| 1. |
- Adamczyk, Andrew J., et al.
(author)
-
Catalysis by dihydrofolate reductase and other enzymes arises from electrostatic preorganization, not conformational motions
- 2011
-
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 108:34, s. 14115-14120
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The proposal that enzymatic catalysis is due to conformational fluctuations has been previously promoted by means of indirect considerations. However, recent works have focused on cases where the relevant motions have components toward distinct conformational regions, whose population could be manipulated by mutations. In particular, a recent work has claimed to provide direct experimental evidence for a dynamical contribution to catalysis in dihydrofolate reductase, where blocking a relevant conformational coordinate was related to the suppression of the motion toward the occluded conformation. The present work utilizes computer simulations to elucidate the true molecular basis for the experimentally observed effect. We start by reproducing the trend in the measured change in catalysis upon mutations (which was assumed to arise as a result of a "dynamical knockout" caused by the mutations). This analysis is performed by calculating the change in the corresponding activation barriers without the need to invoke dynamical effects. We then generate the catalytic landscape of the enzyme and demonstrate that motions in the conformational space do not help drive catalysis. We also discuss the role of flexibility and conformational dynamics in catalysis, once again demonstrating that their role is negligible and that the largest contribution to catalysis arises from electrostatic preorganization. Finally, we point out that the changes in the reaction potential surface modify the reorganization free energy (which includes entropic effects), and such changes in the surface also alter the corresponding motion. However, this motion is never the reason for catalysis, but rather simply a reflection of the shape of the reaction potential surface.
|
|
| 2. |
- Al-Smadi, Derar, 1983-, et al.
(author)
-
Chemical and Biochemical Approaches for the Synthesis of Substituted Dihydroxybutanones and Di-, and Tri-Hydroxypentanones
- 2019
-
In: Journal of Organic Chemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0022-3263 .- 1520-6904. ; 84:11, s. 6982-6991
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Polyhydroxylated compounds are building blocks for the synthesis of carbohydrates and other natural products. Their synthesis is mainly achieved by different synthetic versions of aldol-coupling reactions, catalyzed either by organocatalysts, enzymes or metal-organic catalysts. We have investigated the formation of 1,4-substituted 2,3-dihydroxybutan-1-one derivatives from para- and meta-substituted phenylacetaldehydes by three distinctly different strategies. The first involved a direct aldol reaction with hydroxyacetone, dihydroxyacetone or 2-hydroxyacetophenone, catalyzed by the cinchona derivative cinchonine. The second was reductive cross-coupling with methyl or phenyl glyoxal promoted by SmI2 resulting in either 5-substituted 3,4-dihydroxypentan-2-ones or 1,4 bis-phenyl substituted butanones, respectively. Finally, in the third case, aldolase catalysis was employed for synthesis of the corresponding 1,3,4-trihydroxylated pentan-2-one derivatives. The organocatalytic route with cinchonine generated distereomerically enriched syn products (de = 60−99 %), with moderate enantiomeric excesses (ee = 43−56%), but did not produce aldols with either hydroxyacetone or dihydroxyacetone as donor ketones. The SmI2-promoted reductive cross-coupling generated product mixtures with diastereomeric and enantiomeric ratios close to unity. This route allowed for the production of both 1-methyl- and 1-phenylsubstituted 2,3-dihydroxybutanones, at yields between 40−60%. Finally, the biocatalytic approach resulted in enantiopure syn (3R,4S) 1,3,4-trihydroxypentan-2-ones.
|
|
| 3. |
- Amrein, Beat Anton, et al.
(author)
-
CADEE : Computer-Aided Directed Evolution of Enzymes
- 2017
-
In: IUCrJ. - 2052-2525. ; 4:1, s. 50-64
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The tremendous interest in enzymes as biocatalysts has led to extensive work in enzyme engineering, as well as associated methodology development. Here, a new framework for computer-aided directed evolution of enzymes (CADEE) is presented which allows a drastic reduction in the time necessary to prepare and analyze in silico semi-automated directed evolution of enzymes. A pedagogical example of the application of CADEE to a real biological system is also presented in order to illustrate the CADEE workflow.
