Abstract
Many limitations of current computer-aided drug design arise from the difficulty of reliably predicting the binding affinity of a small molecule to a biological target. There is thus a strong interest in novel computational methodologies that claim predictions of greater accuracy than current scoring functions, and at a throughput compatible with the rapid pace of drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. Notably, computational methodologies firmly rooted in statistical thermodynamics have received particular attention in recent years. Yet free energy calculations can be daunting to learn for a novice user because of numerous technical issues and various approaches advocated by experts in the field. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the current capabilities of free energy calculations and to discuss the applicability of this technology to drug discovery.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Jhoti H (2007) Structure-based drug discovery. Springer, Dordrecht
Jorgensen WL (2004) Science 303:1813–1818
Klebe G (2006) Drug Discov Today 11:580–594
McInnes C (2007) Curr Opin Chem Biol 11:494–502
Taylor RD, Jewsbury PJ, Essex JW (2002) J Comput Aided Mol Des 16:151–166
Warren GL, Andrews CW, Capelli AM, Clarke B, LaLonde J, Lambert MH, Lindvall M, Nevins N, Semus SF, Senger S, Tedesco G, Wall ID, Woolven JM, Peishoff CE, Head MS (2006) J Med Chem 49:5912–5931
Cozzini P, Kellogg GE, Spyrakis F, Abraham DJ, Costantino G, Emerson A, Fanelli F, Gohlke H, Kuhn LA, Morris GM, Orozco M, Pertinhez TA, Rizzi M, Sotriffer CA (2008) J Med Chem 51:6237–6255
Kokh DB, Wenzel WG (2008) J Med Chem 51:5919–5931
Sherman W, Day T, Jacobson MP, Friesner RA, Farid R (2006) J Med Chem 49:534–553
Verdonk ML, Mortenson PN, Hall RJ, Hartshorn MJ, Murray CW (2008) J Chem Inf Model 48:2214–2225
Gilson MK, Zhou HX (2007) Annu Rev Biophys Biomol Struct 36:21–42
Mobley DL, Dill KA (2009) Structure 17:489–498
Guimaraes CRW, Boger DL, Jorgensen WL (2005) J Am Chem Soc 127:17377–17384
Mobley DL, Graves AP, Chodera JD, McReynolds AC, Shoichet BK, Dill KA (2007) J Mol Biol 371:1118–1134
Fujitani H, Tanida Y, Ito M, Jayachandran G, Snow CD, Shirts MR, Sorin EJ, Pande VS (2005) J Chem Phys 123:084108
Michel J, Verdonk ML, Essex JW (2006) J Med Chem 49:7427–7439
Michel J, Verdonk ML, Essex JW (2007) J Chem. Theory Comput 3:1645–1655
Deng YQ, Roux B (2006) J Chem. Theory Comput. 2:1255–1273
Michel J, Essex JW (2008) J Med Chem 51:6654–6664
Wang JY, Deng YQ, Roux B (2006) Biophys J 91:2798–2814
Aqvist J, Luzhkov VB, Brandsdal BO (2002) Acc Chem Res 35:358–365
Massova I, Kollman PA (2000) Perspectives in Drug Discovery and Design 18:113–135
Mobley DL, Chodera JD, Dill KA (2007) J Chem. Theory Comput. 3:1231–1235
Boyce SE, Mobley DL, Rocklin GJ, Graves AP, Dill KA, Shoichet BK (2009) J Mol Biol 394:747–763
Tanida Y, Ito MS, Fujitani H (2007) Chem Phys 337:135–143
Oostenbrink C, van Gunsteren WF (2004) Proteins Struct Funct Genet 54:237–246
Steinbrecher T, Hrenn A, Dormann KL, Merfort I, Labahn A (2008) Bioorg Med. Chem. 16:2385–2390
Pan CF, Mezei M, Mujtaba S, Muller M, Zeng L, Li JM, Wang ZY, Zhou MM (2007) J Med Chem 50:2285–2288
Jorgensen WL, Ruiz-Caro J, Tirado-Rives J, Basavapathruni A, Anderson KS, Hamilton AD (2006) Bioorg Med. Chem. Lett. 16:663–667
Ruiz-Caro J, Basavapathruni A, Kim JT, Bailey CM, Wang LG, Anderson KS, Hamilton AD, Jorgensen WL (2006) Bioorg Med. Chem. Lett. 16:668–671
