The potential of cryo-electron microscopy for structure-based drug design

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 543-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Boland ◽  
Leifu Chang ◽  
David Barford
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Drug Design ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Biological Molecules ◽  
Ligand Complex ◽  
Structure Based Drug Design ◽  
Technical Developments ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy ◽  
Therapeutic Development

Structure-based drug design plays a central role in therapeutic development. Until recently, protein crystallography and NMR have dominated experimental approaches to obtain structural information of biological molecules. However, in recent years rapid technical developments in single particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) have enabled the determination to near-atomic resolution of macromolecules ranging from large multi-subunit molecular machines to proteins as small as 64 kDa. These advances have revolutionized structural biology by hugely expanding both the range of macromolecules whose structures can be determined, and by providing a description of macromolecular dynamics. Cryo-EM is now poised to similarly transform the discipline of structure-based drug discovery. This article reviews the potential of cryo-EM for drug discovery with reference to protein ligand complex structures determined using this technique.

scholarly journals The Growing Role of Electron Microscopy in Anti-parasitic Drug Discovery

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (39) ◽  
pp. 5279-5290
Author(s):  
R.M. Johnson ◽  
S. Rawson ◽  
M.J. McPhillie ◽  
C.W.G. Fishwick ◽  
S.P. Muench
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Drug Design ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Protein Structures ◽  
Parasite Protein ◽  
Structure Based Drug Design ◽  
Dramatic Rise ◽  
Review Reports

Background: Parasite diseases are a huge burden on human health causing significant morbidity and mortality. However, parasite structure based drug discovery programmes have been hindered by a lack of high resolution structural information from parasite derived proteins and have often relied upon homology models from mammalian systems. The recent renaissance in electron microscopy (EM) has caused a dramatic rise in the number of structures being determined at high resolution and subsequently enabled it to be thought of as a tool in drug discovery. Results: In this review, we discuss the challenges associated with the structural determination of parasite proteins including the difficulties in obtaining sufficient quantities of protein. We then discuss the reasons behind the resurgence in EM, how it may overcome some of these challenges and provide examples of EM derived parasite protein structures. Finally, we discuss the challenges which EM needs to overcome before it is used as a mainstream technique in anti-parasite drug discovery. Conclusions: This review reports the progress that has been made in obtaining sufficient quantities of proteins for structural studies and the role EM may play in future structure based drug design programs. The outlook for future structure based drug design programs against some of the most devastating parasite diseases looks promising.

scholarly journals 2.8 Å resolution reconstruction of the Thermoplasma acidophilum 20S proteasome using cryo-electron microscopy

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melody G Campbell ◽  
David Veesler ◽  
Anchi Cheng ◽  
Clinton S Potter ◽  
Bridget Carragher
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Drug Design ◽  
Single Particle ◽  
Protein Structures ◽  
Rational Drug Design ◽  
20S Proteasome ◽  
Thermoplasma Acidophilum ◽  
Structure Based Drug Design ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industries

Recent developments in detector hardware and image-processing software have revolutionized single particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) and led to a wave of near-atomic resolution (typically ∼3.3 Å) reconstructions. Reaching resolutions higher than 3 Å is a prerequisite for structure-based drug design and for cryoEM to become widely interesting to pharmaceutical industries. We report here the structure of the 700 kDa Thermoplasma acidophilum 20S proteasome (T20S), determined at 2.8 Å resolution by single-particle cryoEM. The quality of the reconstruction enables identifying the rotameric conformation adopted by some amino-acid side chains (rotamers) and resolving ordered water molecules, in agreement with the expectations for crystal structures at similar resolutions. The results described in this manuscript demonstrate that single particle cryoEM is capable of competing with X-ray crystallography for determination of protein structures of suitable quality for rational drug design.

