Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University in St. Louis, St Louis, United States.
Medical Scientist Training Program, Washington University in St. Louis, Philadelphia, United States.
Elife. 2023 Jan 27;12:e83602. doi: 10.7554/eLife.83602.
The design of compounds that can discriminate between closely related target proteins remains a central challenge in drug discovery. Specific therapeutics targeting the highly conserved myosin motor family are urgently needed as mutations in at least six of its members cause numerous diseases. Allosteric modulators, like the myosin-II inhibitor blebbistatin, are a promising means to achieve specificity. However, it remains unclear why blebbistatin inhibits myosin-II motors with different potencies given that it binds at a highly conserved pocket that is always closed in blebbistatin-free experimental structures. We hypothesized that the probability of pocket opening is an important determinant of the potency of compounds like blebbistatin. To test this hypothesis, we used Markov state models (MSMs) built from over 2 ms of aggregate molecular dynamics simulations with explicit solvent. We find that blebbistatin's binding pocket readily opens in simulations of blebbistatin-sensitive myosin isoforms. Comparing these conformational ensembles reveals that the probability of pocket opening correctly identifies which isoforms are most sensitive to blebbistatin inhibition and that docking against MSMs quantitatively predicts blebbistatin binding affinities (R=0.82). In a blind prediction for an isoform (Myh7b) whose blebbistatin sensitivity was unknown, we find good agreement between predicted and measured IC50s (0.67 μM vs. 0.36 μM). Therefore, we expect this framework to be useful for the development of novel specific drugs across numerous protein targets.
设计能够区分密切相关靶蛋白的化合物仍然是药物发现中的一个核心挑战。针对高度保守的肌球蛋白马达家族的特异性治疗药物是迫切需要的,因为其至少六个成员的突变会导致许多疾病。别构调节剂,如肌球蛋白-II 抑制剂 blebbistatin,是实现特异性的一种很有前途的方法。然而,目前尚不清楚为什么 blebbistatin 能够以不同的效力抑制肌球蛋白-II 马达,尽管它结合在一个高度保守的口袋中,而在没有 blebbistatin 的实验结构中,这个口袋总是关闭的。我们假设口袋打开的概率是像 blebbistatin 这样的化合物效力的一个重要决定因素。为了验证这一假设,我们使用了来自超过 2 毫秒的含有溶剂的总分子动力学模拟的 Markov 状态模型 (MSM)。我们发现 blebbistatin 的结合口袋在 blebbistatin 敏感的肌球蛋白异构体的模拟中很容易打开。比较这些构象集合揭示了口袋打开的概率正确地识别了哪些异构体对 blebbistatin 抑制最敏感,并且对接对 MSMs 定量预测了 blebbistatin 的结合亲和力(R=0.82)。在对一个 blebbistatin 敏感性未知的异构体(Myh7b)的盲预测中,我们发现预测和测量的 IC50 之间有很好的一致性(0.67 μM 对 0.36 μM)。因此,我们预计该框架将有助于针对众多蛋白质靶标开发新型特异性药物。