1
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Brown CM, Marrink SJ. Modeling membranes in situ. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2024; 87:102837. [PMID: 38744147 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2024.102837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 03/26/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Molecular dynamics simulations of cellular membranes have come a long way-from simple model lipid bilayers to multicomponent systems capturing the crowded and complex nature of real cell membranes. In this opinionated minireview, we discuss the current challenge to simulate the dynamics of membranes in their native environment, in situ, with the prospect of reaching the level of whole cells and cell organelles using an integrative modeling framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chelsea M Brown
- Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. https://twitter.com/chelseabrowncg
| | - Siewert J Marrink
- Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. s.j.marrinkrug.nl
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2
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Romeo A, Cappelli G, Iacovelli F, Colizzi V, Falconi M. Computational and experimental validation of phthalocyanine and hypericin as effective SARS-CoV-2 fusion inhibitors. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2024; 42:3920-3934. [PMID: 37235773 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2216276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Phthalocyanine and hypericin have been previously identified as possible SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein fusion inhibitors through a virtual screening procedure. In this paper, atomistic simulations of metal-free phthalocyanines and atomistic and coarse-grained simulations of hypericins, placed around a complete model of the Spike embedded in a viral membrane, allowed to further explore their multi-target inhibitory potential, uncovering their binding to key protein functional regions and their propensity to insert in the membrane. Following computational results, pre-treatment of a pseudovirus expressing the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein with low compounds concentrations resulted in a strong inhibition of its entry into cells, suggesting the activity of these molecules should involve the direct targeting of the viral envelope surface. The combination of computational and in vitro results hence supports the role of hypericin and phthalocyanine as promising SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibitors, further endorsed by literature reporting the efficacy of these compounds in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 activity and in treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Romeo
- Department of Biology, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Giulia Cappelli
- Istituto per i Sistemi Biologici, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Montelibretti, Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Mattia Falconi
- Department of Biology, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
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3
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Singh PK, Stan RC. ThermoPCD: a database of molecular dynamics trajectories of antibody-antigen complexes at physiologic and fever-range temperatures. Database (Oxford) 2024; 2024:baae015. [PMID: 38502609 PMCID: PMC10950042 DOI: 10.1093/database/baae015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2023] [Revised: 02/12/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024]
Abstract
Progression of various cancers and autoimmune diseases is associated with changes in systemic or local tissue temperatures, which may impact current therapies. The role of fever and acute inflammation-range temperatures on the stability and activity of antibodies relevant for cancers and autoimmunity is unknown. To produce molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories of immune complexes at relevant temperatures, we used the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (RCSB) database to identify 50 antibody:antigen complexes of interest, in addition to single antibodies and antigens, and deployed Groningen Machine for Chemical Simulations (GROMACS) to prepare and run the structures at different temperatures for 100-500 ns, in single or multiple random seeds. MD trajectories are freely available. Processed data include Protein Data Bank outputs for all files obtained every 50 ns, and free binding energy calculations for some of the immune complexes. Protocols for using the data are also available. Individual datasets contain unique DOIs. We created a web interface, ThermoPCD, as a platform to explore the data. The outputs of ThermoPCD allow the users to relate thermally-dependent changes in epitopes:paratopes interfaces to their free binding energies, or against own experimentally derived binding affinities. ThermoPCD is a free to use database of immune complexes' trajectories at different temperatures that does not require registration and allows for all the data to be available for download. Database URL: https://sites.google.com/view/thermopcd/home.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puneet K Singh
- Department of Basic Medical Science, Chonnam National University, Hwasun 58128, Republic of Korea
| | - Razvan C Stan
- Department of Basic Medical Science, Chonnam National University, Hwasun 58128, Republic of Korea
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4
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Nie Y, Zheng Z, Li C, Zhan H, Kou L, Gu Y, Lü C. Resolving the dynamic properties of entangled linear polymers in non-equilibrium coarse grain simulation with a priori scaling factors. Nanoscale 2024. [PMID: 38494916 DOI: 10.1039/d3nr06185j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/19/2024]
Abstract
The molecular weight of polymers can influence the material properties, but the molecular weight at the experiment level sometimes can be a huge burden for property prediction with full-atomic simulations. The traditional bottom-up coarse grain (CG) simulation can reduce the computation cost. However, the dynamic properties predicted by the CG simulation can deviate from the full-atomic simulation result. Usually, in CG simulations, the diffusion is faster and the viscosity and modulus are much lower. The fast dynamics in CG are usually solved by a posteriori scaling on time, temperature, or potential modifications, which usually have poor transferability to other non-fitted physical properties because of a lack of fundamental physics. In this work, a priori scaling factors were calculated by the loss of degrees of freedom and implemented in the iterative Boltzmann inversion. According to the simulation results on 3 different CG levels at different temperatures and loading rates, such a priori scaling factors can help in reproducing some dynamic properties of polycaprolactone in CG simulation more accurately, such as heat capacity, Young's modulus, and viscosity, while maintaining the accuracy in the structural distribution prediction. The transferability of entropy-enthalpy compensation and a dissipative particle dynamics thermostat is also presented for comparison. The proposed method reveals the huge potential for developing customized CG thermostats and offers a simple way to rebuild multiphysics CG models for polymers with good transferability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yihan Nie
- College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Zhuoqun Zheng
- School of Astronautics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
| | - Chengkai Li
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
| | - Haifei Zhan
- College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
- Center for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Liangzhi Kou
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
- Center for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Yuantong Gu
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
- Center for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Chaofeng Lü
- Faculty of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
- College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
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5
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Izvekov S, Kroonblawd MP, Larentzos JP, Brennan JK, Rice BM. Maximum Entropy Theory of Multiscale Coarse-Graining via Matching Thermodynamic Forces: Application to a Molecular Crystal (TATB). J Phys Chem B 2024. [PMID: 38489758 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c07078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/17/2024]
Abstract
The MSCG/FM (multiscale coarse-graining via force-matching) approach is an efficient supervised machine learning method to develop microscopically informed coarse-grained (CG) models. We present a theory based on the principle of maximum entropy (PME) enveloping the existing MSCG/FM approaches. This theory views the MSCG/FM method as a special case of matching the thermodynamic forces from the extended ensemble described by the set of thermodynamic (relevant) system coordinates. This set may include CG coordinates, the stress tensor, applied external fields, and so forth, and may be characterized by nonequilibrium conditions. Following the presentation of the theory, we discuss the consistent matching of both bonded and nonbonded interactions. The proposed PME formulation is used as a starting point to extend the MSCG/FM method to the constant strain ensemble, which together with the explicit matching of the bonded forces is better suited for coarse-graining anisotropic media at a submolecular resolution. The theory is demonstrated by performing the fine coarse-graining of crystalline 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB), a well-known insensitive molecular energetic material, which exhibits highly anisotropic mechanical properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergei Izvekov
- U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005, United States
| | - Matthew P Kroonblawd
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, United States
| | - James P Larentzos
- U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005, United States
| | - John K Brennan
- U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005, United States
| | - Betsy M Rice
- U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005, United States
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6
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Christians LF, Halingstad EV, Kram E, Okolovitch EM, Pak AJ. Formalizing Coarse-Grained Representations of Anisotropic Interactions at Multimeric Protein Interfaces Using Virtual Sites. J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:1394-1406. [PMID: 38316012 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c07023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Molecular simulations of biomacromolecules that assemble into multimeric complexes remain a challenge due to computationally inaccessible length and time scales. Low-resolution and implicit-solvent coarse-grained modeling approaches using traditional nonbonded interactions (both pairwise and spherically isotropic) have been able to partially address this gap. However, these models may fail to capture the complex anisotropic interactions present at macromolecular interfaces unless higher-order interaction potentials are incorporated at the expense of the computational cost. In this work, we introduce an alternate and systematic approach to represent directional interactions at protein-protein interfaces by using virtual sites restricted to pairwise interactions. We show that virtual site interaction parameters can be optimized within a relative entropy minimization framework by using only information from known statistics between coarse-grained sites. We compare our virtual site models to traditional coarse-grained models using two case studies of multimeric protein assemblies and find that the virtual site models predict pairwise correlations with higher fidelity and, more importantly, assembly behavior that is morphologically consistent with experiments. Our study underscores the importance of anisotropic interaction representations and paves the way for more accurate yet computationally efficient coarse-grained simulations of macromolecular assembly in future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luc F Christians
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
| | - Ethan V Halingstad
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
| | - Emiel Kram
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
| | - Evan M Okolovitch
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
| | - Alexander J Pak
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
- Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering Program, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
- Materials Science Program, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
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7
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Shrivastav G, Borkotoky S, Dey D, Singh B, Malhotra N, Azad K, Jayaram B, Agarwal M, Banerjee M. Structure and energetics guide dynamic behaviour in a T = 3 icosahedral virus capsid. Biophys Chem 2024; 305:107152. [PMID: 38113782 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpc.2023.107152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Revised: 12/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Although virus capsids appear as rigid, symmetric particles in experimentally determined structures; biochemical studies suggest a significant degree of structural flexibility in the particles. We carried out all-atom simulations on the icosahedral capsid of an insect virus, Flock House Virus, which show intriguing differences in the degree of flexibility of quasi-equivalent capsid subunits consistent with previously described biological behaviour. The flexibility of all the β and γ subunits of the protein and RNA fragments is analysed and compared. Both γA subunit and RNA fragment exhibit higher flexibility than the γB and γC subunits. The capsid shell is permeable to the bidirectional movement of water molecules, and the movement is heavily influenced by the geometry of the capsid shell along specific symmetry axes. In comparison to the symmetry axes along I5 and I3, the I2 axis exhibits a slightly higher water content. This enriched water environment along I2 could play a pivotal role in facilitating the structural transitions necessary for RNA release, shedding some light on the intricate and dynamic processes underlying the viral life cycle. Our study suggests that the physical characterization of whole virus capsids is the key to identifying biologically relevant transition states in the virus life cycle and understanding the basis of virus infectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gourav Shrivastav
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India.
| | - Subhomoi Borkotoky
- Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Debajit Dey
- Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Bhumika Singh
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Nidhi Malhotra
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Kimi Azad
- Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - B Jayaram
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
| | - Manish Agarwal
- Computer Services Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India.
| | - Manidipa Banerjee
- Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India.
