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Molecules in Cell Membranes
Timr, Štěpán ; Jungwirth, Pavel (advisor) ; Böckman, Rainer (referee) ; Ettrich, Rüdiger (referee)
Biological membranes are actively involved in a multitude of processes in living cells; therefore, a detailed characterization of their structure, dynamics, and function is essential for an understanding of living organisms at the molecular level. In this work, we made use of the high spatial and temporal resolution offered by computer simulations to investigate the behavior of several molecular species which associate with cellular membranes. Using a combination of classical molecular dynamics simulations and ab initio electronic structure calculations, we were able to characterize nonlinear optical properties of membrane- embedded fluorescent probes and thus contribute to establishing two-photon polarization microscopy as a tool of structural biology. Moreover, our molecular dynamics simulations provided an atomistic picture of the reversible membrane binding of recoverin, a neuronal calcium-sensing protein involved in vision adaptation, and they also yielded an important insight into the mechanism of its calcium-induced myristoyl switch. In addition, we examined the biological role of cholesterol oxidation and compared two methods of representing transmembrane voltage in molecular dynamics simulations.
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Computer modeling of ion protein interactions: Allo steric effects of phenolic ligands and ions on insulin hexamer struct ure
Palivec, Vladimír ; Jungwirth, Pavel (advisor) ; Fišer, Jiří (referee)
Title: Computer modeling of ion protein interactions: Allosteric effects of phenolic ligands and ions on insulin hexamer structure Author: Vladimír Palivec Department: Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry Faculty of Science UK Advisor: prof. RNDr. Pavel Jungwirth, DSc., IOCB AS CR, v.v.i. Advisor's email address: pavel.jungwirth@uochb.cas.cz Abstract: Insulin hexamer is an allosteric protein capable of undergoing conformational changes between three states: T6, T3R3, and R6. Transitions between them, as well as the formation of insulin hexamers, are mediated through binding of phenolic ligands or ions. This thesis presents a molecular dynamics study of allosteric behavior of insulin using empirical force fields. Two effects are closely inspected - cation (Zn2+ , Ca2+ , K+ , and Na+ ) binding to the insulin hexamers and a possible binding of two neurotransmitters - dopamine and serotonin to the phenolic pocket. The results show that high charge density cations (Zn2+ and Ca2+ ) are mostly localized in the B13 glutamate cavity, slow- down diffusion, while preventing other cations from entering. In contrast, low charge density cations (Na+ and K+ ) do not have this effect. Concerning neurotransmitters, dopamine does not bind to the phenolic pocket whereas serotonin binds in a similar way like...
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Ion Specific Hofmeister Effects on Peptides and Proteins
Hladílková, Jana ; Jungwirth, Pavel (advisor) ; Ettrich, Rüdiger (referee) ; Horinek, Dominik (referee)
Title: Ion Specific Hofmeister Effects on Peptides and Proteins Author: Ing. Jana Hladílková Department: Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry Advisor: Prof. Pavel Jungwirth, DSc., IOCB AS CR Advisor's email address: pavel.jungwirth@uochb.cas.cz Abstract: Classical molecular dynamics simulations in combination with advanced methods of analysis were used to shed light on missing parts of our molecular understanding of the Hofmeister series. In tandem with various experimental techniques, real proteins as well as model systems were investigated in aqueous salt solutions in order to identify and quantify ion-protein interactions either leading or not leading to the canonical cationic and anionic Hofmeister ordering. The potassium cation was found to significantly enhance the BHMT enzymatic activity in contrast to the rest of the common monovalent cations. In the quest to rationalize this behavior, a key potassium binding site in the vicinity of the active site was discovered and described. Moreover, the exceptionally strong effect of K+ on the enzymatic activity was explained by hydration properties of the cations within the limited space of the active site in interplay with their attraction to the nearby negatively charged residues. By contrast, only a small and indirect influence, which follows the cationic...
