• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.431-436
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• 2016

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the major cause of cervical cancer, a deadly threat to millions of females. The early oncogene product (E7) of the high-risk HPV16 is the primary agent associated with HPV-related cervical cancers. In order to understand how E7 contributes to the transforming activity, we investigated the structural features of the flexible N-terminal region (46 residues) of E7 by carrying out N-15 heteronuclear NMR experiments and replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations. Several NMR parameters as well as simulation ensemble structures indicate that this intrinsically disordered region of E7 contains two transient (10-20% populated) helical pre-structured motifs that overlap with important target binding moieties such as an E2F-mimic motif and a pRb-binding LXCXE segment. Presence of such target-binding motifs in HPV16 E7 provides a reasonable explanation for its promiscuous target-binding behavior associated with its transforming activity.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.390-398
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• 2024

FoxO1, a member of the Forkhead transcription factor family subgroup O (FoxO), is expressed in a range of cell types and is crucial for various pathophysiological processes, such as apoptosis and inflammation. While FoxO1's roles in multiple diseases have been recognized, the target has remained largely unexplored due to the absence of cost-effective and efficient inhibitors. Therefore, there is a need for natural FoxO1 inhibitors with minimal adverse effects. In this study, docking, MMGBSA, and ADMET analyses were performed to identify natural compounds that exhibit strong binding affinity to FoxO1. The top candidates were then subjected to molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. A natural product library was screened for interaction with FoxO1 (PDB ID-3CO6) using the Glide module of the Schrödinger suite. In silico ADMET profiling was conducted using SwissADME and pkCSM web servers. Binding free energies of the selected compounds were assessed with the Prime-MMGBSA module, while the dynamics of the top hits were analyzed using the Desmond module of the Schrödinger suite. Several natural products demonstrated high docking scores with FoxO1, indicating their potential as FoxO1 inhibitors. Specifically, the docking scores of neochlorogenic acid and fraxin were both below -6.0. These compounds also exhibit favorable drug-like properties, and a 25 ns MD study revealed a stable interaction between fraxin and FoxO1. Our findings highlight the potential of various natural products, particularly fraxin, as effective FoxO1 inhibitors with strong binding affinity, dynamic stability, and suitable ADMET profiles.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.275-280
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• 2012

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are a diverse family of homo- or heteropentameric ligand-gated ion channels. Understanding the physiological role of each nAChR subtype and the key residues responsible for normal and pathological states is important. ${\alpha}$-Conotoxin neuropeptides are highly selective probes capable of discriminating different subtypes of nAChRs. In this study, we performed homology modeling to generate the neuronal ${\alpha}3$, ${\beta}2$ and ${\beta}4$ subunits using the x-ray structure of the ${\alpha}1$ subunit as a template. The structures of the extracellular domains containing ligand binding sites in the ${\alpha}3{\beta}2$ and ${\alpha}3{\beta}4$ nAChR subtypes were constructed using MD simulations and ligand docking processes in their free and ligand-bound states using ${\alpha}$-conotoxin GIC, which exhibited the highest ${\alpha}3{\beta}2$ vs. ${\alpha}3{\beta}4$ discrimination ratio. The results provide a reasonable structural basis for such a discriminatory ability, supporting the idea that the present strategy can be used for future investigations on nAChR-ligand complexes.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.216-219
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• 2012

Structure-based drug design possibly benefit from in silico methods that precisely predict the binding affinity of small molecules to target macromolecules. There are many limitations arise from the difficulty of predicting the binding affinity of a small molecule to a biological target with the current scoring functions. There is thus a strong interest in novel methodologies based on MD simulations that claim predictions of greater accuracy than current scoring functions, helpful for a regular use designed for drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. Herein, we report a short review on free energy calculations using MMPBSA method a useful method in structure based drug discovery.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1627-1631
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• 2003

Molecular modeling was performed to comprehend the chiral recognition of ${\alpha}$-methoxy-${\alpha}$-trifluoromethylphenylacetic acid (MTPA) enantiomers by cyclomaltoheptaose (${\beta}$-cyclodextrin,${\beta}$-CD) and 6-amino-6-deoxy-cyclomaltoheptaose (am-${\beta}$-CD). Monte Carlo (MC) docking coupled to constant temperature molecular dynamics (MD) simulations was applied to the investigation for the ${\alpha}$-methoxy-${\alpha}$-trifluoromethylphenylacetic acid complexation with two different CDs in terms of the relative distribution of the interaction energies. The calculated results are finely correlated with the experimental observations in chiral recognition thermodynamics. Am-${\beta}$-CD as a host showed the superior enantio-discrimination ability to the native ${\beta}$-CD where the amino group of am-${\beta}$-CD was critically involved in enhancing the ability of chiral discrimination via the Coulombic interaction with MTPA.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2018