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8
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Samsudin F, Zuzic L, Marzinek JK, Bond PJ. Mechanisms of allostery at the viral surface through the eyes of molecular simulation. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2024; 84:102761. [PMID: 38142635 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2023.102761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023]
Abstract
The outermost surface layer of any virus is formed by either a capsid shell or envelope. Such layers have traditionally been thought of as immovable structures, but it is becoming apparent that they cannot be viewed exclusively as static architectures protecting the viral genome. A limited number of proteins on the virion surface must perform a multitude of functions in order to orchestrate the viral life cycle, and allostery can regulate their structures at multiple levels of organization, spanning individual molecules, protomers, large oligomeric assemblies, or entire viral surfaces. Here, we review recent contributions from the molecular simulation field to viral surface allostery, with a particular focus on the trimeric spike glycoprotein emerging from the coronavirus surface, and the icosahedral flaviviral envelope complex. As emerging viral pathogens continue to pose a global threat, an improved understanding of viral dynamics and allosteric regulation will prove crucial in developing novel therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Firdaus Samsudin
- Bioinformatics Institute (A∗STAR), 30 Biopolis Street, 07-01 Matrix, 138671, Singapore
| | - Lorena Zuzic
- Department of Chemistry, Langelandsgade 140, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark
| | - Jan K Marzinek
- Bioinformatics Institute (A∗STAR), 30 Biopolis Street, 07-01 Matrix, 138671, Singapore
| | - Peter J Bond
- Bioinformatics Institute (A∗STAR), 30 Biopolis Street, 07-01 Matrix, 138671, Singapore; Department of Biological Sciences, 16 Science Drive 4, National University of Singapore, 117558, Singapore.
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9
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Miyazaki Y, Shinoda W. pSPICA Force Field Extended for Proteins and Peptides. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:532-542. [PMID: 38156656 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Many coarse-grained (CG) molecular dynamics (MD) studies have been performed to investigate biological processes involving proteins and lipids. CG force fields (FFs) in these MD studies often use implicit or nonpolar water models to reduce computational costs. CG-MD using water models cannot properly describe electrostatic screening effects owing to the hydration of ionic segments and thus cannot appropriately describe molecular events involving water channels and pores through lipid membranes. To overcome this issue, we developed a protein model in the pSPICA FF, in which a polar CG water model showing the proper dielectric response was adopted. The developed CG model greatly improved the transfer free energy profiles of charged side chain analogues across the lipid membrane. Application studies on melittin-induced membrane pores and mechanosensitive channels in lipid membranes demonstrated that CG-MDs using the pSPICA FF correctly reproduced the structure and stability of the pores and channels. Furthermore, the adsorption behavior of the highly charged nona-arginine peptides on lipid membranes changed with salt concentration, indicating the pSPICA FF is also useful for simulating protein adsorption on membrane surfaces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yusuke Miyazaki
- Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
| | - Wataru Shinoda
- Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
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10
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Biskupek I, Gieldon A. Two-Stage Recognition Mechanism of the SARS-CoV-2 Receptor-Binding Domain to Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme-2 (ACE2). Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:679. [PMID: 38203850 PMCID: PMC10779479 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25010679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, commonly known as COVID-19, occurred in 2019. It is a highly contagious illness with effects ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. It is also one of the best-known pathogens since more than 200,000 scientific papers occurred in the last few years. With the publication of the SARS-CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2-CTD) spike (S) protein in a complex with human ACE2 (hACE2) (PDB (6LZG)), the molecular analysis of one of the most crucial steps on the infection pathway was possible. The aim of this manuscript is to simulate the most widely spread mutants of SARS-CoV-2, namely Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron, and the first recognized variant (natural wild type). With the wide search of the hypersurface of the potential energy performed using the UNRES force field, the intermediate state of the ACE2-RBD complex was found. R403, K/N/T417, L455, F486, Y489, F495, Y501, and Y505 played a crucial role in the protein recognition mechanism. The intermediate state cannot be very stable since it will prevent the infection cascade.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Artur Gieldon
- Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, ul. Wita Stwosza 63, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland;
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Airas J, Ding X, Zhang B. Transferable Implicit Solvation via Contrastive Learning of Graph Neural Networks. ACS Cent Sci 2023; 9:2286-2297. [PMID: 38161379 PMCID: PMC10755853 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.3c01160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Revised: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Implicit solvent models are essential for molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecules, striking a balance between computational efficiency and biological realism. Efforts are underway to develop accurate and transferable implicit solvent models and coarse-grained (CG) force fields in general, guided by a bottom-up approach that matches the CG energy function with the potential of mean force (PMF) defined by the finer system. However, practical challenges arise due to the lack of analytical expressions for the PMF and algorithmic limitations in parameterizing CG force fields. To address these challenges, a machine learning-based approach is proposed, utilizing graph neural networks (GNNs) to represent the solvation free energy and potential contrasting for parameter optimization. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach by deriving a transferable GNN implicit solvent model using 600,000 atomistic configurations of six proteins obtained from explicit solvent simulations. The GNN model provides solvation free energy estimations much more accurately than state-of-the-art implicit solvent models, reproducing configurational distributions of explicit solvent simulations. We also demonstrate the reasonable transferability of the GNN model outside of the training data. Our study offers valuable insights for deriving systematically improvable implicit solvent models and CG force fields from a bottom-up perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Airas
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307, United
States
| | - Xinqiang Ding
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307, United
States
| | - Bin Zhang
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307, United
States
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12
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Kim S. Backmapping with Mapping and Isomeric Information. J Phys Chem B 2023. [PMID: 38049145 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c05593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
I present a powerful and flexible backmapping tool named Multiscale Simulation Tool (mstool) that converts a coarse-grained (CG) system into all-atom (AA) resolution and only requires AA to CG mapping and isomeric information (cis/trans/dihedral/chiral). The backmapping procedure includes two simple steps: (a) AA atoms are randomly placed near the corresponding CG beads according to the provided mapping scheme. (b) Energy minimization is performed with two modifications in the AA force field (FF). First, nonbonded interactions are replaced with cosine functions to ensure the numerical stability. Second, additional torsions are imposed to maintain the molecules' isomeric properties. To test the simplicity and robustness of the tool, I backmapped multiple membrane and protein CG structures into AA resolution, including a four-bead CG lipid model (resolution increased by a factor of 34) without using intermediate resolution. The tool is freely available at github.com/ksy141/mstool.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siyoung Kim
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 United States
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Wu S, Yang X, Zhao X, Li Z, Lu M, Xie X, Yan J. Applications and Advances in Machine Learning Force Fields. J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:6972-6985. [PMID: 37751546 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
Force fields (FFs) form the basis of molecular simulations and have significant implications in diverse fields such as materials science, chemistry, physics, and biology. A suitable FF is required to accurately describe system properties. However, an off-the-shelf FF may not be suitable for certain specialized systems, and researchers often need to tailor the FF that fits specific requirements. Before applying machine learning (ML) techniques to construct FFs, the mainstream FFs were primarily based on first-principles force fields (FPFF) and empirical FFs. However, the drawbacks of FPFF and empirical FFs are high cost and low accuracy, respectively, so there is a growing interest in using ML as an effective and precise tool for reconciling this trade-off in developing FFs. In this review, we introduce the fundamental principles of ML and FFs in the context of machine learning force fields (MLFF). We also discuss the advantages and applications of MLFF compared to traditional FFs, as well as the MLFF toolkits widely employed in numerous applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiru Wu
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University (Nanjing Tech), Nanjing 211816, P. R. China
| | - Xiaowei Yang
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University (Nanjing Tech), Nanjing 211816, P. R. China
| | - Xun Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University (Nanjing Tech), Nanjing 211816, P. R. China
| | - Zhipu Li
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University (Nanjing Tech), Nanjing 211816, P. R. China
| | - Min Lu
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University (Nanjing Tech), Nanjing 211816, P. R. China
| | - Xiaoji Xie
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University (Nanjing Tech), Nanjing 211816, P. R. China
| | - Jiaxu Yan
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing Tech University (Nanjing Tech), Nanjing 211816, P. R. China
- Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics & Physics (CIOMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130033, P. R. China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China
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14
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Asor R, Singaram SW, Levi-Kalisman Y, Hagan MF, Raviv U. Effect of ionic strength on the assembly of simian vacuolating virus capsid protein around poly(styrene sulfonate). Eur Phys J E Soft Matter 2023; 46:107. [PMID: 37917241 DOI: 10.1140/epje/s10189-023-00363-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
Virus-like particles (VLPs) are noninfectious nanocapsules that can be used for drug delivery or vaccine applications. VLPs can be assembled from virus capsid proteins around a condensing agent, such as RNA, DNA, or a charged polymer. Electrostatic interactions play an important role in the assembly reaction. VLPs assemble from many copies of capsid protein, with a combinatorial number of intermediates. Hence, the mechanism of the reaction is poorly understood. In this paper, we combined solution small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), cryo-transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and computational modeling to determine the effect of ionic strength on the assembly of Simian Vacuolating Virus 40 (SV40)-like particles. We mixed poly(styrene sulfonate) with SV40 capsid protein pentamers at different ionic strengths. We then characterized the assembly product by SAXS and cryo-TEM. To analyze the data, we performed Langevin dynamics simulations using a coarse-grained model that revealed incomplete, asymmetric VLP structures consistent with the experimental data. We found that close to physiological ionic strength, [Formula: see text] VLPs coexisted with VP1 pentamers. At lower or higher ionic strengths, incomplete particles coexisted with pentamers and [Formula: see text] particles. Including the simulated structures was essential to explain the SAXS data in a manner that is consistent with the cryo-TEM images.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roi Asor
- Institute of Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, 9190401, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Surendra W Singaram
- Department of Physics, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, 02453, MA, USA
| | - Yael Levi-Kalisman
- Institute of Life Sciences and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, 9190401, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Michael F Hagan
- Department of Physics, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, 02453, MA, USA.
| | - Uri Raviv
- Institute of Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, 9190401, Jerusalem, Israel.
