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Predicting ligand binding affinity with alchemical free energy methods in a polar model binding site.

ABSTRACT: We present a combined experimental and modeling study of organic ligand molecules binding to a slightly polar engineered cavity site in T4 lysozyme (L99A/M102Q). For modeling, we computed alchemical absolute binding free energies. These were blind tests performed prospectively on 13 diverse, previously untested candidate ligand molecules. We predicted that eight compounds would bind to the cavity and five would not; 11 of 13 predictions were correct at this level. The RMS error to the measurable absolute binding energies was 1.8 kcal/mol. In addition, we computed "relative" binding free energies for six phenol derivatives starting from two known ligands: phenol and catechol. The average RMS error in the relative free energy prediction was 2.5 kcal/mol (phenol) and 1.1 kcal/mol (catechol). To understand these results at atomic resolution, we obtained x-ray co-complex structures for nine of the diverse ligands and for all six phenol analogs. The average RMSD of the predicted pose to the experiment was 2.0 A (diverse set), 1.8 A (phenol-derived predictions), and 1.2 A (catechol-derived predictions). We found that predicting accurate affinities and rank-orderings required near-native starting orientations of the ligand in the binding site. Unanticipated binding modes, multiple ligand binding, and protein conformational change all proved challenging for the free energy methods. We believe that these results can help guide future improvements in physics-based absolute binding free energy methods.

SUBMITTER: Boyce SE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2788029 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Predicting ligand binding affinity with alchemical free energy methods in a polar model binding site.

Boyce Sarah E SE Mobley David L DL Rocklin Gabriel J GJ Graves Alan P AP Dill Ken A KA Shoichet Brian K BK

Journal of molecular biology 20090924 4

We present a combined experimental and modeling study of organic ligand molecules binding to a slightly polar engineered cavity site in T4 lysozyme (L99A/M102Q). For modeling, we computed alchemical absolute binding free energies. These were blind tests performed prospectively on 13 diverse, previously untested candidate ligand molecules. We predicted that eight compounds would bind to the cavity and five would not; 11 of 13 predictions were correct at this level. The RMS error to the measurable ...[more]

PMID: 19782087

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Project description:Accurate prediction of the binding affinities of small-molecule ligands to their biological targets is fundamental for structure-based drug design but remains a very challenging task. In this paper, we have performed computational studies to predict the binding models of 31 small-molecule Smac (the second mitochondria-derived activator of caspase) mimetics to their target, the XIAP (X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis) protein, and their binding affinities. Our results showed that computational docking was able to reliably predict the binding models, as confirmed by experimentally determined crystal structures of some Smac mimetics complexed with XIAP. However, all the computational methods we have tested, including an empirical scoring function, two knowledge-based scoring functions, and MM-GBSA (molecular mechanics and generalized Born surface area), yield poor to modest prediction for binding affinities. The linear correlation coefficient (r(2)) value between the predicted affinities and the experimentally determined affinities was found to be between 0.21 and 0.36. Inclusion of ensemble protein-ligand conformations obtained from molecular dynamic simulations did not significantly improve the prediction. However, major improvement was achieved when the free-energy change for ligands between their free- and bound-states, or "ligand-reorganization free energy", was included in the MM-GBSA calculation, and the r(2) value increased from 0.36 to 0.66. The prediction was validated using 10 additional Smac mimetics designed and evaluated by an independent group. This study demonstrates that ligand reorganization free energy plays an important role in the overall binding free energy between Smac mimetics and XIAP. This term should be evaluated for other ligand-protein systems and included in the development of new scoring functions. To our best knowledge, this is the first computational study to demonstrate the importance of ligand reorganization free energy for the prediction of protein-ligand binding free energy.

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Predicting ligand binding affinity with alchemical free energy methods in a polar model binding site.

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Predicting ligand binding affinity with alchemical free energy methods in a polar model binding site.

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