[gmx-users] MD at different pH

[Justin Lemkul]

On 5/4/17 1:02 AM, Anu George wrote:
> Through the simulation, I am trying to find out if the binding free energy of the drug-protein complex is strong enough for the drug to be a good inhibitor of the protein.
> so, does the pH of the simulation matter as in reality the active monomer exists in acidic pH conditions?

You have to model whatever the realistic conditions are, whether that's in vivo 
or in vitro.  This is part of good experimental design.  If your target exists 
in a mildly acidic microenvironment, that's what you should model.  Binding 
thermodynamics do depend on protonation states (in some cases, quite strongly) 
so if you model one state and try to relate it to data that exist in another, 
you're comparing apples to oranges and you've wasted a lot of time and resources.

Also, dispel with the notion of "pH of the simulation" because such a thing does 
not exist.  You'll be modeling a constant protonation state and there are no 
dissociable protons floating around.  You're going to do a simulation using the 
dominant protonation state of a given set of molecules at a corresponding 
experimental pH.

-Justin

> Thanks
> Anu George
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Justin Lemkul" <jalemkul at vt.edu>
> To: gmx-users at gromacs.org
> Sent: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 8:15:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [gmx-users] MD at different pH
>
>
>
> On 5/3/17 10:04 AM, Anu George wrote:
>> Thanks Justin for the information.
>> But I had a further question regarding the simulation-if the active monomer exists only in the acidic pH, then will carrying out a simulation of the monomer with a drug  at neutral pH help?
>
> That depends on what your scientific goals/questions are and what you are
> actually trying to model.
>
> -Justin
>
>> regards,
>> Anu George
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Justin Lemkul" <jalemkul at vt.edu>
>> To: gmx-users at gromacs.org
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 5:37:33 PM
>> Subject: Re: [gmx-users] MD at different pH
>>
>>
>>
>> On 5/2/17 11:31 PM, Anu George wrote:
>>> Dear Gromacs users,
>>> I am working on a tetramer(human beta-2 tryptase) protein which exist as an active monomer at an acidic pH of about 6..If I have to do a molecular dynamic simulation of the monomer with a small molecule,  should the simulation be carried out  at this pH ? what are the steps I should follow?
>>
>> Calculate the pKa values for titratable residues and select their dominant
>> protonation states at that pH when running pdb2gmx.
>>
>> -Justin
>>
>

-- 
==================================================

Justin A. Lemkul, Ph.D.
Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
School of Pharmacy
Health Sciences Facility II, Room 629
University of Maryland, Baltimore
20 Penn St.
Baltimore, MD 21201

jalemkul at outerbanks.umaryland.edu | (410) 706-7441
http://mackerell.umaryland.edu/~jalemkul

==================================================