenge here is to optimize the binding affinity and photophysical properties of the optical imaging agents in a way specific to certain types of amyloids. In a few occasions it is shown that novel optical imaging agents can be designed to bind to a particular type of amyloid fibril with larger binding affinity and specificity. There is also a recent report on photoluminescent polythiophenes which display photophysical properties that can be used to distinguish the variants or subtypes of amyloids (J. Rasmussen et al.{,} Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A.{,} 2017{,} 114(49){,} 13018–13023). Based on a multiscale modeling approach{,} here{,} we report on the complementary aspect that the photophysical properties of a benzothiazole based optical probe (referred to as BTA-3) can be specific to the binding sites in the same amyloid fibrils and we attribute this to its varying electronic structure in different sites. As reported experimentally from competitive binding assay studies for many amyloid staining molecules and tracers{,} we also show multiple binding sites in amyloid fibrils for this probe. In particular{,} BTA-3 displayed a red-shift in its low-frequency absorption band only in site-4{,} a surface site of amyloid fibrils when compared to the spectra in water solvent. In the remaining sites{,} it exhibited a less significant blue shift for the same absorption band.
|
|
| 5. |
- Bednarska, Joanna, et al.
(författare)
-
Elucidating the Mechanism of Zn2+ Sensing by a Bipyridine Probe Based on Two-Photon Absorption
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry B. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1520-6106 .- 1520-5207. ; 120:34, s. 9067-9075
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this work, we examine, by means of computational methods, the mechanism of Zn2+ sensing by a bipyridine-centered, D-pi-A-pi-D-type-ratiometric molecular probe. According to recently published experimental data [Divya, K. P.; Sreejith, S.; Ashokkumar, P.; Yuzhan, K.; Peng, Q; Maji, S. K.; Tong, Y.; Yu, H.; Zhao, Y.; Ramamurthy, P.; Ajayaghosh, A. A ratiometric fluorescent molecular -probe with enhanced two-photon response upon Zn2+ binding for in vitro and in vivo: bioimaging.= Chem. Sci. 2014, S, 3469-3474], after coordination to zinc ions the -probe exhibits a large enhancement of the two -photon absorption cross section. The goal of our investigation was to elucidate the mechanism behind this phenomenon. For this purpose, linear and nonlinear optical properties of -the unbound (cation-free) and bound probe were calculated, including the influence of solute Solvent interactions, implicitly using a polarizable continuum model and exp-licitely employing the QM/MM approach. Because the results of the calculations indicate that many conformers of the probe are energetically accessible at room temperature in solution and hence contribute to the Signal, structurepteperty relationships were also taken into account. Results of our simulations-demonstrate that the one-photon absorption bands for both the unbound -and bound forms correspond to the bright pi -> pi* transition to the first excited state; which, on the other hand,. exhibits negligible two-photon activity. On the basis of the results of the quadratic respOnse calculations, we put forward-notion that it is the second excited state that gives the strong signal in the experimental nonlinear spectrum. To explain the differenCes in the two-photon absorption activity for the two lowest-lying excited states and nonlinear response enhancement upon binding, we employed the generalized few -state model including the ground, first, and- second excited states. The analysis of the optical channel suggests that the large two-photon response is due to the coordination -induced increase of the, transition- moment from the first to the second excited state.
|
|
| 6. |
- Chattopadhyaya, Mausumi, et al.
(författare)
-
Origin of the Absorption Band of Bromophenol Blue in Acidic and Basic pH : Insight from a Combined Molecular Dynamics and TD-DFT/MM Study
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry A. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1089-5639 .- 1520-5215. ; 120:36, s. 7175-7182
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study the linear and nonlinear optical properties of a well-known acid base indicator, bromophenol blue (BPB), in aqueous solution by employing static and integrated approaches. In the static approach, optical properties have been calculated using time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) on the fully relaxed geometries of the neutral and different unprotonated forms of BPB. Moreover, both closed and open forms of BPB were considered. In the integrated approach, the optical properties have been computed over many snapshots extracted from molecular dynamics simulation using a hybrid time-dependent density functional theory/molecular mechanics approach. The static approach suggests closed neutral double right arrow anionic interconversion as the dominant mechanism for the red shift in the absorption spectra of BPB due to a change from acidic to basic pH. It is found by employing an integrated approach that the two interconversions, namely open neutral double right arrow anionic and open neutral double right arrow dianionic, can contribute to the pH- dependent shift in the absorption spectra of BPB. Even though both static and integrated approaches reproduce the pH-dependent red shift in the absorption spectra of BPB, the latter one is suitable to determine both the spectra and spectral broadening. Finally, the computed static first hyperpolarizability for various protonated and deprotonated forms of BPB reveals that this molecule can be used as a nonlinear optical probe for pH sensing in addition to its highly exploited use as an optical probe.
|
|
| 7. |
- Harczuk, Ignat, et al.