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Solvent effects on ion pairing and photoionization in water
Pluhařová, Eva ; Jungwirth, Pavel (advisor) ; Nachtigall, Petr (referee) ; Laage, Damien (referee)
Title: Solvent effects on ion pairing and photoionization in water Author: Mgr. et Ing. Eva Pluhařová Department: Physical and Macromoleculer Chemistry Advisor: Prof. Pavel Jungwirth, DSc., IOCB AS CR, v.v.i. Advisor's e-mail address: pavel.jungwirth@uochb.cas.cz Abstract: Various methods of theoretical chemistry, namely classical molecular dynamics simulations with empirical force fields, ab initio molecular dynamics, enhanced sampling methods, and ab initio calculations were used to provide new insight into ion pairing and photoionization in aqueous solutions. Systems mod- eling aqueous solutions of decreasing size were investigated by computational methods of increasing level of sophistication. In a classical molecular dynamics study of concentrated lithium salt solutions, the electronic continuum correction to account for polarization provided qualita- tive improvement over the conventional non-polarizable force fields and enabled molecular interpretation of neutron scattering measurements. The same model- ing approach was also successful in predicting the affinity of halide ions to the solution/oil interface. By combining ab initio molecular dynamics and potential of mean force cal- culations, we designed a reliable computational protocol for calculating the free energy profile for an ion pair...
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Theoretical study of enzymes related to carcinogenesis: DNA polymerase β and cytochromes P450
Jeřábek, Petr ; Martínek, Václav (advisor) ; Entlicher, Gustav (referee) ; Ettrich, Rüdiger (referee)
Present doctoral thesis contributed to understanding of mechanistic principles of two enzymes participating in the process of carcinogenesis; DNA polymerase (pol ) and cytochromes P450 (CYP). Pol is part of the DNA base-excision repair mechanism (BER). The primary role of pol in, the BER mechanism, is inserting a new nucleotide into a DNA strand according to Watson-Crick base pairing rules. Pol plays an important role in the process of carcinogenesis, approximately 30 % of human tumors express pol mutants. The ability of pol to discriminate between "right" and "wrong" nucleotide during the insertion process is called fidelity. We employed computational methods to elucidate molecular basis of the fidelity of pol . First, the relative free energy calculation method LRA was employed to compare differences in free energies between the "right" and "wrong" nucleotide during its insertion into DNA. The results indicated a better stabilization of transition-state of the nucleophilic substitution catalyzed by pol in the case of the "right" versus "wrong" nucleotide. This difference resulted in an 80-fold contribution to its fidelity. Further, computational methods FEP and LIE were used to examine how mutations effect fidelity of pol . Results were than correlated with experimental data...
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Interaction of Cytochromes P450 with Flavodoxin: a theoretical study
Culka, Martin ; Martínek, Václav (advisor) ; Chmelík, Josef (referee)
Cytochromes P450 are diverse group of heme enzymes found in most species on Earth. In humans they are involved in metabolism of foreign compounds or steroids, bacteria employ cytochromes P450 for utilization of various hydrophobic substrates. General reaction catalyzed by cytochromes P450 is monooxygenation, when one atom of oxygen molecule is introduced into the substrate, while the other is reduced producing water. NADPH:cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase or cytochrome b5 usually serves as an electron donor providing electrons needed for activation of oxygen in eukaryotic organisms, in bacteria small FeS proteins or flavoproteins are these electron donors. It was shown earlier that bacterial electron donor flavodoxin could also interact with human cytochromes P450 in vitro. This thesis employs molecular modeling techniques to support a hypothesis that flavodoxin is responsible for reduction of human (1A2, 2A6, 2A13, 2C9, 2C19, 3A4) and bacterial (101A1 a 176A1) cytochromes P450 heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. An initial guess of possible mutual orientations of cytochrome P450 and flavodoxin was predicted using information-driven protein-protein docking. The stability of these complexes was examined by directed dissociation method. The most stable orientation for each cytochrome P450 was further...
