title: Multi-drug resistance profile of PR20 HIV-1 protease is attributed to distorted conformational and drug binding landscape: molecular dynamics insights.
abstract: The PR20 HIV-1 protease, a variant with 20 mutations, exhibits high levels of multi-drug resistance; however, to date, there has been no report detailing the impact of these 20 mutations on the conformational and drug binding landscape at a molecular level. In this report, we demonstrate the first account of a comprehensive study designed to elaborate on the impact of these mutations on the dynamic features as well as drug binding and resistance profile, using extensive molecular dynamics analyses. Comparative MD simulations for the wild-type and PR20 HIV proteases, starting from bound and unbound conformations in each case, were performed. Results showed that the apo conformation of the PR20 variant of the HIV protease displayed a tendency to remain in the open conformation for a longer period of time when compared to the wild type. This led to a phenomena in which the inhibitor seated at the active site of PR20 tends to diffuse away from the binding site leading to a significant change in inhibitor-protein association. Calculating the per-residue fluctuation (RMSF) and radius of gyration, further validated these findings. MM/GBSA showed that the occurrence of 20 mutations led to a drop in the calculated binding free energies (ΔGbind) by ~25.17 kcal/mol and ~5 kcal/mol for p2-NC, a natural peptide substrate, and darunavir, respectively, when compared to wild type. Furthermore, the residue interaction network showed a diminished inter-residue hydrogen bond network and changes in inter-residue connections as a result of these mutations. The increased conformational flexibility in PR20 as a result of loss of intra- and inter-molecular hydrogen bond interactions and other prominent binding forces led to a loss of protease grip on ligand. It is interesting to note that the difference in conformational flexibility between PR20 and WT conformations was much higher in the case of substrate-bound conformation as compared to DRV. Thus, developing analogues of DRV by retaining its key pharmacophore features will be the way forward in the search for novel protease inhibitors against multi-drug resistant strains.
authors: a Molecular Modelling and Drug Design Research Group, School of Health Sciences , University of Kwazulu-Natal , Westville, Durban 4000 , South Africa.
authors: Sarentha
authors: S
authors: Chetty
authors: a Molecular Modelling and Drug Design Research Group, School of Health Sciences , University of Kwazulu-Natal , Westville, Durban 4000 , South Africa.
authors: Soumendranath
authors: S
authors: Bhakat
authors: b Computational Biology Lab, Fundación Ciencia & Vida , Santiago , Chile.|c Facultad de Ciencias, Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia de Valparaíso , Universidad de Valparaíso , Valparaíso , Chile.
authors: Alberto J M
authors: AJ
authors: Martin
authors: a Molecular Modelling and Drug Design Research Group, School of Health Sciences , University of Kwazulu-Natal , Westville, Durban 4000 , South Africa.
authors: Mahmoud E S
authors: ME
authors: Soliman
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites; D018432:Drug Resistance, Multiple / Q000235:genetics; D016333:HIV Protease / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000201:enzymology; D006801:Humans; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D009154:Mutation; D011487:Protein Conformation / Q000187:drug effects; D013449:Sulfonamides / Q000737:chemistry*; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors; D013449:Sulfonamides; D016333:HIV Protease; C514803:p16 protease, Human immunodeficiency virus 1
keywords: HIV protease; PR20; binding free energy; conformational flexibility; flap dynamics; residue interaction network