Browsing by Author "Silva, Pedro J."
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- An alternative proposal for the reaction mechanism of light-dependent protochlorophyllide oxidoreductasePublication . Silva, Pedro J.; Cheng, QiLight-dependent protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase is one of the few known enzymes that require a quantum of light to start their catalytic cycle. Upon excitation, it uses NADPH to reduce the C17−C18 in its substrate (protochlorophyllide) through a complex mechanism that has heretofore eluded precise determination. Isotopic labeling experiments have shown that the hydride-transfer step is very fast, with a small barrier close to 9 kcal mol−1, and is followed by a proton-transfer step, which has been postulated to be the protonation of the product by the strictly conserved Tyr189 residue. Since the structure of the enzyme−substrate complex has not yet been experimentally determined, we first used modeling techniques to discover the actual substrate binding mode. Two possible binding modes were found, both yielding stable binding (as ascertained through molecular dynamics simulations) but only one of which placed the critical C17-C18 bond consistently close to the NADPH pro-S hydrogen and to Tyr189. This binding pose was then used as a starting point for the testing of previous mechanistic proposals using time-dependent density functional theory. The quantum-chemical computations clearly showed that such mechanisms have prohibitively high activation energies. Instead, these computations showed the feasibility of an alternative mechanism initiated by excited-state electron transfer from the key Tyr189 to the substrate. This mechanism appears to agree with the extant experimental data and reinterprets the final protonation step as a proton transfer to the active site itself rather than to the product, aiming at regenerating it for another round of catalysis.
- An alternative proposal for the reaction mechanism of light-dependent protochlorophyllide oxidoreductasePublication . Silva, Pedro J.; Cheng, QiLight-dependent protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase is one of the few known enzymes that require a quantum of light to start their catalytic cycle. Upon excitation, it uses NADPH to reduce the C17–C18 in its substrate (protochlorophyllide) through a complex mechanism that has heretofore eluded precise determination. Isotopic labeling experiments have shown that the hydride-transfer step is very fast, with a small barrier close to 9 kcal mol–1, and is followed by a proton-transfer step, which has been postulated to be the protonation of the product by the strictly conserved Tyr189 residue. Since the structure of the enzyme–substrate complex has not yet been experimentally determined, we first used modeling techniques to discover the actual substrate binding mode. Two possible binding modes were found, both yielding stable binding (as ascertained through molecular dynamics simulations) but only one of which placed the critical C17═C18 bond consistently close to the NADPH pro-S hydrogen and to Tyr189. This binding pose was then used as a starting point for the testing of previous mechanistic proposals using time-dependent density functional theory. The quantum-chemical computations clearly showed that such mechanisms have prohibitively high activation energies. Instead, these computations showed the feasibility of an alternative mechanism initiated by excited-state electron transfer from the key Tyr189 to the substrate. This mechanism appears to agree with the extant experimental data and reinterprets the final protonation step as a proton transfer to the active site itself rather than to the product, aiming at regenerating it for another round of catalysis.
- BBr3-assisted cleavage of most ethers does not follow the commonly assumed mechanismPublication . Silva, Carla Sousa e; Silva, Pedro J.Density‐functional computations were used to probe the reaction mechanism of BBr3‐assisted ether cleavage. After the initial formation of an ether–BBr3 adduct, secondary and tertiary alkyl ethers are cleaved through Br– transfer from the activated BBr3 to the alkyl moiety, as postulated in the literature. In contrast, all other ethers studied react through a novel pathway involving two ether–BBr3 adducts, one of which acts as Br– donor, and the second as the reaction substrate. The identification of the novel bimolecular mechanism for this classical reaction has further applications, because it implies that BBr3‐assisted ether cleavage may become impossible if the ether is surrounded by bulky portions of the molecule that prevent the approach of the attacking BBr3 adduct. Our data also allow the construction of an order of reactivity of alkyl ether deprotection: isopropyl, benzyl, tertiary alkyl, allyl, isobutyl and ethyl can be removed sequentially as their bromo derivatives; phenyl, cyanomethyl and chloromethyl groups can be sequentially removed as their corresponding alcohols.
- Chemiosmotic misunderstandingsPublication . Silva, Pedro J.Recent publications have questioned the appropriateness of the chemiosmotic theory, a key tenet of modern bioenergetics originally described by Mitchell and since widely improved upon and applied. In one of them, application of Gauss’ law to a model charge distribution in mitochondria was argued to refute the possibility of ATP generation through H+ movement in the absence of a counterion, whereas a different author advocated, for other reasons, the impossibility of chemiosmosis and proposed that a novel energy-generation scheme (referred to as “murburn”) relying on superoxide-catalyzed (or superoxide-promoted) ADP phosphorylation would operate instead. In this letter, those proposals are critically examined and found to be inconsistent with established experimental data and new theoretical calculations.
- Computational characterization of the substrate-binding mode in coproporphyrinogen III oxidasePublication . Silva, Pedro J.; Ramos, Maria JoãoOxygen-dependent coproporphyrinogen III oxidase catalyzes the sequential decarboxylation of the propionate substituents present on the A and B rings of coproporphyrinogen III in the heme biosynthetic pathway. Although extensive experimental investigation of this enzyme has already afforded many insights into its reaction mechanism, several key features (such as the substrate binding mode, the characterization of the active site, and the initial substrate protonation state) remain poorly described. The molecular dynamics simulations described in this paper enabled the determination of a very promising substrate binding mode and the extensive characterization of the enzyme active site. The proposed binding mode is fully consistent with the known selectivity of the active site toward substituted tetrapyrroles and explains the lack of activity of the H131A, R135A, D274A, and R275A mutants and the reasons behind the nonoccurrence of catalysis on the C and D rings of the tetrapyrrole. An important role in this binding mode is fulfilled by G276, as its carbonyl oxygen intervenes in the substrate anchoring by hydrogen bonding its ring D pyrrole NH group. The presence of this interaction (which is only possible with the protonated NH pyrrole group) and the absence of positively charged side chains close to the pyrrole nitrogen (which might stabilize the N-deprotonated pyrrole postulated in some mechanistic proposals) show that the pyrrole ring is very unlikely to undergo deprotonation during the catalytic cycle and allow the discrimination between the previously postulated mechanistic proposals.
