Hisham M. Dokainish

The continuous emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants compromises the effectiveness of neutralizing antibodies (nAbs), contributing to immune evasion. Several single-point mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) have been shown to drastically affect the recognition of Class I antibodies. Understanding the molecular mechanisms behind such single-point mutations remains challenging, especially as weak binding affinity prevents the characterization of complex structures through conventional experimental methods. Here, we employ enhanced sampling molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, the generalized replica exchange with solute tempering (gREST), to investigate the structural and dynamic impacts of the K417N mutation on NT-193 (Class I) binding to RBD. Although stable conformations of wild-type and mutants show similar binding interactions, the mutation profoundly reshapes the transient metastable states. At the key interface between the heavy and light chains, the substitution of lysine with asparagine disrupts key interactions with the heavy chain in metastable states, facilitating antibody dissociation. Consistent with simulation results, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) experiments confirm that K417N significantly increases the dissociation rate, reducing the overall binding affinity to RBD. These findings illustrate the importance of capturing metastable conformations to fully understand mutation-driven immune evasion mechanisms. Moreover, this study demonstrates the power of applying gREST to unravel essential insights into transient and weakly interacting antibody-antigen complexes, facilitating the rational design and optimization of next-generation antibody therapeutics capable of overcoming viral immune escape.

Imidazoles are crucial structural components in a variety of small-molecule inhibitors designed to target different kinases in anticancer treatment. However, the effectiveness of such inhibitors is often hampered by nonspecific effects and the development of resistance. Photopharmacology provides a compelling solution by enabling external control over drug activity with spatiotemporal precision. Herein, we introduce a novel strategy for caging bioactive triarylimidazole-based drug molecules. This approach involves introducing a dialkylamino group as a photoremovable group on the carbon atom of the imidazole ring, which intrinsically modulates the core structure from planar imidazole to tetrahedral 2H-imidazole, enabling the caged compound to be selectively uncaged upon visible light exposure. We applied this innovative caging technique to SB431542, a triarylimidazole-based small-molecule inhibitor that targets the pivotal TGF-β signaling pathway, the dysregulation of which is linked to several human diseases, including cancer. Our results demonstrated the selective inhibition of human breast cancer cell migration in vitro upon light activation, highlighting the potential of our approach to transform triarylimidazole-based drug molecules into visible light-activatable drugs, thereby facilitating spatiotemporal regulation of their pharmacological activity.

Understanding the molecular properties of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is crucial for tackling future outbreaks. Current structural knowledge of the trimeric spike protein relies on truncated recombinant proteins and/or inactivated full-length forms, which may suffer from overstabilization. Here, we apply cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) at a Biosafety Level 3 facility to study the virus structure in its native, active state. The virus particles exhibit variable shapes and sizes with diffusible spikes, with the majority in typical prefusion conformations. Notably, we identified unprecedented, a transient open-trimer prefusion states, revealing a hidden flexibility with opened S1 conformation. Subtomogram averaging of the prefusion spikes indicates a loosely packed trimeric architecture that may facilitate the formation of open-trimer state. A cryo-EM map of recombinant Omicron BA.2.75 spike protein further confirms the presence of this loosely packed trimer as a minor conformational state. The observed dynamics uncover conserved cryptic regions that can be targeted for broadly effective vaccines. Structural analysis of active viruses profoundly impacts our understanding of the overlooked fusion mechanism and vaccine, antibody/drug design.

Proper balance between protein-protein and protein-water interactions is vital for atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of globular proteins as well as intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). The overestimation of protein-protein interactions tends to make IDPs more compact than those in experiments. Likewise, multiple proteins in crowded solutions are aggregated with each other too strongly. To optimize the balance, Lennard-Jones (LJ) interactions between protein and water are often increased about 10% (with a scaling parameter, λ = 1.1) from the existing force fields. Here, we explore the optimal scaling parameter of protein-water LJ interactions for CHARMM36m in conjunction with the modified TIP3P water model, by performing enhanced sampling MD simulations of several peptides in dilute solutions and conventional MD simulations of globular proteins in dilute and crowded solutions. In our simulations, 10% increase of protein-water LJ interaction for the CHARMM36m cannot maintain stability of a small helical peptide, (AAQAA)₃ in a dilute solution and only a small modification of protein-water LJ interaction up to the 3% increase (λ = 1.03) is allowed. The modified protein-water interactions are applicable to other peptides and globular proteins in dilute solutions without changing thermodynamic properties from the original CHARMM36m. However, it has a great impact on the diffusive properties of proteins in crowded solutions, avoiding the formation of too sticky protein-protein interactions.

Spike (S) protein is the primary antigenic target for neutralization and vaccine development for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It decorates the virus surface and undergoes large motions of its receptor binding domains (RBDs) to enter the host cell. Here, we observe Down, one-Up, one-Open, and two-Up-like structures in enhanced molecular dynamics simulations, and characterize the transition pathways via inter-domain interactions. Transient salt-bridges between RBD_A and RBD_C and the interaction with glycan at N343_B support RBD_A motions from Down to one-Up. Reduced interactions between RBD_A and RBD_B in one-Up induce RBD_B motions toward two-Up. The simulations overall agree with cryo-electron microscopy structure distributions and FRET experiments and provide hidden functional structures, namely, intermediates along Down-to-one-Up transition with druggable cryptic pockets as well as one-Open with a maximum exposed RBD. The inherent flexibility of S-protein thus provides essential information for antiviral drug rational design or vaccine development.