Thakur VV, Kim JT, Hamilton AD, Bailey CM, Domaoal RA, Wang LG, Anderson KS, Jorgensen WL (2006) Bioorg Med. Chem. Lett. 16:5664–5667
Kim JT, Hamilton AD, Bailey CM, Domoal RA, Wang LG, Anderson KS, Jorgensen WL (2006) J Am Chem Soc 128:15372–15373
Zeevaart JG, Wang LG, Thakur VV, Leung CS, Tirado-Rives J, Bailey CM, Domaoal RA, Anderson KS, Jorgensen WL (2008) J Am Chem Soc 130:9492–9499
Jorgensen WL (2009) Acc Chem Res 42:724–733
Michel J, Harker EA, Tirado-Rives J, Jorgensen WL, Schepartz A (2009) J Am Chem Soc 131:6356–6357
Gilson MK, Given JA, Bush BL, McCammon JA (1997) Biophys J 72:1047–1069
Boresch S, Tettinger F, Leitgeb M, Karplus M (2003) J Phys. Chem. B 107:9535–9551
Ben Naim A (2006) Molecular Theory of Solutions. Oxford University press, Oxford
Leach A (1996) Molecular Modelling: Principles and Applications. Longman, Harlow, UK
Zwanzig RW (1954) J Chem Phys 22:1420–1426
Kollman P (1993) Chem Rev 93:2395–2417
Wu D, Kofke DA (2005) J Chem Phys 123:084109
Wu D, Kofke DA (2005) J Chem Phys 123:054103
Jorgensen WL, Ravimohan C (1985) J Chem Phys 83:3050–3054
Lu ND, Kofke DA, Woolf TB (2004) J Comput Chem 25:28–39
Bennett CH (1976) J Comput Phys 22:245–268
Shirts MR, Bair E, Hooker G, Pande VS (2003) Phys Rev Lett 91:140601
Shirts MR, Chodera JD (2008) J Chem Phys 129:124105
Liu HY, Mark AE, vanGunsteren WF (1996) J Phys Chem 100:9485–9494
Oostenbrink BC, Pitera JW, van Lipzig MMH, Meerman JHN, van Gunsteren WF (2000) J Med Chem 43:4594–4605
Oostenbrink C, van Gunsteren WF (2003) J Comput Chem 24:1730–1739
Oostenbrink C, van Gunsteren WF (2005) Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 102:6750–6754
Mezei M (1987) J Chem Phys 86:7084–7088
Jarzynski C (1997) Physical Review E 56:5018–5035
Jarzynski C (1997) Phys Rev Lett 78:2690–2693
Cossins BP, Foucher S, Edge CM, Essex JW (2008) J Phys. Chem. B 112:14985–14992
Cossins BP, Foucher S, Edge CM, Essex JW (2009) J Phys. Chem. B 113:5508–5519
Oostenbrink C, van Gunsteren WF (2006) Chem Phys 323:102–108
Ytreberg FM, Swendsen RH, Zuckerman DM (2006) J Chem Phys 125:184114
Owicki JC, Scheraga HA (1977) Chem Phys Lett 47:600–602
Kumar S, Bouzida D, Swendsen RH, Kollman PA, Rosenberg JM (1992) J Comput Chem 13:1011–1021
Bartels C, Karplus M (1998) J Phys Chem B 102:865–880
Woods CJ, Camiolo S, Light ME, Coles SJ, Hursthouse MB, King MA, Gale PA, Essex JW (2002) J Am Chem Soc 124:8644–8652
Wang J, Gu Y, Liu HY (2006) J Chem Phys 125:094907
Kong XJ, Brooks CL (1996) J Chem Phys 105:2414–2423
Guo ZY, Durkin J, Fischmann T, Ingram R, Prongay A, Zhang RM, Madison V (2003) J Med Chem 46:5360–5364
Knight JL, Brooks CL (2009) J Comput Chem 30:1692–1700
Laio A, Parrinello M (2002) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:12562–12566
Gervasio FL, Laio A, Parrinello M (2005) J Am Chem Soc 127:2600–2607
Mezei M (1987) Mol Phys 61:565–582
Guarnieri F, Mezei M (1996) J Am Chem Soc 118:8493–8494
Resat H, Mezei M (1994) J Am Chem Soc 116:7451–7452
Resat H, Mezei M (1996) Biophys J 71:1179–1190
Clark M, Guarnieri F, Shkurko I, Wiseman J (2006) J Chem Inf Model 46:231–242
Clark M, Meshkat S, Wiseman JS (2009) J Chem Inf Model 49:934–943
Mezei M (1980) Mol Phys 40:901–906
Clark M, Meshkat S, Talbot GT, Carnevali P, Wiseman JS (2009) J Chem Inf Model 49:1901–1913
Chang CE, Gilson MK (2004) J Am Chem Soc 126:13156–13164
Chang CEA, Chen W, Gilson MK (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:1534–1539
Rekharsky MV, Mori T, Yang C, Ko YH, Selvapalam N, Kim H, Sobransingh D, Kaifer AE, Liu SM, Isaacs L, Chen W, Moghaddam S, Gilson MK, Kim KM, Inoue Y (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:20737–20742
