Methods for searching stable docking models of biopolymer-ligand molecule complex

Abstract

Methods for searching stable docking models of biopolymer-ligand molecule complex, which comprise the steps of: (1) searching possible hydrogen-bond schemes between a biopolymer and a ligand molecule by preparing possible combination sets of hydrogen-bonding heteroatoms in the ligand molecule with dummy atoms located at the positions of heteroatoms that can be hydrogen-bond partners to hydrogen-bonding functional groups in the biopolymer; (2) estimating the possible the hydrogen-bond schemes between the biopolymer and ligand molecule and the possible conformations of a hydrogen-bonding part of the ligand molecule at the same time by comparing the distances between the dummy atoms with the distances between the hydrogen-bonding heteroatoms; and (3) obtaining the possible docking models of the biopolymer-ligand molecule complex by changing the coordinates of all atoms of the ligand molecule into the coordinate system of the biopolymer, according to the correspondences between the hydrogen-bonding heteroatoms in the ligand molecule and the dummy atoms in combination sets for each of the hydrogen-bond schemes and conformations obtained in the second step are provided. According to the methods of the present invention, the structures of stable biopolymer-ligand molecule complex can be searched efficiently and precisely in a short time.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to methods for searching stable docking models of biopolymer-ligand molecule complex that can be utilized in designing the structures of drugs, pesticides, and other biologically active compounds. BACKGROUND ART [0002] Strong binding of drugs and biologically active substances to their target biopolymers is required for the appearances of their bioactivities. The biopolymers include pharmacological receptors which take part in signal transmission between cells, as well as enzymes, cytokines and other proteins, complexes comprising these proteins as main components, and nucleic acids. Since 1960, the steric structures of a large number of biopolymers have been revealed at the atomic level by X-ray crystallographic analyses and the structual data thereof have been stored in the Protein Data Bank and published. [0003] Small molecules which can be bound to these biopolymers are called ligand molecules. The ligand molecules include can...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides methods for automatically docking biopolymers to ligand molecules using hydrogen-bonding interactions and other interactions such as electrostatic interactions and van der Waals forces. The methods involve preparing possible hydrogen-bonding schemes between the biopolymer and the ligand molecule using dummy atoms and estimating the distances between them. The methods can speed up the search for stable docking models and even in cases where the biopolymer and ligand molecule have complicated structures. The invention also provides methods for optimizing the conformations of the ligand molecule to the biopolymer and excluding certain configurations that may not be suitable for docking. Overall, the invention provides faster and more efficient methods for docking biopolymer-ligand molecule complexes."

Problems solved by technology

It is impossible to determine the modes of binding of all ligand molecules of interest to their target biopolymer by experimental methods such as X-ray crystallographic analysis.

First, this is because a great effort and time are necessary for analyzing the mode of binding of each ligand molecule to the biopolymer by experimental methods.

In addition, if the ligand molecules are substrates for enzymes, any stable structures of the complex can not be detected in the experiments due to the progress of enzymatic reactions.

Furthermore, the samples of the ligand compounds are often unavailable if they exist.

In the past, the docking study was performed using molecular models, but the use of molecular models had problems in that it needed much time and effort to construct the molecular models, that the precision of the molecular models and the reproducibility of results were poor and that quantitative results could not be obtained.

However, there are an enormous number of possible docking structures, and therefore it is very difficult to reach objectively the correct solution.

Furthermore, it is a time-consuming and laborious method.

In addition, the obtained results are unreliable and unreproducible in that they vary with users.

However, this program is not effective in determining the binding modes and the ligand conformations in stable complexes in a reliable manner because it does not deal with specific intermolecular interactions such as hydrogen-bond and the like.

However, this method neither considers the conformational flexibility of ligand molecules nor makes a sufficient quantitative estimate of intermolecular interactions.

None of other methods are effective because they have problems in that they do not consider specific intermolecular interactions or the conformational flexibility of ligand molecules.

However, no methods for searching stable structures of complexes that take into account all the combinations of the binding modes and ligand conformations have been established.

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