|
|
| 4. |
- Amrein, Beat Anton, 1986-
(author)
-
Extending the Reach of Computational Approaches to Model Enzyme Catalysis
- 2017
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Recent years have seen tremendous developments in methods for computational modeling of (bio-) molecular systems. Ever larger reactive systems are being studied with high accuracy approaches, and high-level QM/MM calculations are being routinely performed. However, applying high-accuracy methods to large biological systems is computationally expensive and becomes problematic when conformational sampling is needed. To address this challenge, classical force field based approaches such as free energy perturbation (FEP) and empirical valence bond calculations (EVB) have been employed in this work. Specifically:Force-field independent metal parameters have been developed for a range of alkaline earth and transition metal ions, which successfully reproduce experimental solvation free energies, metal-oxygen distances, and coordination numbers. These are valuable for the computational study of biological systems.Experimental studies have shown that the epoxide hydrolase from Solanum tuberosum (StEH1) is not only an enantioselective enzyme, but for smaller substrates, displays enantioconvergent behavior. For StEH1, two detailed studies, involving combined experimental and computational efforts have been performed: We first used trans-stilbene oxide to establish the basic reaction mechanism of this enzyme. Importantly, a highly conserved and earlier ignored histidine was identified to be important for catalysis. Following from this, EVB and experiment have been used to investigate the enantioconvergence of the StEH1-catalyzed hydrolysis of styrene oxide. This combined approach involved wildtype StEH1 and an engineered enzyme variant, and established a molecular understanding of enantioconvergent behavior of StEH1.A novel framework was developed for the Computer-Aided Directed Evolution of Enzymes (CADEE), in order to be able to quickly prepare, simulate, and analyze hundreds of enzyme variants. CADEE’s easy applicability is demonstrated in the form of an educational example.In conclusion, classical approaches are a computationally economical means to achieve extensive conformational sampling. Using the EVB approach has enabled me to obtain a molecular understanding of complex enzymatic systems. I have also increased the reach of the EVB approach, through the implementation of CADEE, which enables efficient and highly parallel in silico testing of hundreds-to-thousands of individual enzyme variants.
|
|
| 5. |
- Amrein, Beat Anton, et al.
(author)
-
In Silico-Directed Evolution Using CADEE
- 2018
-
In: Computational Methods in Protein Evolution. - New York, NY : Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. - 9781493987368 - 9781493987351 ; , s. 381-415
-
Book chapter (other academic/artistic)
|
|
| 6. |
- Aqvist, Johan, et al.
(author)
-
Exceptionally large entropy contributions enable the high rates of GTP hydrolysis on the ribosome
- 2015
-
In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 5
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Protein synthesis on the ribosome involves hydrolysis of GTP in several key steps of the mRNA translation cycle. These steps are catalyzed by the translational GTPases of which elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) is the fastest GTPase known. Here, we use extensive computer simulations to explore the origin of its remarkably high catalytic rate on the ribosome and show that it is made possible by a very large positive activation entropy. This entropy term (T Delta S-double dagger) amounts to more than 7 kcal/mol at 25 degrees C. It is further found to be characteristic of the reaction mechanism utilized by the translational, but not other, GTPases and it enables these enzymes to attain hydrolysis rates exceeding 500 s(-1). This entropy driven mechanism likely reflects the very high selection pressure on the speed of protein synthesis, which drives the rate of each individual GTPase towards maximal turnover rate of the whole translation cycle.
|
|
| 7. |
- Baier, Florian, et al.
(author)
-
Cryptic genetic variation shapes the adaptive evolutionary potential of enzymes
- 2019
-
In: eLIFE. - : ELIFE SCIENCES PUBLICATIONS LTD. - 2050-084X. ; 8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Genetic variation among orthologous proteins can cause cryptic phenotypic properties that only manifest in changing environments. Such variation may impact the evolvability of proteins, but the underlying molecular basis remains unclear. Here, we performed comparative directed evolution of four orthologous metallo-beta-lactamases toward a new function and found that different starting genotypes evolved to distinct evolutionary outcomes. Despite a low initial fitness, one ortholog reached a significantly higher fitness plateau than its counterparts, via increasing catalytic activity. By contrast, the ortholog with the highest initial activity evolved to a less-optimal and phenotypically distinct outcome through changes in expression, oligomerization and activity. We show how cryptic molecular properties and conformational variation of active site residues in the initial genotypes cause epistasis, that could lead to distinct evolutionary outcomes. Our work highlights the importance of understanding the molecular details that connect genetic variation to protein function to improve the prediction of protein evolution.
|
|
| 8. |
- Barrozo, Alexandre, et al.
