Tuning Local Hydration Enables a Deeper Understanding of Protein-Ligand Binding: The PP1-Src Kinase Case

J Phys Chem Lett. 2021 Jan 14;12(1):49-58. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c03075. Epub 2020 Dec 10.

Abstract

Water plays a key role in biomolecular recognition and binding. Despite the development of several computational and experimental approaches, it is still challenging to comprehensively characterize water-mediated effects on the binding process. Here, we investigate how water affects the binding of Src kinase to one of its inhibitors, PP1. Src kinase is a target for treating several diseases, including cancer. We use biased molecular dynamics simulations, where the hydration of predetermined regions is tuned at will. This computational technique efficiently accelerates the SRC-PP1 binding simulation and allows us to identify several key and yet unexplored aspects of the solvent's role. This study provides a further perspective on the binding phenomenon, which may advance the current drug design approaches for the development of new kinase inhibitors.

MeSH terms

  • Ligands
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / metabolism*
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Thermodynamics
  • src-Family Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors
  • src-Family Kinases / chemistry
  • src-Family Kinases / metabolism*

Substances

  • Ligands
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
  • src-Family Kinases