Jorgensen WL, Chandrasekhar J, Madura JD, Impey RW, Klein ML (1983) J Chem Phys 79:926–935
Michel J (2006) The Use of Free Energy Simulations as Scoring Functions, PhD Thesis, University of Southampton. Available at http://www.julienmichel.net/docs/jmichel-thesiscomp.pdf
Pitera JW, Van Gunsteren WF (2002) Mol Simul 28:45–65
Steinbrecher T, Mobley DL, Case DA (2007) J Chem Phys 127:214108
Beutler TC, Mark AE, Vanschaik RC, Gerber PR, van Gunsteren WF (1994) Chem Phys Lett 222:529–539
Zacharias M, Straatsma TP, McCammon JA (1994) J Chem Phys 100:9025
Shirts MR, Pitera JW, Swope WC, Pande VS (2003) J Chem Phys 119:5740
Michel J, Orsi M, Essex JW (2008) J Phys Chem B 112:657–660
Metropolis N, Rosenbluth AW, Rosenbluth MN, Teller AH, Teller E (1953) J Chem Phys 21:1087–1092
Martin MG, Siepmann JI (1999) J Phys Chem B 103:4508–4517
Siepmann JI, Frenkel D (1992) Mol Phys 75:59–70
Dodd LR, Boone TD, Theodorou DN (1993) Mol Phys 78:961–996
Ulmschneider JP, Jorgensen WL (2003) J Chem Phys 118:4261–4271
Hetenyi B, Bernacki K, Berne BJ (2002) J Chem Phys 117:8203–8207
Chen JH, Im W, Brooks CL (2005) J Comput Chem 26:1565–1578
Cooke B, Schmidler SC (2008) J Chem Phys 129:164112
Izaguirre JA, Hampton SS (2004) J Comput Phys 200:581–604
Mehlig B, Heermann DW, Forrest BM (1992) Phys Rev B 45:679–685
Mitsutake A, Sugita Y, Okamoto Y (2001) Biopolymers 60:96–123
Garcia AE, Onuchic JN (2003) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:13898–13903
Woods CJ, Essex JW, King MA (2003) J Phys Chem B 107:13703–13710
Woods CJ, Essex JW, King MA (2003) J Phys Chem B 107:13711–13718
Gelb LD (2003) J Chem Phys 118:7747–7750
Michel J, Taylor RD, Essex JW (2006) J Chem Theory Comput 2:732–739
Woods CJ, Manby FR, Mulholland AJ (2008) J Chem Phys 128:014109
Humphreys DD, Friesner RA, Berne BJ (1994) J Phys Chem 98:6885–6892
Jayachandran G, Shirts MR, Park S, Pande VS (2006) J Chem Phys 125:084901
Ponder JW, Case DA (2003) Adv Prot Chem 66:27–85
Cornell WD, Cieplak P, Bayly CI, Gould IR, Merz KM, Ferguson DM, Spellmeyer DC, Fox T, Caldwell JW, Kollman PA (1995) J Am Chem Soc 117:5179–5197
MacKerell AD, Bashford D, Bellott M, Dunbrack RL, Evanseck JD, Field MJ, Fischer S, Gao J, Guo H, Ha S, Joseph-McCarthy D, Kuchnir L, Kuczera K, Lau FTK, Mattos C, Michnick S, Ngo T, Nguyen DT, Prodhom B, Reiher WE, Roux B, Schlenkrich M, Smith JC, Stote R, Straub J, Watanabe M, Wiorkiewicz-Kuczera J, Yin D, Karplus M (1998) J Phys Chem B 102:3586–3616
Jorgensen WL, Maxwell DS, TiradoRives J (1996) J Am Chem Soc 118:11225–11236
Schuler LD, Daura X, van Gunsteren WF (2001) J Comput Chem 22:1205–1218
Duan Y, Wu C, Chowdhury S, Lee MC, Xiong GM, Zhang W, Yang R, Cieplak P, Luo R, Lee T, Caldwell J, Wang JM, Kollman P (2003) J Comput Chem 24:1999–2012
Wang JM, Wolf RM, Caldwell JW, Kollman PA, Case DA (2004) J Comput Chem 25:1157–1174
Udier-Blagovic M, De Tirado PM, Pearlman SA, Jorgensen WL (2004) J Comput Chem 25:1322–1332
Jorgensen WL, Jensen KP, Alexandrova AN (2007) J Chem Theory Comput 3:1987–1992
Michel J, Tirado-Rives J, Jorgensen WL (2009) J Am Chem Soc 131:15403–15411
Deng YQ, Roux B (2008) J Chem Phys 128:115103
Michel J, Tirado-Rives J, Jorgensen WL (2009) J Phys Chem B 113:13337–13346
Dong F, Olsen B, Baker NA (2008) Biophysical tools for biologists: vol. 1 in vitro techniques, pp. 843–870
Mobley DL, Bayly CI, Cooper MD, Shirts MR, Dill KA (2009) J Chem Theory Comput 5:350–358
