Fitting an inhibitor into the active site of thermolysin: a molecular dynamics case study

We used molecular dynamics computer simulation to "fly" a small flexible ligand, L-leucine hydroxamic acid, into the active site of thermolysin. The potential, which imposed no constraints between protein and ligand, produced conformations close to the crystallographically determined one. The calculations made use of the combined molecular mechanics/grid method of Luty et al. (J. Comp. Chem. 16:454-464, 1995), in which atoms of the active site are free to move whereas the rest of the protein, assumed to be rigid, is represented as points of a grid, and which also includes an implicit solvation model. The method is sufficiently fast that large sets of simulations could be carried out, enabling statistical sampling and exploration of the effect of initial position and conformation of the ligand on the probability of successful docking. In a charged catalytic Glu/uncharged ligand regime, when the initial position of the ligand was determined by random translations and rotations that kept the center of mass within 8.0 angstroms of the crystal one, none of the 20 runs placed the ligand correctly. In a second set with uncharged Glu and zwitterionic ligand, 3 of 24 similarly placed random structures flew the ligand in successfully. In a third set with the same protonation scheme as the second the starting positions had randomly determined conformations but kept the hydroxamate oxygens within 4.0 angstroms of the zinc; in this case 22 of 25 runs reoriented correctly. A diverse set of energetic, structural, and dynamic criteria was used for evaluation of the calculations. The results indicate the method to be a promising tool for the rational drug design process.