(författare)
-
Studies of pH-Sensitive Optical Properties of the deGFP1 Green Fluorescent Protein Using a Unique Polarizable Force Field
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1549-9618 .- 1549-9626. ; 10:8, s. 3492-3502
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study is to identify the responsible molecular forms for the pH dependent optical properties of the deGFP1 green fluorescent protein mutant. We have carried out static and dynamic type calculations for all four protonation states of the chromophore to unravel the contributions due to finite temperature and the flexible protein backbone on the pH dependent optical properties. In particular, we have used a combined molecular dynamics and density functional molecular mechanics linear response approach by means of which the optical property calculations were carried out for the chromophore in the explicitly treated solvent and bioenvironment. Two different models were used to describe the environment electronic embedding and polarizable electronic embedding accounting for the polarization of the chromophore and the mutual polarization between the chromophore and the environment, respectively. For this purpose a polarizable force field was derived quantum mechanically for the protein environment by use of analytical response theory. While the gas-phase calculations for the chromophore predict that the induced red shift going from low to high pH is attributed to the change of molecular forms from neutral to zwitterionic, the two more advanced models that explicitly account for the protein backbone attribute the pH shift to a neutral to anionic conversion. Some ramifications of the results for the use of GFPs as pH sensors are discussed.
|
|
| 8. |
- Kuang, Guanglin, et al.
(författare)
-
Computational Insight into the Binding Profile of the Second-Generation PET Tracer PI2620 with Tau Fibrils
- 2020
-
Ingår i: ACS Chemical Neuroscience. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1948-7193. ; 11:6, s. 900-908
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abnormal deposition of hyperphosphorylated tau as neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) is an important pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and of other neurodegenerative disorders. A noninvasive positron emission tomography (PET) tracer that quantifies neurofibrillary tangles in vivo can enhance the clinical diagnosis of AD and can also be used to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutics aimed at reducing the abnormal aggregation of the tau fibril in the brain. In this paper, we study the binding profile of fibrillar tau aggregates with a PET tracer PI2620, which is a new second generation tau PET tracer that is presently experimentally and clinically studied. The target structure for the tau fibril is based on cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure. A multiscale simulation workflow including molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, metadynamics simulation, and free energy calculations was implemented. We find that PI2620 can bind to eight surface binding sites, three core binding sites, and one entry site. The binding at the core sites and entry site is found to be much more favorable than that on the surface sites due to stronger hydrophobic interactions and less solvent exposure. Furthermore, the entry site which is formed by the terminal beta-sheets of the fibril is found to have the highest binding affinity to PI2620. Importantly, the binding capacity at the entry site can be much higher than that at other core sites, due to its easy accessibility. Therefore, the entry site is believed to be the major binding site for PI2620. A previous computational study on tracers with tau fibrils reports a maximum of four binding sites. Through use of methods that allow us to locate "cryptic binding sites", we report here additional core sites available for binding and we address the limitation of using the cryo-EM structure alone for structure-based tracer design. Our results could be helpful for elucidating the binding mechanism of imaging tracers with the fibrillar form of tau, a knowledge that in turn can be used to guide the development of compounds with higher affinity and selectivity for tau using structure-based design strategies.
|
|
| 9. |
- Kuang, Guanglin, et al.
(författare)
-
Investigation of the Binding Profiles of AZD2184 and Thioflavin T with Amyloid-beta(1-42) Fibril by Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics Methods
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry B. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1520-6106 .- 1520-5207. ; 119:35, s. 11560-11567
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Detecting deposits of amyloid beta fibrils in the brain is of paramount importance for an early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. A number of PET tracers have been developed for amyloid imaging, but many suffer from poor specificity and large signal to background ratio. Design of tracers with specificity and improved binding affinity requires knowledge about various potential binding sites in the amyloid beta fibril available for the tracers and the nature of the local microenvironment of these sites. In this study we investigate the local structure of fibrils using two important probes, namely, thioflavin T (a fluorescent probe) and AZD2184 (a PET tracer). The target structures for amyloid-beta(1-42) fibril are based on reported NMR solution models. By explicitly considering the effect of fibril flexibility on the available binding sites for all these models, the binding affinity of these probes has been investigated. The binding profiles of AZD2184 and thioflavin T were studied by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation methods. The two compounds were found to bind at the same sites of the fibril: three of which are within the fibril, and one is on the two sides of the Met35 residue on the surface. The binding affinity of AZD2184 and thioflavin T is found to be higher at the core sites than on the surface due to more contact residues. The binding affinity of AZD2184 is much higher than that of thioflavin T at every site due to electrostatic interaction and spatial restriction, which is in good agreement with experimental observation. However, the structural change of thioflavin T is much more significant than that of AZD2184, which is the chemical basis for its usage as a fluorescent probe. The ramifications of these results for the design and optimization of PET radioligands and fluorescent probes are briefly discussed.
|
|
| 10. |
- List, Nanna Holmgaard, et al.
(författare)
-
Relation between Nonlinear Optical Properties of Push-Pull Molecules and Metric of Charge Transfer Excitations
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1549-9618 .- 1549-9626. ; 11:9, s. 4182-4188
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We establish the relationships between the metric of charge transfer excitation (Delta r) for the bright pi pi* state and the two-photon absorption probability as well as the first hyperpolarizability for two families of push pull pi-conjugated systems. As previously demonstrated by Guido et al. (J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2013, 9, 3118-3126), Delta r is a measure for the average hole electron distance upon excitation and can be used to discriminate between short- and long-range electronic excitations. We indicate two new benefits from using this metric for the analyses of nonlinear optical properties of push pull systems. First, the two-photon absorption probability and the first hyperpolarizability are found to be interrelated through Delta r; if, beta similar to (Delta r)(k), then roughly, delta(TPA) similar to (Delta r)(k+1). Second, a simple power relation between Delta r and the molecular hyperpolarizabilities of push pull systems offers the possibility of estimating properties for longer molecular chains without performing calculations of high-order response functions explicitly. We further demonstrate how to link the hyperpolarizabilities with the chain length of the push-pull pi-conjugated systems through the metric of charge transfer.
|
|