Mobley DL, Dill KA, Chodera JD (2008) J Phys Chem B 112:938–946
Michel J, Taylor RD, Essex JW (2004) J Comput Chem 25:1760–1770
Barillari C, Taylor J, Viner R, Essex JW (2007) J Am Chem Soc 129:2577–2587
Lee MS, Salsbury FR, Olson MA (2004) J Comput Chem 25:1967–1978
Allen MP, Tildesley DJ (1990) Computer Simulations of Liquids. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
Aqvist J (1990) J Phys Chem 94:8021–8024
Sagui C, Darden TA (1999) Annu Rev Biophys Biomol Struct 28:155–179
Heinz TN, Hunenberger PH (2005) J Chem Phys 123:034107
Kastenholz MA, Hunenberger PH (2006) J Chem Phys 124:224501
Kastenholz MA, Hunenberger PH (2006) J Chem Phys 124:124106
Donnini S, Mark AE, Juffer AH, Villa A (2005) J Comput Chem 26:115–122
Aqvist J (1996) J Comput Chem 17:1587–1597
Jensen KP, Jorgensen WL (2006) J Chem Theory Comput 2:1499–1509
Shirts MR, Mobley DL, Chodera JD, Pande VS (2007) J Phys Chem B 111:13052–13063
Shivakumar D, Deng Y, Roux B (2009) J Chem Theory Comput 5:919–930
Gresh N, Cisneros GA, Darden TA, Piquemal JP (2007) J Chem Theory Comput 3:1960–1986
Lamoureux G, Roux B (2003) J Chem Phys 119:3025–3039
Patel S, Brooks CL (2004) J Comput Chem 25:1–15
Ren PY, Ponder JW (2003) J Phys Chem B 107:5933–5947
Gallivan JP, Dougherty DA (1999) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:9459–9464
Jiao D, Golubkov PA, Darden TA, Ren P (2008) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:6290–6295
Khoruzhii O, Donchev AG, Galkin N, Illarionov A, Olevanov M, Ozrin V, Queen C, Tarasov V (2008) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:10378–10383
Khandelwal A, Lukacova V, Comez D, Kroll DM, Raha S, Balaz S (2005) J Med Chem 48:5437–5547
Brown P, Woods C, McIntosh-Smith S, Manby FR (2008) J Chem Theory Comput 4:1620–1626
Chipot C (2008) J Chem Theory Comput 4:2150–2159
Jorgensen WL, Thomas LL (2008) J Chem Theory Comput 4:869–876
Villa A, Zangi R, Pieffet G, Mark AE (2003) J Comput Aided Mol Des 17:673–686
Cheng Y, Prusoff WH (1973) Biochem Pharmacol 22:3099–3108
Krohn KA, Link JM (2003) Nucl Med Biol 30:819–826
Wissner A, Berger DM, Boschelli DH, Floyd MB, Greenberger LM, Gruber BC, Johnson BD, Mamuya N, Nilakantan R, Reich MF, Shen R, Tsou HR, Upeslacis E, Wang YF, Wu BQ, Ye F, Zhang N (2000) J Med Chem 43:3244–3256
Chipot C, Pohorille A (2007) Free Energy Calculations: Theory and Applications in Chemistry and Biology. Heidelberg, Berlin
Deng YQ, Roux B (2009) J Phys Chem B 113:2234–2246
Goodford PJ (1985) J Med Chem 28:849–857
Helms V, Wade RC (1998) J Am Chem Soc 120:2710–2713
MCPRO + version 2.6 (2009) Schrödinger. LLC, New York, NY
Bowers KJ, Chow E, Xu E, Drorr RO, Eastwood MP, Gregerson BA, Klepeis JL, Kollossvary I, Moraes MA, Sacerdoti FD, Salmon JK, Shan Y, Shaw DE (2006) Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE Conference on Supercomputing (SC06), Tampa, Floria
Newman J, Fazio VJ, Caradoc-Davies TT, Branson K, Peat TS (2009) J Biomol Screen 14:1245–1250
Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported (J.M.) by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (FP7-PEOPLE-2008-4-1-IOF, 234796-PPIdesign).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Michel, J., Essex, J.W. Prediction of protein–ligand binding affinity by free energy simulations: assumptions, pitfalls and expectations. J Comput Aided Mol Des 24, 639–658 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10822-010-9363-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10822-010-9363-3