Use of Molecular Dynamics Simulations in Structure-Based Drug Discovery

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (31) ◽  
pp. 3339-3349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indrani Bera ◽  
Pavan V. Payghan
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Dynamics ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Molecular Dynamics Simulations ◽  
Drug Target ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Drug Binding ◽  
Structure Based Drug Design ◽  
Drug Designing ◽  
Target Binding ◽  
Dynamics Simulations

Background: Traditional drug discovery is a lengthy process which involves a huge amount of resources. Modern-day drug discovers various multidisciplinary approaches amongst which, computational ligand and structure-based drug designing methods contribute significantly. Structure-based drug designing techniques require the knowledge of structural information of drug target and drug-target complexes. Proper understanding of drug-target binding requires the flexibility of both ligand and receptor to be incorporated. Molecular docking refers to the static picture of the drug-target complex(es). Molecular dynamics, on the other hand, introduces flexibility to understand the drug binding process. Objective: The aim of the present study is to provide a systematic review on the usage of molecular dynamics simulations to aid the process of structure-based drug design. Method: This review discussed findings from various research articles and review papers on the use of molecular dynamics in drug discovery. All efforts highlight the practical grounds for which molecular dynamics simulations are used in drug designing program. In summary, various aspects of the use of molecular dynamics simulations that underline the basis of studying drug-target complexes were thoroughly explained. Results: This review is the result of reviewing more than a hundred papers. It summarizes various problems that use molecular dynamics simulations. Conclusion: The findings of this review highlight how molecular dynamics simulations have been successfully implemented to study the structure-function details of specific drug-target complexes. It also identifies the key areas such as stability of drug-target complexes, ligand binding kinetics and identification of allosteric sites which have been elucidated using molecular dynamics simulations.

Experimental and Computational Approaches to Improve Binding Affinity in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 1651-1660
Author(s):  
Anuraj Nayarisseri
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Drug Design ◽  
Binding Affinity ◽  
Chemical Biology ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Structure Based Drug Design ◽  
Computational Approaches ◽  
Drug Designing ◽  
Traditional Drug ◽  
Computer Based

Drug discovery is one of the most complicated processes and establishment of a single drug may require multidisciplinary attempts to design efficient and commercially viable drugs. The main purpose of drug design is to identify a chemical compound or inhibitor that can bind to an active site of a specific cavity on a target protein. The traditional drug design methods involved various experimental based approaches including random screening of chemicals found in nature or can be synthesized directly in chemical laboratories. Except for the long cycle design and time, high cost is also the major issue of concern. Modernized computer-based algorithm including structure-based drug design has accelerated the drug design and discovery process adequately. Surprisingly from the past decade remarkable progress has been made concerned with all area of drug design and discovery. CADD (Computer Aided Drug Designing) based tools shorten the conventional cycle size and also generate chemically more stable and worthy compounds and hence reduce the drug discovery cost. This special edition of editorial comprises the combination of seven research and review articles set emphasis especially on the computational approaches along with the experimental approaches using a chemical synthesizing for the binding affinity in chemical biology and discovery as a salient used in de-novo drug designing. This set of articles exfoliates the role that systems biology and the evaluation of ligand affinity in drug design and discovery for the future.

scholarly journals Cryo-electron microscopy reveals informative details of GABAA receptor structural pharmacology: implications for drug discovery

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (S3) ◽  
pp. S144-S144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Olsen ◽  
A. Kerstin Lindemeyer ◽  
Martin Wallner ◽  
Xiaorun Li ◽  
Kevin W. Huynh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Gabaa Receptor ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy

Drug discovery in the era of cryo-electron microscopy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Robertson ◽  
Justin G. Meyerowitz ◽  
Georgios Skiniotis
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy

scholarly journals A resolution record for cryoEM

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Ashmore ◽  
Bridget Carragher ◽  
Peter B Rosenthal ◽  
William Weis
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Image Analysis ◽  
Structure Determination ◽  
Test Specimen ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Atomic Resolution ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy ◽  
New Instrument ◽  
Resolution Structure