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15
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Khalid S, Brandner AF, Juraschko N, Newman KE, Pedebos C, Prakaash D, Smith IPS, Waller C, Weerakoon D. Computational microbiology of bacteria: Advancements in molecular dynamics simulations. Structure 2023; 31:1320-1327. [PMID: 37875115 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2023.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Revised: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
Microbiology is traditionally considered within the context of wet laboratory methodologies. Computational techniques have a great potential to contribute to microbiology. Here, we describe our loose definition of "computational microbiology" and provide a short survey focused on molecular dynamics simulations of bacterial systems that fall within this definition. It is our contention that increased compositional complexity and realistic levels of molecular crowding within simulated systems are key for bridging the divide between experimental and computational microbiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Syma Khalid
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU Oxford, UK; School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ Southampton, UK.
| | - Astrid F Brandner
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU Oxford, UK
| | - Nikolai Juraschko
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU Oxford, UK; Artificial Intelligence and Informatics, The Rosalind Franklin Institute, Didcot, UK
| | - Kahlan E Newman
- School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ Southampton, UK
| | - Conrado Pedebos
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU Oxford, UK; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biociências (PPGBio), Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Dheeraj Prakaash
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU Oxford, UK
| | - Iain P S Smith
- School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ Southampton, UK
| | - Callum Waller
- School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ Southampton, UK
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16
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Arts M, Garcia Satorras V, Huang CW, Zügner D, Federici M, Clementi C, Noé F, Pinsler R, van den Berg R. Two for One: Diffusion Models and Force Fields for Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:6151-6159. [PMID: 37688551 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/11/2023]
Abstract
Coarse-grained (CG) molecular dynamics enables the study of biological processes at temporal and spatial scales that would be intractable at an atomistic resolution. However, accurately learning a CG force field remains a challenge. In this work, we leverage connections between score-based generative models, force fields, and molecular dynamics to learn a CG force field without requiring any force inputs during training. Specifically, we train a diffusion generative model on protein structures from molecular dynamics simulations, and we show that its score function approximates a force field that can directly be used to simulate CG molecular dynamics. While having a vastly simplified training setup compared to previous work, we demonstrate that our approach leads to improved performance across several protein simulations for systems up to 56 amino acids, reproducing the CG equilibrium distribution and preserving the dynamics of all-atom simulations such as protein folding events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marloes Arts
- Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 1, Copenhagen 2100, Denmark
| | - Victor Garcia Satorras
- AI4Science, Microsoft Research, Evert van de Beekstraat 354, Amsterdam 1118 CZ, The Netherlands
| | - Chin-Wei Huang
- AI4Science, Microsoft Research, Evert van de Beekstraat 354, Amsterdam 1118 CZ, The Netherlands
| | - Daniel Zügner
- AI4Science, Microsoft Research, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 32, Berlin 10178, Germany
| | - Marco Federici
- Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam 1098 XH, The Netherlands
| | - Cecilia Clementi
- AI4Science, Microsoft Research, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 32, Berlin 10178, Germany
- Department of Physics, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimalle 12, Berlin 14195, Germany
| | - Frank Noé
- AI4Science, Microsoft Research, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 32, Berlin 10178, Germany
| | - Robert Pinsler
- AI4Science, Microsoft Research, 21 Station Road, Cambridge CB1 2FB, U.K
| | - Rianne van den Berg
- AI4Science, Microsoft Research, Evert van de Beekstraat 354, Amsterdam 1118 CZ, The Netherlands
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17
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Klein F, Soñora M, Helene Santos L, Nazareno Frigini E, Ballesteros-Casallas A, Rodrigo Machado M, Pantano S. The SIRAH force field: A suite for simulations of complex biological systems at the coarse-grained and multiscale levels. J Struct Biol 2023; 215:107985. [PMID: 37331570 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2023.107985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
The different combinations of molecular dynamics simulations with coarse-grained representations have acquired considerable popularity among the scientific community. Especially in biocomputing, the significant speedup granted by simplified molecular models opened the possibility of increasing the diversity and complexity of macromolecular systems, providing realistic insights on large assemblies for more extended time windows. However, a holistic view of biological ensembles' structural and dynamic features requires a self-consistent force field, namely, a set of equations and parameters that describe the intra and intermolecular interactions among moieties of diverse chemical nature (i.e., nucleic and amino acids, lipids, solvent, ions, etc.). Nevertheless, examples of such force fields are scarce in the literature at the fully atomistic and coarse-grained levels. Moreover, the number of force fields capable of handling simultaneously different scales is restricted to a handful. Among those, the SIRAH force field, developed in our group, furnishes a set of topologies and tools that facilitate the setting up and running of molecular dynamics simulations at the coarse-grained and multiscale levels. SIRAH uses the same classical pairwise Hamiltonian function implemented in the most popular molecular dynamics software. In particular, it runs natively in AMBER and Gromacs engines, and porting it to other simulation packages is straightforward. This review describes the underlying philosophy behind the development of SIRAH over the years and across families of biological molecules, discussing current limitations and future implementations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florencia Klein
- Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique, UPR9080, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Martín Soñora
- Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Mataojo 2020, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | | | - Ezequiel Nazareno Frigini
- Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones Biológicas de San Luis (IMIBIO-SL), Universidad Nacional de San Luis - CONICET, San Luis, Argentina
| | - Andrés Ballesteros-Casallas
- Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Mataojo 2020, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay; Area Bioinformática, DETEMA, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, General Flores 2124, Montevideo, 11600, Uruguay
| | | | - Sergio Pantano
- Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Mataojo 2020, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay; Area Bioinformática, DETEMA, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, General Flores 2124, Montevideo, 11600, Uruguay.
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18
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Ugarte La Torre D, Takada S, Sugita Y. Extension of the iSoLF implicit-solvent coarse-grained model for multicomponent lipid bilayers. J Chem Phys 2023; 159:075101. [PMID: 37581417 DOI: 10.1063/5.0160417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023] Open
Abstract
iSoLF is a coarse-grained (CG) model for lipid molecules with the implicit-solvent approximation used in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of biological membranes. Using the original iSoLF (iSoLFv1), MD simulations of lipid bilayers consisting of either POPC or DPPC and these bilayers, including membrane proteins, can be performed. Here, we improve the original model, explicitly treating the electrostatic interactions between different lipid molecules and adding CG particle types. As a result, the available lipid types increase to 30. To parameterize the potential functions of the new model, we performed all-atom MD simulations of each lipid at three different temperatures using the CHARMM36 force field and the modified TIP3P model. Then, we parameterized both the bonded and non-bonded interactions to fit the area per lipid and the membrane thickness of each lipid bilayer by using the multistate Boltzmann Inversion method. The final model reproduces the area per lipid and the membrane thickness of each lipid bilayer at the three temperatures. We also examined the applicability of the new model, iSoLFv2, to simulate the phase behaviors of mixtures of DOPC and DPPC at different concentrations. The simulation results with iSoLFv2 are consistent with those using Dry Martini and Martini 3, although iSoLFv2 requires much fewer computations. iSoLFv2 has been implemented in the GENESIS MD software and is publicly available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Ugarte La Torre
- Computational Biophysics Research Team, RIKEN Center for Computational Science, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
| | - Shoji Takada
- Department of Biophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yuji Sugita
- Computational Biophysics Research Team, RIKEN Center for Computational Science, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
- Theoretical Molecular Science Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research, Wako, Saitama, Japan
- Laboratory for Biomolecular Function Simulation, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
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19
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Oliveira ASF, Shoemark DK, Davidson AD, Berger I, Schaffitzel C, Mulholland AJ. SARS-CoV-2 spike variants differ in their allosteric responses to linoleic acid. J Mol Cell Biol 2023; 15:mjad021. [PMID: 36990513 PMCID: PMC10563148 DOI: 10.1093/jmcb/mjad021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Revised: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/31/2023] Open
Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein contains a functionally important fatty acid (FA) binding site, which is also found in some other coronaviruses, e.g. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The occupancy of the FA site by linoleic acid (LA) reduces infectivity by 'locking' the spike in a less infectious conformation. Here, we use dynamical-nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (D-NEMD) simulations to compare the allosteric responses of spike variants to LA removal. D-NEMD simulations show that the FA site is coupled to other functional regions of the protein, e.g. the receptor-binding motif (RBM), N-terminal domain (NTD), furin cleavage site, and regions surrounding the fusion peptide. D-NEMD simulations also identify the allosteric networks connecting the FA site to these functional regions. The comparison between the wild-type spike and four variants (Alpha, Delta, Delta plus, and Omicron BA.1) shows that the variants differ significantly in their responses to LA removal. The allosteric connections to the FA site on Alpha are generally similar to those on the wild-type protein, with the exception of the RBM and the S71-R78 region, which show a weaker link to the FA site. In contrast, Omicron is the most different variant, exhibiting significant differences in the RBM, NTD, V622-L629, and furin cleavage site. These differences in the allosteric modulation may be of functional relevance, potentially affecting transmissibility and virulence. Experimental comparison of the effects of LA on SARS-CoV-2 variants, including emerging variants, is warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Sofia F Oliveira
- School of Chemistry, Centre for Computational Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
- School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
- School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | | | - Andrew D Davidson
- School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | - Imre Berger
- School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
- School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