- Computational development of inhibitors of plasmid-borne bacterial dihydrofolate reductasePublication . Silva, Pedro J.Resistance to trimethoprim and other antibiotics targeting dihydrofolate reductase may arise in bacteria harboring an atypical, plasmid-encoded, homotetrameric dihydrofolate reductase, called R67 DHFR. Although developing inhibitors to this enzyme may be expected to be promising drugs to fight trimethoprim-resistant strains, there is a paucity of reports describing the development of such molecules. In this manuscript, we describe the design of promising lead compounds to target R67 DHFR. Density-functional calculations were first used to identify the modifications of the pterin core that yielded derivatives likely to bind the enzyme and not susceptible to being acted upon by it. These unreactive molecules were then docked to the active site, and the stability of the docking poses of the best candidates was analyzed through triplicate molecular dynamics simulations, and compared to the binding stability of the enzyme–substrate complex. Molecule 32 ([6-(methoxymethyl)-4-oxo-3,7-dihydro-4H-pyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidin-2- yl]methyl-guanidinium) was shown by this methodology to afford extremely stable binding towards R67 DHFR and to prevent simultaneous binding to the substrate. Additional docking and molecular dynamics simulations further showed that this candidate also binds strongly to the canonical prokaryotic dihydrofolate reductase and to human DHFR, and is therefore likely to be useful to the development of chemotherapeutic agents and of dual-acting antibiotics that target the two types of bacterial dihydrofolate reductase.
- Computational development of rubromycin-based lead compounds for HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitionPublication . Bernardo, Carlos E. P.; Silva, Pedro J.The binding of several rubromycin-based ligands to HIV1-reverse transcriptase was analyzed using molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. MM-PBSA analysis and examination of the trajectories allowed the identification of several promising compounds with predicted high affinity towards reverse transcriptase mutants which have proven resistant to current drugs. Important insights on the complex interplay of factors determining the ability of ligands to selectively target each mutant have been obtained.
- Computational exploration of the reaction mechanism of the Cu+- catalysed synthesis of indoles from N-aryl enaminonesPublication . Bernardo, Carlos E. P.; Silva, Pedro J.We have studied the role of Cu+-phenantroline as a catalyst in the cyclization of N-aryl-enaminones using density-functional theory computations. The catalyst was found to bind the substrate upon deprotonation of its eneaminone, and to dramatically increase the acidity of the carbon adjacent to the ketone functionality. The deprotonation of this carbon atom yields a carbanion which attacks the aryl moiety, thereby closing the heterocycle in the rate-determining step. This C–C bond forming reaction was found to proceed much more rapidly when preceded by re-protonation of the substrate N-atom (which had lost H+ in the initial step). Hydride transfer to the catalyst then completes the indole synthesis, in a very fast step. The influence of Li+ and K+ on the regioselectivity of the cyclization of bromo-substituted analogues could not, however, be reproduced by our model. Alternative pathways involving either single-electron transfer from the catalyst to the substrate or ring cyclization without previous carbon α-deprotonation were found to be kinetically or thermodynamically inaccessible.
- Computational improvement of small-molecule inhibitors of Bacillus anthracis protective antigen activation through isostere-based substitutionsPublication . Silva, Pedro J.; Silva, Sandra V.R.L.There has recently been interest in the development of small-molecule inhibitors of the oligomerization of Bacillus anthracis protective antigen for therapeutic use. Some of the proposed lead compounds have, however, unfavorable solubility in aqueous medium, which prevents their clinical use. In this computational work, we have designed several hundreds of derivatives with progressively higher hydro-solubility and tested their ability to dock the relevant binding cavity. The highest-ranking docking hits were then subjected to 125 nslong simulations to ascertain the stability of the binding modes. Several of the potential candidates performed quite disappointingly, but two molecules showed very stable binding modes throughout the complete simulations. Besides the identification of these two promising leads, these molecular dynamics simulations allowed the discovery of several insights that shall prove useful in the further improvement of these candidate towards higher potency and stability.
- Computational insights into the photochemical step of the reaction catalyzed by protochlorophylide oxidoreductasePublication . Silva, Pedro J.; Ramos, Maria JoãoThe light-dependent enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase (EC:1.3.1.33) catalyzes the conversion of protochlorophyllide (PChlide) into chlorophyllide during chlorophyll synthesis. The reaction has been proposed to proceed through light-induced weakening of the C17–C18 double bond in PChlide, which then facilitates hydride transfer from a NADPH cosubstrate molecule. We have performed DFT and TDDFT computations on the reaction mechanism of this interesting enzyme. The results show that whereas in the ground state the reaction is strongly endergonic and has a very high activation free energy (38 kcal/mol), the first four excited states (corresponding to excitations within the conjugated porphyrin π-system) afford much lower activation free energies (<25 kcal/mol) and spontaneous (or only slightly endergonic) reaction paths. The sharp shape of the potential energy surface along the reaction coordinate in these excited states allows hydrogen tunneling to occur efficiently on the first few excited state surface, lowering the barrier to values closer to experiment, in agreement with recent suggestions.
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