ClustENM: ENM-Based Sampling of Essential Conformational Space at Full Atomic Resolution

J Chem Theory Comput. 2016 Sep 13;12(9):4549-62. doi: 10.1021/acs.jctc.6b00319. Epub 2016 Aug 18.

Abstract

Accurate sampling of conformational space and, in particular, the transitions between functional substates has been a challenge in molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of large biomolecular systems. We developed an Elastic Network Model (ENM)-based computational method, ClustENM, for sampling large conformational changes of biomolecules with various sizes and oligomerization states. ClustENM is an iterative method that combines ENM with energy minimization and clustering steps. It is an unbiased technique, which requires only an initial structure as input, and no information about the target conformation. To test the performance of ClustENM, we applied it to six biomolecular systems: adenylate kinase (AK), calmodulin, p38 MAP kinase, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT), triosephosphate isomerase (TIM), and the 70S ribosomal complex. The generated ensembles of conformers determined at atomic resolution show good agreement with experimental data (979 structures resolved by X-ray and/or NMR) and encompass the subspaces covered in independent MD simulations for TIM, p38, and RT. ClustENM emerges as a computationally efficient tool for characterizing the conformational space of large systems at atomic detail, in addition to generating a representative ensemble of conformers that can be advantageously used in simulating substrate/ligand-binding events.

MeSH terms

  • Adenylate Kinase / chemistry
  • Adenylate Kinase / metabolism
  • Calmodulin / chemistry
  • Calmodulin / metabolism
  • Cluster Analysis
  • HIV Reverse Transcriptase / chemistry
  • HIV Reverse Transcriptase / metabolism
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Proteins / chemistry*
  • Proteins / metabolism
  • RNA, Ribosomal / chemistry
  • RNA, Ribosomal / metabolism
  • Thermodynamics
  • Triose-Phosphate Isomerase / chemistry
  • Triose-Phosphate Isomerase / metabolism
  • p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / chemistry
  • p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / metabolism

Substances

  • Calmodulin
  • Proteins
  • RNA, Ribosomal
  • p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases
  • Adenylate Kinase
  • reverse transcriptase, Human immunodeficiency virus 1
  • HIV Reverse Transcriptase
  • Triose-Phosphate Isomerase