- School of Chemistry, Max Planck Bristol Centre for Minimal Biology, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
| | | | - Adrian J Mulholland
- School of Chemistry, Centre for Computational Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
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20
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Hudait A, Hurley JH, Voth GA. Dynamics of upstream ESCRT organization at the HIV-1 budding site. Biophys J 2023; 122:2655-2674. [PMID: 37218128 PMCID: PMC10397573 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2023.05.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023] Open
Abstract
In the late stages of the HIV-1 life cycle, membrane localization and self-assembly of Gag polyproteins induce membrane deformation and budding. Release of the virion requires direct interaction between immature Gag lattice and upstream ESCRT machinery at the viral budding site, followed by assembly of downstream ESCRT-III factors, culminating in membrane scission. However, molecular details of upstream ESCRT assembly dynamics at the viral budding site remain unclear. In this work, using coarse-grained (CG) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we investigated the interactions between Gag, ESCRT-I, ESCRT-II, and membrane to delineate the dynamical mechanisms by which upstream ESCRTs assemble templated by late-stage immature Gag lattice. We first systematically derived "bottom-up" CG molecular models and interactions of upstream ESCRT proteins from experimental structural data and extensive all-atom MD simulations. Using these molecular models, we performed CG MD simulations of ESCRT-I oligomerization and ESCRT-I/II supercomplex formation at the neck of the budding virion. Our simulations demonstrate that ESCRT-I can effectively oligomerize to higher-order complexes templated by the immature Gag lattice both in the absence of ESCRT-II and when multiple copies of ESCRT-II are localized at the bud neck. The ESCRT-I/II supercomplexes formed in our simulations exhibit predominantly columnar structures, which has important implications for the nucleation pathway of downstream ESCRT-III polymers. Importantly, ESCRT-I/II supercomplexes bound to Gag initiate membrane neck constriction by pulling the inner edge of the bud neck closer to the ESCRT-I headpiece ring. Our findings serve to elucidate a network of interactions between upstream ESCRT machinery, immature Gag lattice, and membrane neck that regulate protein assembly dynamics at the HIV-1 budding site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arpa Hudait
- Department of Chemistry, Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
| | - James H Hurley
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California; California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California
| | - Gregory A Voth
- Department of Chemistry, Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
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21
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Deptuła P, Fiedoruk K, Wasilewska M, Suprewicz Ł, Cieśluk M, Żeliszewska P, Oćwieja M, Adamczyk Z, Pogoda K, Bucki R. Physicochemical Nature of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Binding to Human Vimentin. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2023. [PMID: 37413693 PMCID: PMC10360031 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c03347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
Vimentin, a protein that builds part of the cytoskeleton and is involved in many aspects of cellular function, was recently identified as a cell surface attachment site for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The present study investigated the physicochemical nature of the binding between the SARS-CoV-2 S1 glycoprotein receptor binding domain (S1 RBD) and human vimentin using atomic force microscopy and a quartz crystal microbalance. The molecular interactions of S1 RBD and vimentin proteins were quantified using vimentin monolayers attached to the cleaved mica or a gold microbalance sensor as well as in its native extracellular form present on the live cell surface. The presence of specific interactions between vimentin and S1 RBD was also confirmed using in silico studies. This work provides new evidence that cell-surface vimentin (CSV) functions as a site for SARS-CoV-2 virus attachment and is involved in the pathogenesis of Covid-19, providing a potential target for therapeutic countermeasures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Deptuła
- Independent Laboratory of Nanomedicine, Medical University of Bialystok, PL-15222 Białystok, Poland
| | - Krzysztof Fiedoruk
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Nanobiomedical Engineering, Medical University of Bialystok, PL-15222 Białystok, Poland
| | - Monika Wasilewska
- J. Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry Polish Academy of Science, Niezapominajek 8, PL-30239 Krakow, Poland
| | - Łukasz Suprewicz
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Nanobiomedical Engineering, Medical University of Bialystok, PL-15222 Białystok, Poland
| | - Mateusz Cieśluk
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Nanobiomedical Engineering, Medical University of Bialystok, PL-15222 Białystok, Poland
| | - Paulina Żeliszewska
- J. Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry Polish Academy of Science, Niezapominajek 8, PL-30239 Krakow, Poland
| | - Magdalena Oćwieja
- J. Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry Polish Academy of Science, Niezapominajek 8, PL-30239 Krakow, Poland
| | - Zbigniew Adamczyk
- J. Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry Polish Academy of Science, Niezapominajek 8, PL-30239 Krakow, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Pogoda
- Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, PL-31342 Krakow, Poland
| | - Robert Bucki
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Nanobiomedical Engineering, Medical University of Bialystok, PL-15222 Białystok, Poland
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22
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Su R, Zeng J, Marcink TC, Porotto M, Moscona A, O’Shaughnessy B. Host Cell Membrane Capture by the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Fusion Intermediate. ACS Cent Sci 2023; 9:1213-1228. [PMID: 37396856 PMCID: PMC10255576 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.3c00158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023]
Abstract
Cell entry by SARS-CoV-2 is accomplished by the S2 subunit of the spike S protein on the virion surface by capture of the host cell membrane and fusion with the viral envelope. Capture and fusion require the prefusion S2 to transit to its potent fusogenic form, the fusion intermediate (FI). However, the FI structure is unknown, detailed computational models of the FI are unavailable, and the mechanisms and timing of membrane capture and fusion are not established. Here, we constructed a full-length model of the SARS-CoV-2 FI by extrapolating from known SARS-CoV-2 pre- and postfusion structures. In atomistic and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations the FI was remarkably flexible and executed giant bending and extensional fluctuations due to three hinges in the C-terminal base. The simulated configurations and their giant fluctuations are quantitatively consistent with SARS-CoV-2 FI configurations measured recently using cryo-electron tomography. Simulations suggested a host cell membrane capture time of ∼2 ms. Isolated fusion peptide simulations identified an N-terminal helix that directed and maintained binding to the membrane but grossly underestimated the binding time, showing that the fusion peptide environment is radically altered when attached to its host fusion protein. The large configurational fluctuations of the FI generated a substantial exploration volume that aided capture of the target membrane, and may set the waiting time for fluctuation-triggered refolding of the FI that draws the viral envelope and host cell membrane together for fusion. These results describe the FI as machinery that uses massive configurational fluctuations for efficient membrane capture and suggest novel potential drug targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Su
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, United States
| | - Jin Zeng
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, United States
| | - Tara C. Marcink
- Department
of Pediatrics, Columbia University Vagelos
College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, United States
- Center
for Host−Pathogen Interaction, Columbia
University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - Matteo Porotto
- Department
of Pediatrics, Columbia University Vagelos
College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, United States
- Center
for Host−Pathogen Interaction, Columbia
University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, United States
- Department
of Experimental Medicine, University of
Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
| | - Anne Moscona
- Department
of Pediatrics, Columbia University Vagelos
College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, United States
- Center
for Host−Pathogen Interaction, Columbia
University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, United States
- Department
of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia
University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, United States
- Department
of Physiology, Columbia University Vagelos
College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - Ben O’Shaughnessy
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, United States
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23
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Abstract
Viral outbreaks remain a serious threat to human and animal populations and motivate the continued development of antiviral drugs and vaccines, which in turn benefits from a detailed understanding of both viral structure and dynamics. While great strides have been made in characterizing these systems experimentally, molecular simulations have proven to be an essential, complementary approach. In this work, we review the contributions of molecular simulations to the understanding of viral structure, functional dynamics, and processes related to the viral life cycle. Approaches ranging from coarse-grained to all-atom representations are discussed, including current efforts at modeling complete viral systems. Overall, this review demonstrates that computational virology plays an essential role in understanding these systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diane L Lynch
- School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Anna Pavlova
- School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Zixing Fan
- Interdisciplinary Bioengineering Graduate Program, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - James C Gumbart
- School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
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24
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Parker JE, Rodriguez RA. Development of a charged model of the SARS-CoV-2 viral surface. Biochim Biophys Acta Biomembr 2023; 1865:184136. [PMID: 36746311 PMCID: PMC9898061 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2023.184136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Revised: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
A recent study provided experimental evidence of inactivation of viral activity after radio-frequency (RF) exposures in the 6-12 GHz band that was hypothesized to be caused by vibrations of an acoustic dipole mode in the virus that excited the viral membrane to failure. Here, we develop an atomic-scale molecular dynamics (MD) model of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral surface to estimate the electric fields necessary to rupture the viral membrane via dipole shaking of the virus. We computed the absorption spectrum of the system via unbiased MD simulations and found no particular strong absorption in the GHz band. We investigated the mechanical resiliency of the viral membrane by introducing uniaxial strains in the system and observed no pore formation in the membrane for strains up to 50%. Because the computed absorption spectrum was found to be essentially flat, and the strain required to break the viral membrane was >0.5, the field strength associated with rupture of the virus was greater than the dielectric breakdown value of air. Thus, RF disinfection of enveloped viruses would occur only once sufficient heat was transferred to the virus via a thermal mechanism and not by direct action (shaking) of the RF field oscillations on the viral membrane.
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Affiliation(s)
- James E Parker
- General Dynamics Information Technology, 4141 Petroleum Road, JBSA Fort Sam Houston, TX, 78234-2644, United States.
| | - Roberto A Rodriguez
- General Dynamics Information Technology, 4141 Petroleum Road, JBSA Fort Sam Houston, TX, 78234-2644, United States.