Aluminum silicates ($Al_2SiO_5$) undergo phase transitions among kyanite, andalusite, and sillimanite depending on temperature and pressure conditions. The minerals are often used as an important indicator of the degree of metamorphism for certain metamorphic rocks. In this study, we have applied classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and density functional theory (DFT) to the aluminum silicates. We examined the crystal structures as a function of applied pressure and the corresponding stabilities based on calculated enthalpies at each pressure. In terms of the lattice parameters, both methods showed that the volume decreases as the pressure increases as observed in the experiment. In particular, DFT results differed from experimental results by much less than 1%. As to the relative stability, however, both methods showed different levels of accuracy. In the MD simulations, a transition pressure at which the relative stability between two minerals reverse could not be determined because the enthalpies were insensitive to the applied pressure. On the other hand, in DFT calculations, the relative stability relation among the three minerals was consistent with experiment, although the transition pressure was strongly dependent on the choice of the electronic exchange-correlation functional.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.496-501
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• 2007

Recently, as MEMS and NEMS devices have been widely used in the various engineering applications, the characteristics of nanoscale systems are investigated in the limelight. However, as opposed to a macroscale system, the identification of the state of nanoscale systems is extremely hard because they can include only the order of $10^{3}\sim10^{5}$ molecules, which requires highly expensive and accurate experimental apparatus for an investigation. This limitations make the study on nanoscale system use computer simulations. Therefore, it is strongly required to identify the state of nanoscale system simulated in computer simulation. In these molecular dynamics(MD) study, we suggest that the potential energy of individual molecule can be used as criterion for defining the state of clusters or nanoscale systems. In addition, we compared the phase state from the potential energy with one from the radial distribution function(RDF) for verification. The comparison showed that the intermolecular potential energy can be used as a criteria distinguishing the phase state of nanoscale systems (This study will be published soon in the KSME transaction of the section B).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.435-447
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• 2007

Recently, as MEMS and NEMS devices have been widely used in the various engineering applications, the characteristics of nanoscale systems are investigated in the limelight. However, as opposed to a macroscale system, the identification of the state of nanoscale systems is extremely hard because they can include only the order of $10^3{\sim}10^5$ molecules, which requires highly expensive and accurate experimental apparatus for an investigation. This limitations make the study on nanoscale system use computer simulations. Therefore, it is strongly required to identify the state of nanoscale system simulated in computer simulation. In this molecular dynamics(MD) study, we suggest that the potential energy of individual molecule can be used as criterion for defining the state of clusters or nanoscale systems. In addition, we compared the phase state from the potential energy with one from the radial distribution function(RDF) for verification. The comparison showed that the intermolecular potential energy can be used as a criteria distinguishing the phase state of nanoscale systems.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.6 s.301
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• pp.319-324
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• 2007

The structural properties of $SiO_2$ liquid at finite temperatures have been investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations utilizing the Tersoff interatomic potential. During cooling process, the $SiO_2$ liquid structure quenched with a cooling rate of $1.0{\times}10^{11}K/sec$ shows the traditional properties observed in the experiments. The coordination defects of system decrease with decreasing temperature up to 17%. The $SiO_2$ glass quenched up to 1600 K contains defects consisting of the fivefold coordination of Si, and the threefold coordination of O atoms. The calculated diffusion coefficients which are calculated by monitoring. the mean-square displacement of atoms drop to almost zero below 3000 K ($<10^{-6}\;cm^2/sec$) but has a fluctuations at low temperature. The structure properties of $SiO_2$ liquid shows a significant dependence on the temperature during cooling process. Bond-angle distribution at around $120^{\circ}$ originate from the O and Si atoms consisting of the over-coordinated O atoms.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.1769-1776
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• 2014

Binding modes of a series of catechol derivatives such as protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) inhibitors were identified by molecular modeling techniques. Docking, molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations were employed to determine the modes of these new inhibitors. Binding free energies were calculated by involving different energy components using the Molecular Mechanics-Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area and Generalized Born Surface Area methods. Relatively larger binding energies were obtained for the catechol derivatives compared to one of the PTP1B inhibitors already in use. The Molecular Mechanics/Generalized Born Surface Area (MM/GBSA) free energy decomposition analysis indicated that the hydroxyl functional groups and biphenyl ring system had favorable interactions with Met258, Tyr46, Gln262 and Phe182 residues of PTP1B. The results of hydrogen bound analysis indicated that catechol derivatives, in addition to hydrogen bonding interactions, Val49, Ile219, Gln266, Asp181 and amino acid residues of PTP1B are responsible for governing the inhibitor potency of the compounds. The information generated from the present study should be useful for the design of more potent PTP1B inhibitors as anti-diabetic agents.