(author)
-
Computational Protein Engineering: Bridging the Gap between Rational Design and Laboratory Evolution
- 2012
-
In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-6596 .- 1422-0067. ; 13:10, s. 12428-12460
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Enzymes are tremendously proficient catalysts, which can be used as extracellular catalysts for a whole host of processes, from chemical synthesis to the generation of novel biofuels. For them to be more amenable to the needs of biotechnology, however, it is often necessary to be able to manipulate their physico-chemical properties in an efficient and streamlined manner, and, ideally, to be able to train them to catalyze completely new reactions. Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in different approaches to achieve this, both in the laboratory, and in silico. There remains, however, a gap between current approaches to computational enzyme design, which have primarily focused on the early stages of the design process, and laboratory evolution, which is an extremely powerful tool for enzyme redesign, but will always be limited by the vastness of sequence space combined with the low frequency for desirable mutations. This review discusses different approaches towards computational enzyme design and demonstrates how combining newly developed screening approaches that can rapidly predict potential mutation “hotspots” with approaches that can quantitatively and reliably dissect the catalytic step can bridge the gap that currently exists between computational enzyme design and laboratory evolution studies.
|
|
| 9. |
- Barrozo, Alexandre, et al.
(author)
-
Computer simulations of the catalytic mechanism of wild-type and mutant beta-phosphoglucomutase
- 2018
-
In: Organic and biomolecular chemistry. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1477-0520 .- 1477-0539. ; 16:12, s. 2060-2073
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- beta-Phosphoglucomutase (beta-PGM) has served as an important model system for understanding biological phosphoryl transfer. This enzyme catalyzes the isomerization of beta-glucose-1-phosphate to -glucose-6-phosphate in a two-step process proceeding via a bisphosphate intermediate. The conventionally accepted mechanism is that both steps are concerted processes involving acid-base catalysis from a nearby aspartate (D10) side chain. This argument is supported by the observation that mutation of D10 leaves the enzyme with no detectable activity. However, computational studies have suggested that a substrate-assisted mechanism is viable for many phosphotransferases. Therefore, we carried out empirical valence bond (EVB) simulations to address the plausibility of this mechanistic alternative, including its role in the abolished catalytic activity of the D10S, D10C and D10N point mutants of beta-PGM. In addition, we considered both of these mechanisms when performing EVB calculations of the catalysis of the wild type (WT), H20A, H20Q, T16P, K76A, D170A and E169A/D170A protein variants. Our calculated activation free energies confirm that D10 is likely to serve as the general base/acid for the reaction catalyzed by the WT enzyme and all its variants, in which D10 is not chemically altered. Our calculations also suggest that D10 plays a dual role in structural organization and maintaining electrostatic balance in the active site. The correct positioning of this residue in a catalytically competent conformation is provided by a functionally important conformational change in this enzyme and by the extensive network of H-bonding interactions that appear to be exquisitely preorganized for the transition state stabilization.
|
|
| 10. |
- Barrozo, Alexandre, et al.
(author)
-
Cooperative Electrostatic Interactions Drive Functional Evolution in the Alkaline Phosphatase Superfamily
- 2015
-
In: Journal of the American Chemical Society. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0002-7863 .- 1520-5126. ; 137:28, s. 9061-9076
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is becoming widely accepted that catalytic promiscuity, i.e., the ability of a single enzyme to catalyze the turnover of multiple, chemically distinct substrates, plays a key role in the evolution of new enzyme functions. In this context, the members of the alkaline phosphatase superfamily have been extensively studied as model systems in order to understand the phenomenon of enzyme multifunctionality. In the present work, we model the selectivity of two multiply promiscuous members of this superfamily, namely the phosphonate monoester hydrolases from Burkholderia caryophylli and Rhizobium leguminosarum. We have performed extensive simulations of the enzymatic reaction of both wild-type enzymes and several experimentally characterized mutants. Our computational models are in agreement with key experimental observables, such as the observed activities of the wild-type enzymes, qualitative interpretations of experimental pH-rate profiles, and activity trends among several active site mutants. In all cases the substrates of interest bind to the enzyme in similar conformations, with largely unperturbed transition states from their corresponding analogues in aqueous solution. Examination of transition-state geometries and the contribution of individual residues to the calculated activation barriers suggest that the broad promiscuity of these enzymes arises from cooperative electrostatic interactions in the active site, allowing each enzyme to adapt to the electrostatic needs of different substrates. By comparing the structural and electrostatic features of several alkaline phosphatases, we suggest that this phenomenon is a generalized feature driving selectivity and promiscuity within this superfamily and can be in turn used for artificial enzyme design.
|
|
