Computer-aided design and activity prediction of leucine aminopeptidase inhibitors.

The Ligand Design (LUDI) approach has been used in order to design leucine aminopeptidase inhibitors, predict their activity and analyze their interactions with the enzyme. The investigation was based on the crystal structure of bovine lens leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) complexed with its inhibitor--the phosphonic acid analogue of leucine (LeuP). More than 50 potential leucine aminopeptidase inhibitors have been obtained, including the most potent aminophosphonic LAP inhibitors with experimentally known activity, which have been the subject of more detailed studies. A reasonable agreement between theoretical and experimental activities has been obtained for most of the studied inhibitors. Our results confirm that LUDI is a powerful tool for the design of enzyme inhibitors as well as in the prediction of their activity. In addition, for inhibitor-active site interactions dominated by the electrostatic effects it is possible to improve binding energy estimates by using a more accurate description of inhibitor charge distribution.

Sequence-selectivity of 5,11-dimethyl-5H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoline binding to DNA. Footprinting and molecular modeling studies.

Indolo[2,3-b]quinolines are a new family of the DNA intercalators showing significant cytotoxic activity. The mechanism of their action is based on the inhibition of DNA topoisomerase II activity. It depends on their ability to induce and stabilize drug-topII-DNA cleavable complexes. Site-specific intercalation of 5,11-dimethyl-5H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoline (DiMIQ) was analyzed in vitro by DNaseI footprinting and by molecular modeling. To model the DNA-intercalator complex, use was made of the CVFF and ESFF force fields implemented in Insight 97.0 software. Experimental results were verified using a simple statistical model. The DiMIQ molecule was found to bind preferentially to the pBR322 DNA plasmid in the 5'-TGCTAACGC-3' region between adjacent adenine bases.

Synthesis, and cytotoxic activity of some novel indolo[2,3-b]quinoline derivatives: DNA topoisomerase II inhibitors.

A series of new 5H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoline derivatives bearing methoxy and methyl groups at C-2 and C-9 was synthesized (according to the modified Graebe-Ullmann reaction). These compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity and tested as inhibitors of DNA topoisomerase II. Lipophilic and calf thymus DNA binding properties of these compounds were also established. In the SAR studies we used quantum-mechanical methodology to analyze the molecular properties of the drugs. All of the 5H-indolo[2,3-b]quinolines tested were found to inhibit the growth of gram-positive bacteria and pathogenic fungi at MIC ranging between 2.0 and 6.0 microM. They showed also cytotoxic activity in vitro against several human cancer cell lines of different origin (ID50 varied from 0.6 to 1.4 microM), and stimulated the formation of topoisomerase-II-mediated pSP65 DNA cleavage at concentration between 0.2 and 0.5 microM. The most active indolo[2,3-b]quinolines which had the greatest contribution to the increase in the Tm of DNA displayed also the highest DNA binding constants and the highest cytotoxic activity. The differences in DNA binding properties and cytotoxic activity seem to be more related to steric than electrostatic effects.

Usefulness of one electron properties in the study of the nitromethane-to-methyl nitrite rearrangement.

Large-scale multiple reference configuration interaction calculations for a unimolecular rearrangement reaction of nitromethane to methyl nitrite are presented. The complicated structure of potential energy curves is explained in terms of interactions between ground and excited states. An explanation for an extremely long C--N and C--O bond distances in the transition state is also given. The study of corresponding dipole moments and electrostatic molecular potentials enhances the overall understanding of the reaction.

Multipole correction of atomic monopole models of molecular charge distribution. I. Peptides.

The defects in atomic monopole models of molecular charge distribution have been analyzed for several model-blocked peptides and compared with accurate quantum chemical values. The results indicate that the angular characteristics of the molecular electrostatic potential around functional groups capable of forming hydrogen bonds can be considerably distorted within various models relying upon isotropic atomic charges only. It is shown that these defects can be corrected by augmenting the atomic point charge models by cumulative atomic multipole moments (CAMMs). Alternatively, sets of off-center atomic point charges could be automatically derived from respective multipoles, providing approximately equivalent corrections. For the first time, correlated atomic multipoles have been calculated for N-acetyl, N'-methylamide-blocked derivatives of glycine, alanine, cysteine, threonine, leucine, lysine, and serine using the MP2 method. The role of the correlation effects in the peptide molecular charge distribution are discussed.

Point charge representation of multicenter multipole moments in calculation of electrostatic properties.