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25
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Gonzalez-Rodriguez E, Zol-Hanlon M, Bineva-Todd G, Marchesi A, Skehel M, Mahoney KE, Roustan C, Borg A, Di Vagno L, Kjær S, Wrobel AG, Benton DJ, Nawrath P, Flitsch SL, Joshi D, González-Ramírez A, Wilkinson KA, Wilkinson RJ, Wall EC, Hurtado-Guerrero R, Malaker SA, Schumann B. O-Linked Sialoglycans Modulate the Proteolysis of SARS-CoV-2 Spike and Likely Contribute to the Mutational Trajectory in Variants of Concern. ACS Cent Sci 2023; 9:393-404. [PMID: 36968546 PMCID: PMC10037455 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.2c01349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The emergence of a polybasic cleavage motif for the protease furin in SARS-CoV-2 spike has been established as a major factor for human viral transmission. The region N-terminal to that motif is extensively mutated in variants of concern (VOCs). Besides furin, spikes from these variants appear to rely on other proteases for maturation, including TMPRSS2. Glycans near the cleavage site have raised questions about proteolytic processing and the consequences of variant-borne mutations. Here, we identify that sialic acid-containing O-linked glycans on Thr678 of SARS-CoV-2 spike influence furin and TMPRSS2 cleavage and posit O-linked glycosylation as a likely driving force for the emergence of VOC mutations. We provide direct evidence that the glycosyltransferase GalNAc-T1 primes glycosylation at Thr678 in the living cell, an event that is suppressed by mutations in the VOCs Alpha, Delta, and Omicron. We found that the sole incorporation of N-acetylgalactosamine did not impact furin activity in synthetic O-glycopeptides, but the presence of sialic acid reduced the furin rate by up to 65%. Similarly, O-glycosylation with a sialylated trisaccharide had a negative impact on TMPRSS2 cleavage. With a chemistry-centered approach, we substantiate O-glycosylation as a major determinant of spike maturation and propose disruption of O-glycosylation as a substantial driving force for VOC evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edgar Gonzalez-Rodriguez
- Chemical
Glycobiology Laboratory, The Francis Crick
Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
- Department
of Chemistry, Imperial College London, W12 0BZ London, United Kingdom
| | - Mia Zol-Hanlon
- Chemical
Glycobiology Laboratory, The Francis Crick
Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
- Signalling
and Structural Biology Lab, The Francis
Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Ganka Bineva-Todd
- Chemical
Glycobiology Laboratory, The Francis Crick
Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Andrea Marchesi
- Chemical
Glycobiology Laboratory, The Francis Crick
Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
- Department
of Chemistry, Imperial College London, W12 0BZ London, United Kingdom
| | - Mark Skehel
- Proteomics
Science Technology Platform, The Francis
Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Keira E. Mahoney
- Department
of Chemistry, Yale University, 275 Prospect Street, 06511 New Haven, Connecticut, United States
| | - Chloë Roustan
- Structural
Biology Science Technology Platform, The
Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Annabel Borg
- Structural
Biology Science Technology Platform, The
Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Lucia Di Vagno
- Chemical
Glycobiology Laboratory, The Francis Crick
Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
- Proteomics
Science Technology Platform, The Francis
Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Svend Kjær
- Structural
Biology Science Technology Platform, The
Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Antoni G. Wrobel
- Structural
Biology of Disease Processes Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Donald J. Benton
- Structural
Biology of Disease Processes Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Philipp Nawrath
- Structural
Biology of Disease Processes Laboratory, Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | - Sabine L. Flitsch
- Manchester
Institute of Biotechnology, University of
Manchester, 131 Princess Street, M1 7DN Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Dhira Joshi
- Chemical
Biology Science Technology Platform, The
Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Katalin A. Wilkinson
- Tuberculosis
Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
- Wellcome
Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa, University of Cape Town, 7925 Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Robert J. Wilkinson
- Tuberculosis
Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
- Wellcome
Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa, University of Cape Town, 7925 Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department
of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College
London, W12 0NN London, United Kingdom
- Institute
of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine and Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town, 7925 Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Emma C. Wall
- The Francis
Crick Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
- University
College London Hospitals (UCLH) Biomedical Research Centre, W1T 7DN London, United Kingdom
| | - Ramón Hurtado-Guerrero
- Institute
of Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems, University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
- Copenhagen
Center for Glycomics, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
- Fundación
ARAID, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Stacy A. Malaker
- Department
of Chemistry, Yale University, 275 Prospect Street, 06511 New Haven, Connecticut, United States
| | - Benjamin Schumann
- Chemical
Glycobiology Laboratory, The Francis Crick
Institute, NW1 1AT London, United Kingdom
- Department
of Chemistry, Imperial College London, W12 0BZ London, United Kingdom
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26
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Domingo M, Faraudo J. Effect of surfactants on SARS-CoV-2: Molecular dynamics simulations. J Chem Phys 2023; 158:114107. [PMID: 36948819 DOI: 10.1063/5.0135251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Surfactants are commonly used as disinfection agents in personal care products against bacteria and viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. However, there is a lack of understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the inactivation of viruses by surfactants. Here, we employ coarse grain (CG) and all-atom (AA) molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the interaction between general families of surfactants and the SARS-CoV-2 virus. To this end, we considered a CG model of a full virion. Overall, we found that surfactants have only a small impact on the virus envelope, being inserted into the envelope without dissolving it or generating pores, at the conditions considered here. However, we found that surfactants may induce a deep impact on the spike protein of the virus (responsible for its infectivity), easily covering it and inducing its collapse over the envelope surface of the virus. AA simulations confirmed that both negatively and positively charged surfactants are able to extensively adsorb over the spike protein and get inserted into the virus envelope. Our results suggest that the best strategy for the design of surfactants as virucidal agents will be to focus on those strongly interacting with the spike protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Domingo
- Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de la UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jordi Faraudo
- Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de la UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
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27
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Cotten M, Phan MV. Evolution of increased positive charge on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein may be adaptation to human transmission. iScience 2023; 26:106230. [PMID: 36845032 PMCID: PMC9937996 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to evolve and infect individuals. The exterior surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virion is dominated by the spike protein, and the current work examined spike protein biochemical features that have changed during the 3 years in which SARS-CoV-2 has infected humans. Our analysis identified a striking change in spike protein charge, from -8.3 in the original Lineage A and B viruses to -1.26 in most of the current Omicron viruses. We conclude that in addition to immune selection pressure, the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 has also altered viral spike protein biochemical properties, which may influence virion survival and promote transmission. Future vaccine and therapeutic development should also exploit and target these biochemical properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Cotten
- Medical Research Council–University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, 464 Bearsden Road, Glasgow G61 1QH, Scotland, UK
- UK Medical Research Council–Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit, Plot 51- 59 Nakiwogo Road, P.O Box 49, Entebbe, Uganda, UK
| | - My V.T. Phan
- UK Medical Research Council–Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit, Plot 51- 59 Nakiwogo Road, P.O Box 49, Entebbe, Uganda, UK
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28
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Pezeshkian W, Grünewald F, Narykov O, Lu S, Arkhipova V, Solodovnikov A, Wassenaar TA, Marrink SJ, Korkin D. Molecular architecture and dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 envelope by integrative modeling. Structure 2023; 31:492-503.e7. [PMID: 36870335 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2023.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
Abstract
Despite tremendous efforts, the exact structure of SARS-CoV-2 and related betacoronaviruses remains elusive. SARS-CoV-2 envelope is a key structural component of the virion that encapsulates viral RNA. It is composed of three structural proteins, spike, membrane (M), and envelope, which interact with each other and with the lipids acquired from the host membranes. Here, we developed and applied an integrative multi-scale computational approach to model the envelope structure of SARS-CoV-2 with near atomistic detail, focusing on studying the dynamic nature and molecular interactions of its most abundant, but largely understudied, M protein. The molecular dynamics simulations allowed us to test the envelope stability under different configurations and revealed that the M dimers agglomerated into large, filament-like, macromolecular assemblies with distinct molecular patterns. These results are in good agreement with current experimental data, demonstrating a generic and versatile approach to model the structure of a virus de novo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weria Pezeshkian
- Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute and Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747AG Groningen, the Netherlands; Niels Bohr International Academy, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Fabian Grünewald
- Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute and Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747AG Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Oleksandr Narykov
- Department of Computer Science, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
| | - Senbao Lu
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
| | | | | | - Tsjerk A Wassenaar
- Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute and Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747AG Groningen, the Netherlands; Institute for Life Science and Technology, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, 9747AS Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Siewert J Marrink
- Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute and Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747AG Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Dmitry Korkin
- Department of Computer Science, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA; Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA.
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29
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Lipska AG, Sieradzan AK, Czaplewski C, Lipińska AD, Ocetkiewicz KM, Proficz J, Czarnul P, Krawczyk H, Liwo A. Long-time scale simulations of virus-like particles from three human-norovirus strains. J Comput Chem 2023; 44:1470-1483. [PMID: 36799410 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.27087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Revised: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 01/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
The dynamics of the virus like particles (VLPs) corresponding to the GII.4 Houston, GII.2 SMV, and GI.1 Norwalk strains of human noroviruses (HuNoV) that cause gastroenteritis was investigated by means of long-time (about 30 μs in the laboratory timescale) molecular dynamics simulations with the coarse-grained UNRES force field. The main motion of VLP units turned out to be the bending at the junction between the P1 subdomain (that sits in the VLP shell) and the P2 subdomain (that protrudes outside) of the major VP1 protein, this resulting in a correlated wagging motion of the P2 subdomains with respect to the VLP surface. The fluctuations of the P2 subdomain were found to be more pronounced and the P2 domain made a greater angle with the normal to the VLP surface for the GII.2 strain, which could explain the inability of this strain to bind the histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs).
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnieszka G Lipska
- Centre of Informatics Tri-city Academic Supercomputer and Network (CI TASK), Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Adam K Sieradzan
- Centre of Informatics Tri-city Academic Supercomputer and Network (CI TASK), Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.,Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Cezary Czaplewski
- Centre of Informatics Tri-city Academic Supercomputer and Network (CI TASK), Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.,Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Andrea D Lipińska
- Laboratory of Virus Molecular Biology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Krzysztof M Ocetkiewicz
- Centre of Informatics Tri-city Academic Supercomputer and Network (CI TASK), Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Jerzy Proficz
- Centre of Informatics Tri-city Academic Supercomputer and Network (CI TASK), Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Paweł Czarnul
- Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Henryk Krawczyk
- Centre of Informatics Tri-city Academic Supercomputer and Network (CI TASK), Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.,Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Adam Liwo
- Centre of Informatics Tri-city Academic Supercomputer and Network (CI TASK), Gdańsk University of Technology, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.,Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Fahrenheit Union of Universities in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
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30
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Koifman OI, Maizlish VE, Koifman MO, Lebedeva NS, Yurina ES, Gubarev YA, Gur’ev EL. Complexation ability of tetrasulfosubstituted cobalt(II) phthalocyanine toward ORF3a protein of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Russ Chem Bull 2023; 72:233-238. [PMID: 36817559 PMCID: PMC9926408 DOI: 10.1007/s11172-023-3728-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Revised: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
Complex formation processes of tetrasulfosubstituted cobalt(II) phthalocyanine with ORF3a accessory protein of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus were studied. The interaction of ORF3a protein with SARS-CoV-2 virus with tetrasulfosubstituted cobalt(II) phthalocyanine affords a stable complex in which metallophthalocyanine exists in the monomeric form. The complex formation induces slight changes in the secondary structure of the protein by increasing the fraction of disordered fragments of the polypeptide chain. The photoirradiation of the complex of ORF3a protein of SARS-CoV-2 virus with tetrasulfosubstituted cobalt(II) phthalocyanine leads to the photooxidation of amino acid residues of the protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- O. I. Koifman
- G. A. Krestov Institute of Solution Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1 ul. Akademicheskaya, 153045 Ivanovo, Russian Federation ,Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, 7 Sheremetevskii prosp., 153000 Ivanovo, Russian Federation
| | - V. E. Maizlish
- Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, 7 Sheremetevskii prosp., 153000 Ivanovo, Russian Federation
| | - M. O. Koifman
- G. A. Krestov Institute of Solution Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1 ul. Akademicheskaya, 153045 Ivanovo, Russian Federation ,Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, 7 Sheremetevskii prosp., 153000 Ivanovo, Russian Federation
| | - N. Sh. Lebedeva
- G. A. Krestov Institute of Solution Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1 ul. Akademicheskaya, 153045 Ivanovo, Russian Federation
| | - E. S. Yurina
- G. A. Krestov Institute of Solution Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1 ul. Akademicheskaya, 153045 Ivanovo, Russian Federation
| | - Yu. A. Gubarev
- G. A. Krestov Institute of Solution Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1 ul. Akademicheskaya, 153045 Ivanovo, Russian Federation
| | - E. L. Gur’ev
- Lobachesky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 4 Ashkhabadskaya ul., 603105 Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation
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31
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Casalino L, Seitz C, Lederhofer J, Tsybovsky Y, Wilson IA, Kanekiyo M, Amaro RE. Breathing and Tilting: Mesoscale Simulations Illuminate Influenza Glycoprotein Vulnerabilities. ACS Cent Sci 2022; 8:1646-1663. [PMID: 36589893 PMCID: PMC9801513 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.2c00981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Influenza virus has resurfaced recently from inactivity during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, raising serious concerns about the nature and magnitude of future epidemics. The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented. Here, we investigate the dynamics of influenza glycoproteins in a crowded protein environment through mesoscale all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of two evolutionary-linked glycosylated influenza A whole-virion models. Our simulations reveal and kinetically characterize three main molecular motions of influenza glycoproteins: NA head tilting, HA ectodomain tilting, and HA head breathing. The flexibility of HA and NA highlights antigenically relevant conformational states, as well as facilitates the characterization of a novel monoclonal antibody, derived from convalescent human donor, that binds to the underside of the NA head. Our work provides previously unappreciated views on the dynamics of HA and NA, advancing the understanding of their interplay and suggesting possible strategies for the design of future vaccines and antivirals against influenza.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Casalino
- Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University
of California San Diego, La Jolla, California92093, United States
| | - Christian Seitz
- Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University
of California San Diego, La Jolla, California92093, United States
| | - Julia Lederhofer
- Vaccine
Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland20892, United States
| | - Yaroslav Tsybovsky
- Electron
Microscopy Laboratory, Cancer Research Technology Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
Sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland21702, United States
| | - Ian A. Wilson
- Department
of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and the Skaggs
Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps
Research Institute, La Jolla, California92037, United States
| | - Masaru Kanekiyo
- Vaccine
Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland20892, United States
| | - Rommie E. Amaro
- Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University
of California San Diego, La Jolla, California92093, United States
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32
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Iqra Chaudhary, Naomi Jackson, Denise Denning, Luke O’Neill, Hugh J. Byrne. Contributions of vibrational spectroscopy to virology: A review. Clinical Spectroscopy 2022; 4. [ DOI: 10.1016/j.clispe.2022.100022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2022] [Revised: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Vibrational spectroscopic techniques, both infrared absorption and Raman scattering, are high precision, label free analytical techniques which have found applications in fields as diverse as analytical chemistry, pharmacology, forensics and archeometrics and, in recent times, have attracted increasing attention for biomedical applications. As analytical techniques, they have been applied to the characterisation of viruses as early as the 1970 s, and, in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, have been explored in response to the World Health Organisation as novel methodologies to aid in the global efforts to implement and improve rapid screening of viral infection. This review considers the history of the application of vibrational spectroscopic techniques to the characterisation of the morphology and chemical compositions of viruses, their attachment to, uptake by and replication in cells, and their potential for the detection of viruses in population screening, and in infection response monitoring applications. Particular consideration is devoted to recent efforts in the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, and monitoring COVID-19.