Cryo electron microscopy (cryoEM) is a fast-growing technique for structure determination. Two recent papers report the first atomic resolution structure of a protein obtained by averaging images of frozen-hydrated biomolecules. They both describe maps of symmetric apoferritin assemblies, a common test specimen, in unprecedented detail. New instrument improvements, different in the two studies, have contributed better images, and image analysis can extract structural information sufficient to resolve individual atomic positions. While true atomic resolution maps will not be routine for most proteins, the studies suggest structures determined by cryoEM will continue to improve, increasing their impact on biology and medicine.

scholarly journals Re-Designing Hazardous Chemicals with Target-Specific Toxicities by Learning from Structure-Based Drug Design

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Traci Clymer ◽  
Vanessa Vargas ◽  
Eric Corcoran ◽  
Robin Kleinberg ◽  
Jakub Kostal
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Drug Design ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
In Silico ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Hazardous Chemicals ◽  
Structure Based Drug Design ◽  
Computational Drug Discovery

Chemicals are the basis of our society and economy, yet many existing chemicals are known to have unintended adverse effects on human and environmental health. Testing all existing and new chemicals on animals is both economically and ethically unfeasible. In this paper, a new in silico framework is presented that affords redesign of existing hazardous chemicals in commerce based on specific molecular initiating events in their adverse outcomes pathways. Our approach is based on a successful methodology implemented in computational drug discovery, and promises to dramatically lower costs associated with new chemical development by synergistically addressing chemical function and safety at the design stage. <br>

scholarly journals Structure of the Infective Getah Virus at 2.8 Å-resolution Determined by Cryo-electron Microscopy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aojie Wang ◽  
Feng Zhou ◽  
Congcong Liu ◽  
Dongsheng Gao ◽  
Ruxi Qi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Immune Evasion ◽  
Cell Invasion ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Host Cell Invasion ◽  
Hydrophobic Pocket ◽  
Viral Immune Evasion ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy ◽  
Reproductive Losses ◽  
Getah Virus

Getah virus (GETV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen that can cause a mild illness and reproductive losses in animals. Although antibodies to GETV have been found in humans, there are no reports of clinical symptom associated with GETV. However, antivirals or vaccine against GETV is still unavailable due to lack of knowledge of the structure of GETV virion. Here, we present the structure of mature GETV at a resolution of 2.8 Å with capsid protein, envelope glycoproteins E1 and E2. Glycosylation and S-acylation sites in E1 and E2 are identified. The surface-exposed glycans demonstrated their impact on the viral immune evasion and host cell invasion. The S-acylation sites strongly stabilize the virion. In addition, a cholesterol and phospholipid molecule are observed in transmembrane hydrophobic pocket, together with two more cholesterols surround the pocket. These structural information are helpful for structure-based antivirals and vaccine design.

Protein-Ligand Docking Methodologies and Its Application in Drug Discovery

2016 ◽  
pp. 196-219
Author(s):  
Sanchaita Rajkhowa ◽  
Ramesh C. Deka
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Docking ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Drug Design ◽  
High Throughput Screening ◽  
Docking Studies ◽  
Stable Complex ◽  
Scoring Functions ◽  
Binding Modes ◽  
Structure Based Drug Design ◽  
Modern Drug

Molecular docking is a key tool in structural biology and computer-assisted drug design. Molecular docking is a method which predicts the preferred orientation of a ligand when bound in an active site to form a stable complex. It is the most common method used as a structure-based drug design. Here, the authors intend to discuss the various types of docking methods and their development and applications in modern drug discovery. The important basic theories such as sampling algorithm and scoring functions have been discussed briefly. The performances of the different available docking software have also been discussed. This chapter also includes some application examples of docking studies in modern drug discovery such as targeted drug delivery using carbon nanotubes, docking of nucleic acids to find the binding modes and a comparative study between high-throughput screening and structure-based virtual screening.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document