title: Independent Metrics for Protein Backbone and Side-Chain Flexibility: Time Scales and Effects of Ligand Binding.
abstract: Conformational dynamics are central for understanding biomolecular structure and function, since biological macromolecules are inherently flexible at room temperature and in solution. Computational methods are nowadays capable of providing valuable information on the conformational ensembles of biomolecules. However, analysis tools and intuitive metrics that capture dynamic information from in silico generated structural ensembles are limited. In standard work-flows, flexibility in a conformational ensemble is represented through residue-wise root-mean-square fluctuations or B-factors following a global alignment. Consequently, these approaches relying on global alignments discard valuable information on local dynamics. Results inherently depend on global flexibility, residue size, and connectivity. In this study we present a novel approach for capturing positional fluctuations based on multiple local alignments instead of one single global alignment. The method captures local dynamics within a structural ensemble independent of residue type by splitting individual local and global degrees of freedom of protein backbone and side-chains. Dependence on residue type and size in the side-chains is removed via normalization with the B-factors of the isolated residue. As a test case, we demonstrate its application to a molecular dynamics simulation of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) on the millisecond time scale. This allows for illustrating different time scales of backbone and side-chain flexibility. Additionally, we demonstrate the effects of ligand binding on side-chain flexibility of three serine proteases. We expect our new methodology for quantifying local flexibility to be helpful in unraveling local changes in biomolecular dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Institute of General, Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry, and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck , Innrain 80-82, A-6020 Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria.|Centre for Molecular Informatics, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge , Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Julian E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.affiliation: Institute of General, Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry, and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck , Innrain 80-82, A-6020 Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria.
authors.forename: Birgit J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Waldner
authors.affiliation: Institute of General, Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry, and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck , Innrain 80-82, A-6020 Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria.|Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) , 30 Biopolis Street, Matrix #07-01, 138671 Singapore.
authors.forename: Roland G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: Institute of General, Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry, and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck , Innrain 80-82, A-6020 Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: von Grafenstein
authors.affiliation: Institute of General, Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry, and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck , Innrain 80-82, A-6020 Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.affiliation: Institute of General, Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry, and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck , Innrain 80-82, A-6020 Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria.
authors.forename: Klaus R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Liedl
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000187:drug effects; D002417:Cattle; D008024:Ligands; D008958:Models, Molecular; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D018583:Pliability; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013997:Time Factors; D014357:Trypsin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D014361:Trypsin Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D014361:Trypsin Inhibitors; D014357:Trypsin