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33
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Borkotoky S, Dey D, Hazarika Z, Joshi A, Tripathi K. Unravelling viral dynamics through molecular dynamics simulations - A brief overview. Biophys Chem 2022; 291:106908. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bpc.2022.106908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 09/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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34
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Pantano S. Back and forth modeling through biological scales. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2022; 633:39-41. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2022.09.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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35
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Beton JG, Cragnolini T, Kaleel M, Mulvaney T, Sweeney A, Topf M. Integrating model simulation tools and
cryo‐electron
microscopy. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/wcms.1642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Joseph George Beton
- Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) Leibniz‐Institut für Virologie (LIV) Hamburg Germany
| | - Tristan Cragnolini
- Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Birkbeck and University College London London UK
| | - Manaz Kaleel
- Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) Leibniz‐Institut für Virologie (LIV) Hamburg Germany
| | - Thomas Mulvaney
- Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) Leibniz‐Institut für Virologie (LIV) Hamburg Germany
| | - Aaron Sweeney
- Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) Leibniz‐Institut für Virologie (LIV) Hamburg Germany
| | - Maya Topf
- Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) Leibniz‐Institut für Virologie (LIV) Hamburg Germany
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36
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Trifan A, Gorgun D, Salim M, Li Z, Brace A, Zvyagin M, Ma H, Clyde A, Clark D, Hardy DJ, Burnley T, Huang L, McCalpin J, Emani M, Yoo H, Yin J, Tsaris A, Subbiah V, Raza T, Liu J, Trebesch N, Wells G, Mysore V, Gibbs T, Phillips J, Chennubhotla SC, Foster I, Stevens R, Anandkumar A, Vishwanath V, Stone JE, Tajkhorshid E, A. Harris S, Ramanathan A. Intelligent resolution: Integrating Cryo-EM with AI-driven multi-resolution simulations to observe the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 replication-transcription machinery in action. Int J High Perform Comput Appl 2022; 36:603-623. [PMID: 38464362 PMCID: PMC10923581 DOI: 10.1177/10943420221113513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication transcription complex (RTC) is a multi-domain protein responsible for replicating and transcribing the viral mRNA inside a human cell. Attacking RTC function with pharmaceutical compounds is a pathway to treating COVID-19. Conventional tools, e.g., cryo-electron microscopy and all-atom molecular dynamics (AAMD), do not provide sufficiently high resolution or timescale to capture important dynamics of this molecular machine. Consequently, we develop an innovative workflow that bridges the gap between these resolutions, using mesoscale fluctuating finite element analysis (FFEA) continuum simulations and a hierarchy of AI-methods that continually learn and infer features for maintaining consistency between AAMD and FFEA simulations. We leverage a multi-site distributed workflow manager to orchestrate AI, FFEA, and AAMD jobs, providing optimal resource utilization across HPC centers. Our study provides unprecedented access to study the SARS-CoV-2 RTC machinery, while providing general capability for AI-enabled multi-resolution simulations at scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anda Trifan
- Argonne National Laboratory
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
| | - Defne Gorgun
- Argonne National Laboratory
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Austin Clyde
- Argonne National Laboratory
- University of Chicago
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Ian Foster
- Argonne National Laboratory
- University of Chicago
| | - Rick Stevens
- Argonne National Laboratory
- University of Chicago
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37
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Dolan KA, Dutta M, Kern DM, Kotecha A, Voth GA, Brohawn SG. Structure of SARS-CoV-2 M protein in lipid nanodiscs. eLife 2022; 11:e81702. [PMID: 36264056 PMCID: PMC9642992 DOI: 10.7554/elife.81702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 encodes four structural proteins incorporated into virions, spike (S), envelope (E), nucleocapsid (N), and membrane (M). M plays an essential role in viral assembly by organizing other structural proteins through physical interactions and directing them to sites of viral budding. As the most abundant protein in the viral envelope and a target of patient antibodies, M is a compelling target for vaccines and therapeutics. Still, the structure of M and molecular basis for its role in virion formation are unknown. Here, we present the cryo-EM structure of SARS-CoV-2 M in lipid nanodiscs to 3.5 Å resolution. M forms a 50 kDa homodimer that is structurally related to the SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a viroporin, suggesting a shared ancestral origin. Structural comparisons reveal how intersubunit gaps create a small, enclosed pocket in M and large open cavity in ORF3a, consistent with a structural role and ion channel activity, respectively. M displays a strikingly electropositive cytosolic surface that may be important for interactions with N, S, and viral RNA. Molecular dynamics simulations show a high degree of structural rigidity in a simple lipid bilayer and support a role for M homodimers in scaffolding viral assembly. Together, these results provide insight into roles for M in coronavirus assembly and structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly A Dolan
- Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, and California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Mandira Dutta
- Department of Chemistry, Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of ChicagoChicagoUnited States
| | - David M Kern
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, and California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Abhay Kotecha
- Materials and Structural Analysis Division, Thermo Fisher ScientificEindhovenNetherlands
| | - Gregory A Voth
- Department of Chemistry, Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of ChicagoChicagoUnited States
| | - Stephen G Brohawn
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, and California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
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38
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Shen H, Wu Z. Effect of Disulfide Bridge on the Binding of SARS-CoV-2 Fusion Peptide to Cell Membrane: A Coarse-Grained Study. ACS Omega 2022; 7:36762-36775. [PMID: 36278087 PMCID: PMC9583636 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c05079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, we present the parameterization of the CAVS coarse-grained (CG) force field for 20 amino acids, and our CG simulations show that the CAVS force field could accurately predict the amino acid tendency of the secondary structure. Then, we used the CAVS force field to investigate the binding of a severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus fusion peptide (SARS-CoV-2 FP) to a phospholipid bilayer: a long FP (FP-L) containing 40 amino acids and a short FP (FP-S) containing 26 amino acids. Our CAVS CG simulations displayed that the binding affinity of the FP-L to the bilayer is higher than that of the FP-S. We found that the FP-L interacted more strongly with membrane cholesterol than the FP-S, which should be attributed to the stable helical structure of the FP-L at the C-terminus. In addition, we discovered that the FP-S had one major and two minor membrane-bound states, in agreement with previous all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) studies. However, we found that both the C-terminal and N-terminal amino acid residues of the FP-L can strongly interact with the bilayer membrane. Furthermore, we found that the disulfide bond formed between Cys840 and Cys851 stabilized the helices of the FP-L at the C-terminus, enhancing the interaction between the FP-L and the bilayer membrane. Our work indicates that the stable helical structure is crucial for binding the SARS-CoV-2 FP to cell membranes. In particular, the helical stability of FP should have a significant influence on the FP-membrane binding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hujun Shen
- Guizhou
Provincial Key Laboratory of Computational Nano-Material Science, Guizhou Education University, Guiyang 550018, China
| | - Zhenhua Wu
- Department
of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, Guizhou Vocational Technology College of Electronics & Information, Kaili 556000, China
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39
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Abstract
Large-scale computational molecular models provide scientists a means to investigate the effect of microscopic details on emergent mesoscopic behavior. Elucidating the relationship between variations on the molecular scale and macroscopic observable properties facilitates an understanding of the molecular interactions driving the properties of real world materials and complex systems (e.g., those found in biology, chemistry, and materials science). As a result, discovering an explicit, systematic connection between microscopic nature and emergent mesoscopic behavior is a fundamental goal for this type of investigation. The molecular forces critical to driving the behavior of complex heterogeneous systems are often unclear. More problematically, simulations of representative model systems are often prohibitively expensive from both spatial and temporal perspectives, impeding straightforward investigations over possible hypotheses characterizing molecular behavior. While the reduction in resolution of a study, such as moving from an atomistic simulation to that of the resolution of large coarse-grained (CG) groups of atoms, can partially ameliorate the cost of individual simulations, the relationship between the proposed microscopic details and this intermediate resolution is nontrivial and presents new obstacles to study. Small portions of these complex systems can be realistically simulated. Alone, these smaller simulations likely do not provide insight into collectively emergent behavior. However, by proposing that the driving forces in both smaller and larger systems (containing many related copies of the smaller system) have an explicit connection, systematic bottom-up CG techniques can be used to transfer CG hypotheses discovered using a smaller scale system to a larger system of primary interest. The proposed connection between different CG systems is prescribed by (i) the CG representation (mapping) and (ii) the functional form and parameters used to represent the CG energetics, which approximate potentials of mean force (PMFs). As a result, the design of CG methods that facilitate a variety of physically relevant representations, approximations, and force fields is critical to moving the frontier of systematic CG forward. Crucially, the proposed connection between the system used for parametrization and the system of interest is orthogonal to the optimization used to approximate the potential of mean force present in all systematic CG methods. The empirical efficacy of machine learning techniques on a variety of tasks provides strong motivation to consider these approaches for approximating the PMF and analyzing these approximations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaehyeok Jin
- Department of Chemistry,
Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical
Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Alexander J. Pak
- Department of Chemistry,
Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical
Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Aleksander E. P. Durumeric
- Department of Chemistry,
Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical
Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Timothy D. Loose
- Department of Chemistry,
Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical
Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Gregory A. Voth
- Department of Chemistry,
Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute for Biophysical
Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
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40
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Mehregan A, Pérez-conesa S, Zhuang Y, Elbahnsi A, Pasini D, Lindahl E, Howard RJ, Ulens C, Delemotte L. Probing effects of the SARS-CoV-2 E protein on membrane curvature and intracellular calcium. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes 2022; 1864:183994. [PMID: 35724739 PMCID: PMC9212275 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2022.183994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2021] [Revised: 06/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 contains four structural proteins in its genome. These proteins aid in the assembly and budding of new virions at the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC). Current fundamental research efforts largely focus on one of these proteins – the spike (S) protein. Since successful antiviral therapies are likely to target multiple viral components, there is considerable interest in understanding the biophysical role of its other structural proteins, in particular structural membrane proteins. Here, we have focused our efforts on the characterization of the full-length envelope (E) protein from SARS-CoV-2, combining experimental and computational approaches. Recombinant expression of the full-length E protein from SARS-CoV-2 reveals that this membrane protein is capable of independent multimerization, possibly as a tetrameric or smaller species. Fluorescence microscopy shows that the protein localizes intracellularly, and coarse-grained MD simulations indicate it causes bending of the surrounding lipid bilayer, corroborating a potential role for the E protein in viral budding. Although we did not find robust electrophysiological evidence of ion-channel activity, cells transfected with the E protein exhibited reduced intracellular Ca2+, which may further promote viral replication. However, our atomistic MD simulations revealed that previous NMR structures are relatively unstable, and result in models incapable of ion conduction. Our study highlights the importance of using high-resolution structural data obtained from a full-length protein to gain detailed molecular insights, and eventually permitting virtual drug screening.
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Mohajerani F, Tyukodi B, Schlicksup CJ, Hadden-Perilla JA, Zlotnick A, Hagan MF. Multiscale Modeling of Hepatitis B Virus Capsid Assembly and Its Dimorphism. ACS Nano 2022; 16:13845-13859. [PMID: 36054910 PMCID: PMC10273259 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c02119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an endemic, chronic virus that leads to 800000 deaths per year. Central to the HBV lifecycle, the viral core has a protein capsid assembled from many copies of a single protein. The capsid protein adopts different (quasi-equivalent) conformations to form icosahedral capsids containing 180 or 240 proteins: T = 3 or T = 4, respectively, in Caspar-Klug nomenclature. HBV capsid assembly has become an important target for recently developed antivirals; nonetheless, the assembly pathways and mechanisms that control HBV dimorphism remain unclear. We describe computer simulations of the HBV assembly, using a coarse-grained model that has parameters learned from all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of a complete HBV capsid and yet is computationally tractable. Dynamical simulations with the resulting model reproduce experimental observations of HBV assembly pathways and products. By constructing Markov state models and employing transition path theory, we identify pathways leading to T = 3, T = 4, and other experimentally observed capsid morphologies. The analysis shows that capsid polymorphism is promoted by the low HBV capsid bending modulus, where the key factors controlling polymorphism are the conformational energy landscape and protein-protein binding affinities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farzaneh Mohajerani
- Martin A. Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts02453, United States
| | - Botond Tyukodi
- Martin A. Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts02453, United States
- Department of Physics, Babeş-Bolyai University, 400084Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Christopher J Schlicksup
- Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana47405, United States
| | - Jodi A Hadden-Perilla
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware19716, United States
| | - Adam Zlotnick
- Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana47405, United States
| | - Michael F Hagan
- Martin A. Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts02453, United States
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42
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Li S, Zandi R. Biophysical Modeling of SARS-CoV-2 Assembly: Genome Condensation and Budding. Viruses 2022; 14:2089. [PMID: 36298645 PMCID: PMC9611094 DOI: 10.3390/v14102089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Revised: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spurred unprecedented and concerted worldwide research to curtail and eradicate this pathogen. SARS-CoV-2 has four structural proteins: Envelope (E), Membrane (M), Nucleocapsid (N), and Spike (S), which self-assemble along with its RNA into the infectious virus by budding from intracellular lipid membranes. In this paper, we develop a model to explore the mechanisms of RNA condensation by structural proteins, protein oligomerization and cellular membrane-protein interactions that control the budding process and the ultimate virus structure. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we have deciphered how the positively charged N proteins interact and condense the very long genomic RNA resulting in its packaging by a lipid envelope decorated with structural proteins inside a host cell. Furthermore, considering the length of RNA and the size of the virus, we find that the intrinsic curvature of M proteins is essential for virus budding. While most current research has focused on the S protein, which is responsible for viral entry, and it has been motivated by the need to develop efficacious vaccines, the development of resistance through mutations in this crucial protein makes it essential to elucidate the details of the viral life cycle to identify other drug targets for future therapy. Our simulations will provide insight into the viral life cycle through the assembly of viral particles de novo and potentially identify therapeutic targets for future drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siyu Li
- Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan 523808, China
| | - Roya Zandi
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
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43
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Casalino L, Seitz C, Lederhofer J, Tsybovsky Y, Wilson IA, Kanekiyo M, Amaro RE. Breathing and tilting: mesoscale simulations illuminate influenza glycoprotein vulnerabilities. bioRxiv 2022:2022.08.02.502576. [PMID: 35982676 PMCID: PMC9387122 DOI: 10.1101/2022.08.02.502576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Influenza virus has resurfaced recently from inactivity during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, raising serious concerns about the nature and magnitude of future epidemics. The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented. Here, we investigate the dynamics of influenza glycoproteins in a crowded protein environment through mesoscale all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of two evolutionary-linked glycosylated influenza A whole-virion models. Our simulations reveal and kinetically characterize three main molecular motions of influenza glycoproteins: NA head tilting, HA ectodomain tilting, and HA head breathing. The flexibility of HA and NA highlights antigenically relevant conformational states, as well as facilitates the characterization of a novel monoclonal antibody, derived from human convalescent plasma, that binds to the underside of the NA head. Our work provides previously unappreciated views on the dynamics of HA and NA, advancing the understanding of their interplay and suggesting possible strategies for the design of future vaccines and antivirals against influenza.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Casalino
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Christian Seitz
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Julia Lederhofer
- Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Yaroslav Tsybovsky
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Cancer Research Technology Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, United States
| | - Ian A. Wilson
- Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, United States
| | - Masaru Kanekiyo
- Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Rommie E. Amaro
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States,Corresponding author.