A single mutation from aspartate to glycine at position 614 has dominated all circulating variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). D614G mutation induces structural changes in the Spike (S) protein that strengthen the virus infectivity. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations to dissect the effects of mutation and 630-loop rigidification on wild-type structure. The introduction of mutation with ordered 630-loop induces structural changes toward S-G614 Cryo-EM structure. An ordered 630-loop weakens the stabilizing interactions of the anionic D614, suggesting its disorder in wild-type. The mutation allosterically alters the receptor binding domain (RBD) forming an asymmetric and mobile Down conformation, which facilitate Up transition. The loss of D614_K854 salt-bridge upon mutation, generally stabilize S-protein protomer, including the fusion peptide proximal region that mediates membrane fusion. Understanding of the molecular basis of D614G is crucial as it dominates in all variants of concern including Delta and Omicron.

Spike (S) protein is the primary antigenic target for neutralization and vaccine development for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It decorates the virus surface and undergoes large conformational changes of its receptor binding domain (RBD) to enter the host cell, as the abundant structural studies suggest. Here, we observe Down, one-Up, one-Open, and two-Up-like structures in enhanced molecular dynamics simulations without pre-defined reaction coordinates. The RBD _A transition from Down to one-Up is supported by transient salt-bridges between RBD _A and RBD _C and by the glycan at N343 _B . Reduced interactions between RBD _A and RBD _B induce the RBD _B motions toward two-Up. Glycan shielding for neutralizing antibodies is the weakest in one-Open. Cryptic pockets are revealed at the RBD interfaces in intermediate structures between Down and one-Up. The inherent flexibility in S-protein is, thus, essential for the structure transition and shall be considered for antiviral drug rational design or vaccine development.

Conformational transitions in multidomain proteins are essential for biological functions. The Apo conformations are typically open and flexible, while the Holo states form more compact conformations stabilized by protein-ligand interactions. Unfortunately, the atomically detailed mechanisms for such open-closed conformational changes are difficult to be accessed experimentally as well as computationally. To simulate the transitions using atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, efficient conformational sampling algorithms are required. In this work, we propose a new approach based on generalized replica-exchange with solute tempering (gREST) for exploring the open-closed conformational changes in multidomain proteins. Wherein, selected surface charged residues in a target protein are defined as the solute region in gREST simulation and the solute temperatures are different in replicas and exchanged between them to enhance the domain motions. This approach is called gREST selected surface charged residues (gREST_SSCR) and is applied to the Apo and Holo states of ribose binding protein (RBP) in solution. The conformational spaces sampled with gREST_SSCR are much wider than those with the conventional MD, sampling open-closed conformational changes while maintaining RBP domains’ stability. The free-energy landscapes of RBP in the Apo and Holo states are drawn along with twist and hinge angles of the two moving domains. The inter-domain salt-bridges that are not observed in the experimental structures are also important in the intermediate states during the conformational changes.

The last step in the reductase step of the catalytic mechanism of MsrB was re-investigated using several computational approaches. Our previous QM-cluster paper showed that two possible mechanisms could occur, however the direct formation of disulfide from sulfonium cation was favored over sulfenic acid formation. In contrary, experimental studies suggest sulfenic acid formation. Therefore, first, we investigated the effect of level of theory, which confirmed previous conclusion. In addition, the effect of model choice was also investigated using ONIOM including a large QM layer around Cys440. Interestingly, deprotonating Cys440 leads to direct nucleophilic attack on Cys495 forming disulfide. Second, to eliminate the possibility that all previous results are an artifact of the used crystal structure in which the S...S distance is 3.29 Å, we ran a 5 ns MD simulation on the sulfonium cation intermediate. Surprisingly, our results show that the distance between the two sulfur is significantly increased to 4.88 Å. More importantly a water molecule is located in a proper position for nucleophilic attack. QM/MM calculations shows that sulfenic acid is formed via low barrier of 16.7 kJ mol-1. Finally, the effect of substrate binding on the two Cys's distance were investigated via running several MD simulations of possible intermediates, showing that substrate binding induces conformational changes increasing the sulfur's distance which is decreased upon substrate removal upon sulfenic acid formation. These results question the applicability of QM cluster approach in systems including flexible turns. It also emphasizes the importance of proper preparation of the starting structure.

The formation of the overoxidized cysteine sulfinic acid in proteins has been connected to be associated with various diseases including cancer and age-related diseases. This post-transitional modification of proteins under oxi- dative stress has been known to be irreversible. However, in eukaryotic, the overoxidation of typical 2-Cys perxoiredoxins (Prxs) to sulfinic acid is reversible via a repair enzyme known as sulfiredoxin (Srx) leading to the regulation of both per- oxide signaling and Prxs chaperon activity. In this study, the molecular modeling techniques including molecular dynam- ics simulations (MD) and the hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) approach were used to eluci- date the atomistic details of this unique reaction in sulfur chemistry. Our results support the previous experimentally pro- posed mechanism in which the sulfinic acid oxygen perform an in line direct nucleophilic attack on the γ-phosphate of ATP forming sulfinic acid phosphoryl ester intermediate and ADP, via a low barrier of 16.3 kJ mol-1. Subsequently, the formed intermediate is directly reduced via an SN2 mechanism by the Srx-Cys99 forming thiosulfinate. Our results suggest that the rate-limiting step of the reduction mechanism is associated with the reduction step of the thiosulfinate intermedi- ate. This work significantly improves the current knowledge of this unique reaction, which could contribute to the discov- ery of new groups of antioxidants capable of reducing this irreversible overoxidized state in other proteins.