SPAM: A Simple Approach for Profiling Bound Water Molecules

A method that identifies the hydration shell structure of proteins and estimates the relative free energies of water molecules within that hydration shell is described. The method, which we call "SPAM" (maps spelled in reverse), utilizes explicit solvent molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to capture discrete hydration sites at the water-protein interface and computes a local free energy measure from the distribution of interaction energies between water and the environment at a specific site. SPAM is able to provide a qualitative estimate of the thermodynamic profile of bound water molecules that correlates nicely with well-studied structure-activity relationships and observed binding "hot spots". This is demonstrated in retrospective analyses of HIV1 protease and hen egg white lysozyme, where the effects of water displacement and solvent binding have been studied extensively. The simplicity and effectiveness of SPAM allow for prospective application during the drug discovery process.