Structure data, three-dimensional

In order to form a crystal, molecules must aggregate in an orderly manner. This implies that intermolecular interactions have occurred in specific ways. It therefore follows that the crystal structure per se contains information on preferred modes of binding between the molecules in the crystalline state. In this Chapter we show how information on the most likely stereochemistries of interactions between functional groups in different molecules can be extracted from the three-dimensional coordinates of atoms listed in reports of crystal structure determinations. Three-dimensional structural data on binding stereochemistry may also be obtained from X-ray diffraction studies of the binding of small molecules to crystalline proteins and other macromolecules. These two types of information can be used, for example, to predict how drugs will interact with their biological receptors. 

The first surprise was that these molecules are much longer than seems necessary for the formation of adapters. In addition, 10-20% of their bases are modified greatly from their original form. Another surprise was that the anticodons are not all made up of "standard" bases. Thus, hypoxanthine (whose nucleoside is inosine) occurs in some anticodons. Conventional "cloverleaf" representations of tRNA, which display their secondary structures, are shown in Figs. 5-30 and 29-7. ITowever, the molecules usually have an L shape rather than a cloverleaf form (Figs. 5-31 and 29-6), and the L form is essential for functioning in protein synthesis as indicated by X-ray and other data. Three-dimensional structures, now determined for several different tRNAs, are all very similar. Structures in solution are also thought to be... 

Entrez, to be clear, is not a database itself—it is the interface through which all of its component databases can be accessed and traversed. The Entrez information space includes PubMed records, nucleotide and protein sequence data, three-dimensional structure information, and mapping information. The strength of Entrez lies in the fact that all of this information can be accessed by issuing one and only one query. Entrez is able to offer integrated information retrieval through the use of two types of coimection between database entries neighboring and hard links. 

Inorganic Three-dimensional Structure Databases Molecular Docking and Structure-based Design Protein Data Bank (PDB) A Database of 3D Structural Information of Biological Macromolecules Structural Similarity Measures for Database Searching Structure and Substructure Searching Structure Databases Structure Representation Three-dimensional Structure Searching,... 

Several research groups have built models using theoretical desaiptors calculated only from the molecular structure. This approach has been proven to be particularly successful for the prediction of solubility without the need for descriptors of experimental data. Thus, it is also suitable for virtual data screening and library design. The descriptors include 2D (two-dimensional, or topological) descriptors, and 3D (three-dimensional, or geometric) descriptors, as well as electronic descriptors. 

A particularly important application of molecular dynamics, often in conjunction with the simulated annealing method, is in the refinement of X-ray and NMR data to determine the three-dimensional structures of large biological molecules such as proteins. The aim of such refinement is to determine the conformation (or conformations) that best explain the experimental data. A modified form of molecular dynamics called restrained moleculai dynarrdcs is usually used in which additional terms, called penalty functions, are added tc the potential energy function. These extra terms have the effect of penalising conformations... 

Many molecules are obtained and used in a crystalline form, the nature of which can have e significant impact on their properties and behaviour. Moreover, it is sometimes possible foi a given material to exist in more than one crystalline form, depending upon the conditions under which it was prepared. This is the phenomenon of polymorphism. This can be important because the various polymorphs may themselves have different properties. It is Iberefore of interest to be able to predict the three-dimensional atomic structure(s) that a gi en molecule may adopt, for those cases where it is difficult to obtain experimental data and also where one might wish to prioritise molecules not yet synthesised. 

Bioinformatics is a relatively new discipline that is concerned with the collection, organisatic and analysis of biological data. It is beyond our scope to provide a comprehensive overvie of this discipline a few textbooks and reviews that serve this purpose are now available (s the suggestions for further reading). However, we will discuss some of the main rnethoc that are particularly useful when trying to predict the three-dimensional structure and fum tion of a protein. To help with this. Appendix 10.1 contains a limited selection of some of tf common abbreviations and acronyms used in bioinformatics and Appendix 10.2 lists sorr of the most widely used databases and other resources. 

A number of structured databases have been developed to classify proteins according to the three-dimensional structures. Many of these are accessible via the World Wide Web, T1 protein databanlc (PDB [Bernstein d al. 1977]) is the primary source of data about the stru tures of biological macromolecules and contains a large number of structures, but many i these are of identical proteins (complexed with different ligands or determined at differet resolutions) or are of close homologues. 

Chem3D can read a wide variety of popular chemical structure files, including Gaussian, MacroModel, MDL, MOPAC, PDB, and SYBYL. Two-dimensional structures imported from ChemDraw or ISIS/Draw are automatically converted to three-dimensional structures. The Chem3D native file format contains both the molecular structure and results of computations. Data can be exported in a variety of chemical-structure formats and graphics files. 

The ball and wire display is used for model building Although it is convenient for this purpose other model displays show three dimensional molecular structure more clearly and may be preferred The space filling display is unique m that it portrays a molecule as a set of atom centered spheres The individual sphere radii are taken from experi mental data and roughly correspond to the size of atomic electron clouds Thus the space filling display attempts to show how much space a molecule takes up... 

Although experimental studies of DNA and RNA structure have revealed the significant structural diversity of oligonucleotides, there are limitations to these approaches. X-ray crystallographic structures are limited to relatively small DNA duplexes, and the crystal lattice can impact the three-dimensional conformation [4]. NMR-based structural studies allow for the determination of structures in solution however, the limited amount of nuclear overhauser effect (NOE) data between nonadjacent stacked basepairs makes the determination of the overall structure of DNA difficult [5]. In addition, nanotechnology-based experiments, such as the use of optical tweezers and atomic force microscopy [6], have revealed that the forces required to distort DNA are relatively small, consistent with the structural heterogeneity observed in both DNA and RNA. 

X-ray structures are determined at different levels of resolution. At low resolution only the shape of the molecule is obtained, whereas at high resolution most atomic positions can be determined to a high degree of accuracy. At medium resolution the fold of the polypeptide chain is usually correctly revealed as well as the approximate positions of the side chains, including those at the active site. The quality of the final three-dimensional model of the protein depends on the resolution of the x-ray data and on the degree of refinement. In a highly refined structure, with an R value less than 0.20 at a resolution around 2.0 A, the estimated errors in atomic positions are around 0.1 A to 0.2 A, provided the amino acid sequence is known. 

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