Distributed Point Charge Models (PCM) for CO, (H2O)2, and HS-SH molecules have been computed from analytical expressions using multi-center multipole moments. The point charges (set of charges including both atomic and non-atomic positions) exactly reproduce both molecular and segmental multipole moments, thus constituting an accurate representation of the local anisotropy of electrostatic properties. In contrast to other known point charge models, PCM can be used to calculate not only intermolecular, but also intramolecular interactions. Comparison of these results with more accurate calculations demonstrated that PCM can correctly represent both weak and strong (intramolecular) interactions, thus indicating the merit of extending PCM to obtain improved potentials for molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics computational methods.

Cumulative atomic multipole moments complement any atomic charge model to obtain more accurate electrostatic properties.

The quality of several atomic charge models based on different definitions has been analyzed using cumulative atomic multipole moments (CAMM). This formalism can generate higher atomic moments starting from any atomic charges, while preserving the corresponding molecular moments. The atomic charge contribution to the higher molecular moments, as well as to the electrostatic potentials, has been examined for CO and HCN molecules at several different levels of theory. The results clearly show that the electrostatic potential obtained from CAMM expansion is convergent up to R-5 term for all atomic charge models used. This illustrates that higher atomic moments can be used to supplement any atomic charge model to obtain more accurate description of electrostatic properties.

Catalytic activity of aminoacyl tRNA synthetases and its implications for the origin of life. I. Aminoacyl adenylate formation in tyrosyl tRNA synthetase.

The changes in the catalytic activity resulting from amino acid substitutions in the active site region have been theoretically modeled for tyrosyl tRNA synthetase (Tyr-RS). The catalytic activity was calculated as the differential stabilization of the transition state using electrostatic approximation. The results indicate that charged residues His45, His48, Asp78, Asp176, Asp194, Lys225, Lys230, Lys233, Arg265, and Lys268 play essential roles in catalysis of aminoacyl adenylate formation in Tyr-RS, which is in general agreement with previously known experimental data for residues 45, 48, 194, 230, and 233. These catalytic residues have also been used to search for sequence homology patterns among class I aminoacyl RSs of which HIGH and KMSKS conserved sequence motifs are well known. His45 and His48 belong to the HIGH signature sequence of class I aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (aRSs), whereas Arg265 and Lys268 can constitute a part of the KMSKS charge pattern. Lys225, Lys230, and Lys233 may be part of the conservative substitution pattern [HKR]-X(4)-[HKR]-X(2)-[HKR], and Asp194 is part of the new GSDQ motif. This demonstrates that the three dimensional charge distribution near the active site is an essential feature of the catalytic activity of aRS and that the theoretical technique used in this work can be utilized in searches for the catalytically important residues that may provide a clue for a charge residue pattern conserved in evolution. The appearance of patterns I-IV in Arg-, Gln-, Met-, Ile-, Leu-, Trp-, Val-, Glu-, Cys-, and Tyr-RS indicates that all these enzymes could have the same ancestor.

Efficient method for the generation and display of electrostatic potential surfaces from ab-initio wavefunctions.

A cost effective color graphics representation of molecular electrostatic potential surfaces employing the cumulative atomic or bond multipole moments has been described. A general description of the method used to obtain cumulative multipole moments directly from ab-initio wavefunctions is given, along with an outline of the algorithm for generating electrostatic potential surfaces in the molecular graphics programs MOL17 (FORTRAN 77, Silicon Graphics 3130 and 4D series workstations) and PCMCAMM (Turbo Pascal, IBM PC and PS/2 computers). Examples are given that illustrate the convergence of the multiple expansion, the degree of basis-set dependence compensated by the use of higher atomic moments, and the effect of placing additional expansion centers along the bonds.

Ab initio study of the electrostatic multipole nature of torsional potentials in CH3SSCH3, CH3SSH, and HOOH.

The origin of torsional potentials in H3CSSCH3, H3CSSH, and HOOH and the anisotropy of the local charge distribution has been analyzed in terms of atomic multipoles calculated from the ab initio LCAO-MO-SCF wave function in the 6-31G* basis set. The results indicate that for longer -S-S-bonds the major contribution to these torsional barriers are electrostatic interactions of the atomic multipoles located on two atoms forming the rotated bond. This finding demonstrates the important role of electrostatic 1-2 interatomic interactions, usually neglected in conformational studies. It also opens the possibility to derive directly from accurate ab initio wave functions a simple nonempirical torsional potential involving atomic multipoles of two bonded atoms defining the torsional angle. For shorter -O-O- bonds, use of more precise models and inclusion of 1-3 interactions seems to be necessary.