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44
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Gao K, Wang R, Chen J, Cheng L, Frishcosy J, Huzumi Y, Qiu Y, Schluckbier T, Wei X, Wei GW. Methodology-Centered Review of Molecular Modeling, Simulation, and Prediction of SARS-CoV-2. Chem Rev 2022; 122:11287-11368. [PMID: 35594413 PMCID: PMC9159519 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Despite tremendous efforts in the past two years, our understanding of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), virus-host interactions, immune response, virulence, transmission, and evolution is still very limited. This limitation calls for further in-depth investigation. Computational studies have become an indispensable component in combating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to their low cost, their efficiency, and the fact that they are free from safety and ethical constraints. Additionally, the mechanism that governs the global evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 cannot be revealed from individual experiments and was discovered by integrating genotyping of massive viral sequences, biophysical modeling of protein-protein interactions, deep mutational data, deep learning, and advanced mathematics. There exists a tsunami of literature on the molecular modeling, simulations, and predictions of SARS-CoV-2 and related developments of drugs, vaccines, antibodies, and diagnostics. To provide readers with a quick update about this literature, we present a comprehensive and systematic methodology-centered review. Aspects such as molecular biophysics, bioinformatics, cheminformatics, machine learning, and mathematics are discussed. This review will be beneficial to researchers who are looking for ways to contribute to SARS-CoV-2 studies and those who are interested in the status of the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaifu Gao
- Department
of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
| | - Rui Wang
- Department
of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
| | - Jiahui Chen
- Department
of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
| | - Limei Cheng
- Clinical
Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics, Bristol
Myers Squibb, Princeton, New Jersey 08536, United States
| | - Jaclyn Frishcosy
- Department
of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
| | - Yuta Huzumi
- Department
of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
| | - Yuchi Qiu
- Department
of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
| | - Tom Schluckbier
- Department
of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
| | - Xiaoqi Wei
- Department
of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
| | - Guo-Wei Wei
- Department
of Mathematics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
- Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
- Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan
State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States
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45
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Abstract
Glycoscience assembles all the scientific disciplines involved in studying various molecules and macromolecules containing carbohydrates and complex glycans. Such an ensemble involves one of the most extensive sets of molecules in quantity and occurrence since they occur in all microorganisms and higher organisms. Once the compositions and sequences of these molecules are established, the determination of their three-dimensional structural and dynamical features is a step toward understanding the molecular basis underlying their properties and functions. The range of the relevant computational methods capable of addressing such issues is anchored by the specificity of stereoelectronic effects from quantum chemistry to mesoscale modeling throughout molecular dynamics and mechanics and coarse-grained and docking calculations. The Review leads the reader through the detailed presentations of the applications of computational modeling. The illustrations cover carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions, glycolipids, and N- and O-linked glycans, emphasizing their role in SARS-CoV-2. The presentation continues with the structure of polysaccharides in solution and solid-state and lipopolysaccharides in membranes. The full range of protein-carbohydrate interactions is presented, as exemplified by carbohydrate-active enzymes, transporters, lectins, antibodies, and glycosaminoglycan binding proteins. A final section features a list of 150 tools and databases to help address the many issues of structural glycobioinformatics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serge Perez
- Centre de Recherche sur les Macromolecules Vegetales, University of Grenoble-Alpes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble F-38041, France
| | - Olga Makshakova
- FRC Kazan Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Kazan 420111, Russia
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46
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Fedorov V, Kholina E, Khruschev S, Kovalenko I, Rubin A, Strakhovskaya M. Electrostatic Map of the SARS-CoV-2 Virion Specifies Binding Sites of the Antiviral Cationic Photosensitizer. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:7304. [PMID: 35806316 PMCID: PMC9266743 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23137304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2022] [Revised: 06/26/2022] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Electrostatics is an important part of virus life. Understanding the detailed distribution of charges over the surface of a virus is important to predict its interactions with host cells, antibodies, drugs, and different materials. Using a coarse-grained model of the entire viral envelope developed by D. Korkin and S.-J. Marrink’s scientific groups, we created an electrostatic map of the external surface of SARS-CoV-2 and found a highly heterogeneous distribution of the electrostatic potential field of the viral envelope. Numerous negative patches originate mainly from negatively charged lipid domains in the viral membrane and negatively charged areas on the “stalks” of the spike (S) proteins. Membrane (M) and envelope (E) proteins with the total positive charge tend to colocalize with the negatively charged lipids. In the E protein pentamer exposed to the outer surface, negatively charged glutamate residues and surrounding lipids form a negative electrostatic potential ring around the channel entrance. We simulated the interaction of the antiviral octacationic photosensitizer octakis(cholinyl)zinc phthalocyanine with the surface structures of the entire model virion using the Brownian dynamics computational method implemented in ProKSim software (version r661). All mentioned negatively charged envelope components attracted the photosensitizer molecules and are thus potential targets for reactive oxygen generated in photosensitized reactions.
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47
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Pak A, Gupta M, Yeager M, Voth GA. Inositol Hexakisphosphate (IP6) Accelerates Immature HIV-1 Gag Protein Assembly toward Kinetically Trapped Morphologies. J Am Chem Soc 2022; 144:10417-10428. [PMID: 35666943 PMCID: PMC9204763 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c02568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
During the late stages of the HIV-1 lifecycle, immature virions are produced by the concerted activity of Gag polyproteins, primarily mediated by the capsid (CA) and spacer peptide 1 (SP1) domains, which assemble into a spherical lattice, package viral genomic RNA, and deform the plasma membrane. Recently, inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) has been identified as an essential assembly cofactor that efficiently produces both immature virions in vivo and immature virus-like particles in vitro. To date, however, several distinct mechanistic roles for IP6 have been proposed on the basis of independent functional, structural, and kinetic studies. In this work, we investigate the molecular influence of IP6 on the structural outcomes and dynamics of CA/SP1 assembly using coarse-grained (CG) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and free energy calculations. Here, we derive a bottom-up, low-resolution, and implicit-solvent CG model of CA/SP1 and IP6, and simulate their assembly under conditions that emulate both in vitro and in vivo systems. Our analysis identifies IP6 as an assembly accelerant that promotes curvature generation and fissure-like defects throughout the lattice. Our findings suggest that IP6 induces kinetically trapped immature morphologies, which may be physiologically important for later stages of viral morphogenesis and potentially useful for virus-like particle technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander
J. Pak
- Department
of Chemistry, Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute
for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Manish Gupta
- Department
of Chemistry, Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute
for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Mark Yeager
- Department
of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, United States,Center
for Membrane Biology, University of Virginia
School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, United States, United States,Cardiovascular
Research Center, University of Virginia
School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, United States,Department
of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, United States
| | - Gregory A. Voth
- Department
of Chemistry, Chicago Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Institute
for Biophysical Dynamics, and James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States,E-mail:
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48
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Wieczór M, Genna V, Aranda J, Badia RM, Gelpí JL, Gapsys V, de Groot BL, Lindahl E, Municoy M, Hospital A, Orozco M. Pre-exascale HPC approaches for molecular dynamics simulations. Covid-19 research: A use case. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Comput Mol Sci 2022; 13:e1622. [PMID: 35935573 PMCID: PMC9347456 DOI: 10.1002/wcms.1622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Exascale computing has been a dream for ages and is close to becoming a reality that will impact how molecular simulations are being performed, as well as the quantity and quality of the information derived for them. We review how the biomolecular simulations field is anticipating these new architectures, making emphasis on recent work from groups in the BioExcel Center of Excellence for High Performance Computing. We exemplified the power of these simulation strategies with the work done by the HPC simulation community to fight Covid-19 pandemics. This article is categorized under:Data Science > Computer Algorithms and ProgrammingData Science > Databases and Expert SystemsMolecular and Statistical Mechanics > Molecular Dynamics and Monte-Carlo Methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miłosz Wieczór
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). The Barcelona Institute of Science and TechnologyBarcelonaSpain
- Department of Physical ChemistryGdansk University of TechnologyGdańskPoland
| | - Vito Genna
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). The Barcelona Institute of Science and TechnologyBarcelonaSpain
| | - Juan Aranda
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). The Barcelona Institute of Science and TechnologyBarcelonaSpain
| | | | - Josep Lluís Gelpí
- Barcelona Supercomputing CenterBarcelonaSpain
- Department of Biochemistry and BiomedicineUniversity of BarcelonaBarcelonaSpain
| | - Vytautas Gapsys
- Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary SciencesComputational Biomolecular Dynamics GroupGoettingenGermany
| | - Bert L. de Groot
- Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary SciencesComputational Biomolecular Dynamics GroupGoettingenGermany
| | - Erik Lindahl
- Department of Applied PhysicsSwedish e‐Science Research Center, KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyStockholmSweden
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Science for Life LaboratoryStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
| | | | - Adam Hospital
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). The Barcelona Institute of Science and TechnologyBarcelonaSpain
| | - Modesto Orozco
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). The Barcelona Institute of Science and TechnologyBarcelonaSpain
- Department of Biochemistry and BiomedicineUniversity of BarcelonaBarcelonaSpain
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Kampfrath M, Staritzbichler R, Hernández GP, Rose AS, Tiemann JKS, Scheuermann G, Wiegreffe D, Hildebrand PW. MDsrv: visual sharing and analysis of molecular dynamics simulations. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:W483-W489. [PMID: 35639717 PMCID: PMC9252803 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 05/02/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Molecular dynamics simulation is a proven technique for computing and visualizing the time-resolved motion of macromolecules at atomic resolution. The MDsrv is a tool that streams MD trajectories and displays them interactively in web browsers without requiring advanced skills, facilitating interactive exploration and collaborative visual analysis. We have now enhanced the MDsrv to further simplify the upload and sharing of MD trajectories and improve their online viewing and analysis. With the new instance, the MDsrv simplifies the creation of sessions, which allows the exchange of MD trajectories with preset representations and perspectives. An important innovation is that the MDsrv can now access and visualize trajectories from remote datasets, which greatly expands its applicability and use, as the data no longer needs to be accessible on a local server. In addition, initial analyses such as sequence or structure alignments, distance measurements, or RMSD calculations have been implemented, which optionally support visual analysis. Finally, based on Mol*, MDsrv now provides faster and more efficient visualization of even large trajectories compared to its predecessor tool NGL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle Kampfrath
- Image and Signal Processing Group, Department of Computer Science, Leipzig University, Augustusplatz 10, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
| | - René Staritzbichler
- Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, Härtelstraße 16-18, 04107 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Guillermo Pérez Hernández
- Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Johanna K S Tiemann
- Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes Vej 5, DK-2200 Copenhagen N., Denmark
| | - Gerik Scheuermann
- Image and Signal Processing Group, Department of Computer Science, Leipzig University, Augustusplatz 10, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daniel Wiegreffe
- Image and Signal Processing Group, Department of Computer Science, Leipzig University, Augustusplatz 10, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Peter W Hildebrand
- Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, Härtelstraße 16-18, 04107 Leipzig, Germany.,Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health, 10178 Berlin, Germany
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Wierzbicki T, Bai Y. Finite element modeling of alpha-helices and tropocollagen molecules with reference to the spike of SARS-CoV-2. Biophys J 2022; 121:2353-2370. [PMID: 35598047 PMCID: PMC9162829 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.05.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Revised: 02/03/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The newly developed finite element modeling at the atomic scale was used to predict the static and dynamic response of the alpha-helix (AH) and tropocollagen (TC) protein fragments, the main building blocks of the spike of the SARS-CoV-2. The geometry and morphology of the spike's stalk and its connection to the viral envelope were determined from the combination of most recent Molecular Dynamics simulation and images of Cryo-Electron microscope. The stiffness parameters of the covalent bonds in the main chain of the helix were taken from the literature. The AH and TC were modeled using both beam elements (wire model) and shell elements (ribbon model) in finite element analysis to predict their mechanical properties under tension. The asymptotic stiffening features of AH and TC under tensile loading were revealed and compared with a new analytical solution. The mechanical stiffnesses under other loading conditions, including compression, torsion and bending were also predicted numerically and correlated with the results of the existing MD simulations and tests. The mode shapes and natural frequencies of the spike were predicted using the built FE model. The frequencies were shown to be within the safe range of 1-20 MHz routinely used for medical imaging and diagnosis by means of ultrasound. These results provide a solid theoretical basis for using ultrasound to study damaging coronavirus through transient and resonant vibration at large deformations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomasz Wierzbicki
- Impact and Crashworthiness Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Yuanli Bai
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace of Engineering, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816, USA.
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