Glide XP fragment docking and structurebased pharmacophores (original) (raw)
Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, 2009
We have developed a method that uses energetic analysis of structure-based fragment docking to elucidate key features for molecular recognition. This hybrid ligand-and structure-based methodology uses an atomic breakdown of the energy terms from the Glide XP scoring function to locate key pharmacophoric features from the docked fragments. First, we show that Glide accurately docks fragments, producing a root mean squared deviation (RMSD) of \1.0 Å for the top scoring pose to the native crystal structure. We then describe fragment-specific docking settings developed to generate poses that explore every pocket of a binding site while maintaining the docking accuracy of the top scoring pose. Next, we describe how the energy terms from the Glide XP scoring function are mapped onto pharmacophore sites from the docked fragments in order to rank their importance for binding. Using this energetic analysis we show that the most energetically favorable pharmacophore sites are consistent with features from known tight binding compounds. Finally, we describe a method to use the energetically selected sites from fragment docking to develop a pharmacophore hypothesis that can be used in virtual database screening to retrieve diverse compounds. We find that this method produces viable hypotheses that are consistent with known active compounds. In addition to retrieving diverse compounds that are not biased by the cocrystallized ligand, the method is able to recover known active compounds from a database screen, with an average enrichment of 8.1 in the top 1% of the database.
Structural biology in fragment-based drug design
Current Opinion in Structural Biology, 2010
Fragment-based ligand screening is now established as an emerging paradigm for drug discovery. Here we examine the recent literature looking at how structural biology has been used in a variety of successful fragment-screening applications. We argue that the determination of experimental binding modes has proved to be one of the mainstays of successful fragment-based approaches and that this reflects the difficulty in optimising a fragment to a lead molecule in the absence of structural information. We focus on antimicrobial research where fragment-based drug discovery allows control of the physical properties of the emerging lead molecule.
Docking, virtual high throughput screening and in silico fragment-based drug design
Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 2009
The drug discovery process has been profoundly changed recently by the adoption of computational methods helping the design of new drug candidates more rapidly and at lower costs. In silico drug design consists of a collection of tools helping to make rational decisions at the different steps of the drug discovery process, such as the identification of a biomolecular target of therapeutical interest, the selection or the design of new lead compounds and their modification to obtain better affinities, as well as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Among the different tools available, a particular emphasis is placed in this review on molecular docking, virtual high-throughput screening and fragment-based ligand design.
Protein Docking and Drug Design
Biotechnology, 2019
Protein docking is integral to structure-based drug design and molecular biology. The recent surge of big data in biology, the demand for personalised medicines, evolving pathogens and increasing lifestyle-associated risks, asks for smart, robust, low-cost and high-throughput drug design. Computer-aided drug design techniques allow rapid screening of ultra-large chemical libraries within minutes. This is immensely necessary to the drug discovery pipeline, which is presently burdened with high attrition rates, failures, huge capital and time investment. With increasing drug resistance and difficult druggable targets, there is a growing need for novel drug scaffolds which is partly satisfied by fragment based drug design and de novo methods. The chapter discusses various aspects of protein docking and emphasises on its application in drug design.
The multiple roles of computational chemistry in fragment-based drug design
Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, 2009
Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) represents a change in strategy from the screening of molecules with higher molecular weights and physical properties more akin to fully drug-like compounds, to the screening of smaller, less complex molecules. This is because it has been recognised that fragment hit molecules can be efficiently grown and optimised into leads, particularly after the binding mode to the target protein has been first determined by 3D structural elucidation, e.g. by NMR or X-ray crystallography. Several studies have shown that medicinal chemistry optimisation of an already drug-like hit or lead compound can result in a final compound with too high molecular weight and lipophilicity. The evolution of a lower molecular weight fragment hit therefore represents an attractive alternative approach to optimisation as it allows better control of compound properties. Computational chemistry can play an important role both prior to a fragment screen, in producing a target focussed fragment library, and post-screening in the evolution of a drug-like molecule from a fragment hit, both with and without the available fragment-target co-complex structure. We will review many of the current developments in the area and illustrate with some recent examples from successful FBDD discovery projects that we have conducted.
Docking Performance of Fragments and Druglike Compounds
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2011
This paper addresses two questions of key interest to researchers working with proteinÀligand docking methods: (i) Why is there such a large variation in docking performance between different test sets reported in the literature? (ii) Are fragments more difficult to dock than druglike compounds? To answer these, we construct a test set of inhouse X-ray structures of proteinÀligand complexes from drug discovery projects, half of which contain fragment ligands, the other half druglike ligands. We find that a key factor affecting docking performance is ligand efficiency (LE). High LE compounds are significantly easier to dock than low LE compounds, which we believe could explain the differences observed between test sets reported in the literature. There is no significant difference in docking performance between fragments and druglike compounds, but the reasons why dockings fail appear to be different.
Key Topics in Molecular Docking for Drug Design
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Molecular docking has been widely employed as a fast and inexpensive technique in the past decades, both in academic and industrial settings. Although this discipline has now had enough time to consolidate, many aspects remain challenging and there is still not a straightforward and accurate route to readily pinpoint true ligands among a set of molecules, nor to identify with precision the correct ligand conformation within the binding pocket of a given target molecule. Nevertheless, new approaches continue to be developed and the volume of published works grows at a rapid pace. In this review, we present an overview of the method and attempt to summarise recent developments regarding four main aspects of molecular docking approaches: (i) the available benchmarking sets, highlighting their advantages and caveats, (ii) the advances in consensus methods, (iii) recent algorithms and applications using fragment-based approaches, and (iv) the use of machine learning algorithms in molecul...
Structure-Based Drug Design: Docking and Scoring
This review gives an introduction into ligand -receptor docking and illustrates the basic underlying concepts. An overview of different approaches and algorithms is provided. Although the application of docking and scoring has led to some remarkable successes, there are still some major challenges ahead, which are outlined here as well. Approaches to address some of these challenges and the latest developments in the area are presented. Some aspects of the assessment of docking program performance are discussed. A number of successful applications of structure-based virtual screening are described.
Introduction to Fragment-Based Drug Discovery
Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has emerged in the past decade as a powerful tool for discovering drug leads. The approach first identifies starting points: very small molecules (fragments) that are about half the size of typical drugs. These fragments are then expanded or linked together to generate drug leads. Although the origins of the technique date back some 30 years, it was only in the mid-1990s that experimental techniques became sufficiently sensitive and rapid for the concept to be become practical. Since that time, the field has exploded: FBDD has played a role in discovery of at least 18 drugs that have entered the clinic, and practitioners of FBDD can be found throughout the world in both academia and industry. Literally dozens of reviews have been published on various aspects of FBDD or on the field as a whole, as have three books (Jahnke and Erlanson, Fragment-based approaches in drug discovery, 2006; Zartler and Shapiro, Fragment-based drug discovery: a practical approach, 2008; Kuo, Fragment based drug design: tools, practical approaches, and examples, 2011). However, this chapter will assume that the reader is approaching the field with little prior knowledge. It will introduce some of the key concepts, set the stage for the chapters to follow, and demonstrate how X-ray crystallography plays a central role in fragment identification and advancement. Keywords Fragment-based drug discovery Á Fragment-based lead discovery Á Fragment-based screening Á Kinase Á Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy Á Structure-based drug design Á X-ray crystallography