The Parasol Protocol for computational mutagenesis

Abstract

To aid in the discovery and development of peptides and proteins as therapeutic agents, a virtual screen can be used to predict trends and direct workflow. We have developed the Parasol Protocol, a dynamic method implemented using the AMBER MD package, for computational site-directed mutagenesis. This tool can mutate between any pair of amino acids in a computationally expedient, automated manner. To demonstrate the potential of this methodology, we have employed the protocol to investigate a test case involving stapled peptides, and have demonstrated good agreement with experiment.

Keywords: in silico mutation; molecular dynamics.