Approximately 85% of the structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank have been solved using X-ray crystallography, making it the leading method for three-dimensional structure determination of macromolecules. One of the limitations of the method is that the typical data quality (resolution) does not allow the direct determination of H-atom positions. Most hydrogen positions can be inferred from the positions of other atoms and therefore can be readily included into the structure model as a priori knowledge. However, this may not be the case in biologically active sites of macromolecules, where the presence and position of hydrogen is crucial to the enzymatic mechanism. This makes the application of neutron crystallography in biology particularly important, as H atoms can be clearly located in experimental neutron scattering density maps. Without exception, when a neutron structure is determined the corresponding X-ray structure is also known, making it possible to derive the complete structure using both data sets. Here, the implementation of crystallographic structure-refinement procedures that include both X-ray and neutron data (separate or jointly) in the PHENIX system is described.

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Joint X-ray and neutron refinement with phenix.refine

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Targeted superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for early detection of cancer: Possibilities and challenges

A protocol to generate parameters for the AMOEBA polarizable force field for small organic molecules has been established, and polarizable atomic typing utility, Poltype, which fully automates this process, has been implemented. For validation, we have compared with quantum mechanical calculations of molecular dipole moments, optimized geometry, electrostatic potential, and conformational energy for a variety of neutral and charged organic molecules, as well as dimer interaction energies of a set of amino acid side chain model compounds. Furthermore, parameters obtained in gas phase are substantiated in liquid-phase simulations. The hydration free energy (HFE) of neutral and charged molecules have been calculated and compared with experimental values. The RMS error for the HFE of neutral molecules is less than 1 kcal/mol. Meanwhile, the relative error in the predicted HFE of salts (cations and anions) is less than 3% with a correlation coefficient of 0.95. Overall, the performance of Poltype is satisfactory and provides a convenient utility for applications such as drug discovery. Further improvement can be achieved by the systematic study of various organic compounds, particularly ionic molecules, and refinement and expansion of the parameter database.

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Automation of AMOEBA polarizable force field parameterization for small molecules

Neutron crystallography: opportunities, challenges, and limitations

Well-ordered water molecules are displaced from thrombin’s hydrophobic S3/4-pocket by P3-varied ligands (Gly, d-Ala, d-Val, d-Leu to d-Cha with increased hydrophobicity and steric requirement). Two series with 2-(aminomethyl)-5-chlorobenzylamide and 4-amidinobenzylamide at P1 were examined by ITC and crystallography. Although experiencing different interactions in S1, they display almost equal potency. For both scaffolds the terminal benzylsulfonyl substituent differs in binding, whereas the increasingly bulky P3-groups address S3/4 pocket similarly. Small substituents leave the solvation pattern unperturbed as found in the uncomplexed enzyme while increasingly larger ones stepwise displace the waters. Medium-sized groups show patterns with partially occupied waters. The overall 40-fold affinity enhancement correlates with water displacement and growing number of van der Waals contacts and is mainly attributed to favorable entropy. Both Gly derivatives deviate from the series and adopt different binding m...

Ligand binding stepwise disrupts water network in thrombin: enthalpic and entropic changes reveal classical hydrophobic effect

The protonation states of aspartic acids and glutamic acids as well as histidine are investigated in four X-ray cases: Ni,Ca concanavalin A at 0.94 A, a thrombin-hirugen binary complex at 1.26 A resolution and two thrombin-hirugen-inhibitor ternary complexes at 1.32 and 1.39 A resolution. The truncation of the Ni,Ca concanavalin A data at various test resolutions between 0.94 and 1.50 A provided a test comparator for the ;unknown' thrombin-hirugen carboxylate bond lengths. The protonation states of aspartic acids and glutamic acids can be determined (on the basis of convincing evidence) even to the modest resolution of 1.20 A as exemplified by our X-ray crystal structure refinements of Ni and Mn concanavalin A and also as indicated in the 1.26 A structure of thrombin, both of which are reported here. The protonation-state indication of an Asp or a Glu is valid provided that the following criteria are met (in order of importance). (i) The acidic residue must have a single occupancy. (ii) Anisotropic refinement at a minimum diffraction resolution of 1.20 A (X-ray data-to-parameter ratio of approximately 3.5:1) is required. (iii) Both of the bond lengths must agree with the expectation (i.e. dictionary values), thus allowing some relaxation of the bond-distance standard uncertainties required to approximately 0.025 A for a '3sigma' determination or approximately 0.04 A for a '2sigma' determination, although some variation of the expected bond-distance values must be allowed according to the microenvironment of the hydrogen of interest. (iv) Although the F(o) - F(c) map peaks are most likely to be unreliable at the resolution range around 1.20 A, if admitted as evidence the peak at the hydrogen position must be greater than or equal to 2.5 sigma and in the correct geometry. (v) The atomic B factors need to be less than 10 A(2) for bond-length differentiation; furthermore, the C=O bond can also be expected to be observed with continuous 2F(o) - F(c) electron density and the C-OH bond with discontinuous electron density provided that the atomic B factors are less than approximately 20 A(2) and the contour level is increased. The final decisive option is to carry out more than one experiment, e.g. multiple X-ray crystallography experiments and ideally neutron crystallography. The complementary technique of neutron protein crystallography has provided evidence of the protonation states of histidine and acidic residues in concanavalin A and also the correct orientations of asparagine and glutamine side chains. Again, the truncation of the neutron data at various test resolutions between 2.5 and 3.0 A, even 3.25 and 3.75 A resolution, examines the limits of the neutron probe. These various studies indicate a widening of the scope of both X-ray and neutron probes in certain circumstances to elucidate the protonation states in proteins.

The Determination of Protonation States in Proteins.

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J.A. Hubbard

Papers

The Determination of Protonation States in Proteins.

The determination of protonation states in proteins