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Molecular modelling in drug development
Kolář, Michal ; Hobza, Pavel (advisor) ; Vondrášek, Jiří (referee) ; Clark, Tim (referee)
Molecular modelling has become a well-established tool for studying biological mole- cules, moreover with the prospect of being useful for drug development. The thesis summarises research on the methodological advances in the treatment of molecular flexibility and intermolecular interactions. Altogether, seven original publications are accompanied by a text which aims to provide a general introduction to the topic as well as to emphasise some consequences of the computer-aided drug design. The molecular flexibility is tackled by a study of a drug-DNA interaction and also by an investigation of small drug molecules in the context of implicit solvent models. The approaches which neglect the conformational freedom are probed and compared with experiment in order to suggest later, how to cope with such a freedom if in- evitable. The noncovalent interactions involving halogen atoms and their importance for drug development are briefly introduced. Finally, a model for a faithful description of halogen bonds in the framework of molecular mechanics is developed and its per- formance and limits are tested by a comparison with benchmark ab initio calculations and experimental data. 1
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Ion - Protein Interaction
Heyda, Jan ; Jungwirth, Pavel (advisor) ; Hof, Martin (referee) ; Ettrich, Rüdiger (referee)
Title: Ion-Protein Interactions Author: Mgr. et Mgr. Jan Heyda Department: Physical and Macromoleculer Chemistry Advisor: Prof. Pavel Jungwirth, DSc., IOCB AS CR, v.v.i. Advisor's e-mail address: pavel.jungwirth@uochb.cas.cz Abstract: Conventional molecular dynamics simulations in combination with ad- vanced methods of analyses were used to improve the understanding of the interac- tion between ions and proteins in salt solutions. Thus systems of diverse complexity and size were investigated, starting with simple (and molecular) salt solutions with small fragments that mimic the various functional groups of amino acids such as N-methylacetamide representing the peptide bond or alkylated ammonium cations. Continuing with individual positively charged amino acids (arginine, histidine, ly- sine) a strong binding interaction with small fluoride anion that is significantly weak- ened for larger halides (Cl− , Br− , I− ) was described. This observation was extended by detecting the strong sensitivity of fluoride to charge distribution on ammonium, lysine side chain, and the N-terminal of glycine while sensitivity of iodide was found to be low. Later it was shown that the attractive side chain-side chain interactions are significant for short positively charged peptide fragments in polyarginine and dihistidine, while...
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Design, parameterization and verification of a coarse-grained model of DNA
Dršata, Tomáš ; Lankaš, Filip (advisor) ; Jurečka, Petr (referee)
Structure and mechanical properties of DNA play a key role in its biological functioning. A lot of well-established conclusions about the DNA structure and its sequence-dependent variabil- ity came from various experimental and computational studies of the Dickerson-Drew dodecamer (DD), a prototypic B-DNA molecule of the sequence (5')CGCGAATTCGCG(3'). In this study we present a detailed analysis of structural and mechan- ical properties of DD based on extensive atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with explicit representation of wa- ter and ionic environment. We analyze three simulated systems covering different ionic conditions and water models. Two MD trajectories are reported for the first time, one of them being 2.4 µs long. An extensive comparsion with one recent NMR struc- ture and four recent X-ray structures is made. It is found that the end basepairs can adopt two different pairing motifs dur- ing the simulation: the canonical Watson-Crick pair or a non- canonical trans Watson-Crick/Sugar Edge pair. These states can significantly influence the structure of DD even at the third step from the end. A clear relationship is found between the BI/BII backbone substates and the basepair step conformation. A model of rigid bases is used to study mechanical properties of the DNA. The non-local...
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Development and applications of molecular dynamics for chiral systems
Kessler, Jiří ; Bouř, Petr (advisor) ; Fanfrlík, Jindřich (referee)
The Thesis deals with MD simulations of solutions of chiral solutes in chiral solvents. These solutions consist of 2,2,2-trifluoro-1-phenylethanol, 1-phenylethanol and 1-phenyl- ethanamine.The differences in NMR properties between different combnations of solvent and solute absolute configuration were modeled. Indeed, differences in radial distribution functions and conformer abundances of solute calculated by the WHAM method were found. These results correlated with experimental differences in NMR shifts. Additionally, a method of cluster preselection was developed. It significantly decreased the amount of clusters needed for computations of NMR shieldings and hence the computer time. Keywords: chirality, molecular dynamic, nuclear magnetic resonance
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