Apparatus and method for structure-based prediction of amino acid sequences

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and apparatus for analyzing a protein structure.

1 . A method for making a modified protein, the method comprising:
 (1) analyzing a protein structure in a computer under the control of a program stored in the computer, said analysis comprising the following steps:   A) receiving, by the computer, a reference structure for a protein, whereby
 the said reference structure forms a representation of a three-dimensional structure of the said protein, and has a global energy E ref , 
 the protein consists of a plurality of residue positions, each carrying a particular reference amino acid type in a specific reference conformation, and 
 the protein residues are classified into a set of modelled residue positions and a set of conformationally fixed residues; 
   B) substituting, by the computer, into the reference structure of step (A) a pattern, whereby
 the said pattern consists of one or more of the modelled residue positions defined in step (A), each carrying a particular amino acid residue type being placed at a specific residue position in the reference structure and adopting a specific conformation, and 
 the one or more amino acid residue types of the said pattern are replacing the corresponding amino acid residue types present in the reference structure; 
   C) optimizing, by the computer, the conformation of the reference structure of step (A) being substituted by the pattern of step (B), whereby
 a suitable protein structure optimization method based on a function allowing to assess the quality of a global protein structure, or any part thereof, is used in combination with a suitable conformational search method, and 
 the said structure optimization method is applied to all modelled residue positions defined in step (A) not being located at any of the pattern residue positions defined in step (B), with the proviso that said structure optimization method is not applied to any of said pattern residue positions; 
   D) assessing, by the computer, the energetic compatibility of the pattern defined in step (B) within the context of the reference structure defined in step (A) being structurally optimized in step (C) with respect to the said pattern, by way of comparing the global energy E(p) of the substituted and optimized protein structure with the global energy E ref  of the non-substituted reference structure to obtain an energetic compatibility object energy E ECO (p); and   the method further comprising (2) making the substituted and optimized protein structure referred in step (D).   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the pattern referred in step (B) consists of two or more of the modelled residue positions defined in step (A), each carrying a particular amino acid residue type being placed at a specific residue position in the reference structure and adopting a specific conformation. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the reference structure of step (A) further represents the three-dimensional structure of ligands including co-factors, ions or water molecules. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the pattern of step (B) consists of a series of consecutive, interconnected residue positions, the said pattern being referred to as a loop pattern. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the pattern residue positions carrying a particular amino acid residue type as defined in step (B) are assigned a specific conformation which is received from a rotamer library, the said pattern being referred to as a rotameric pattern. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the pattern residue positions carrying a particular amino acid residue type as defined in step (B) are assigned a specific conformation which is received from a backbone-independent rotamer library, the said library being referred to as a side-chain rotamer library, and the said pattern being referred to as a rotameric pattern. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein each of the pattern residue positions carrying a particular amino acid residue type as defined in step (B) are assigned a specific conformation which is received from a backbone-dependent rotamer library, the said pattern being referred to as a rotameric pattern, the said library being referred to as a combined main-chain/side-chain rotamer library, and wherein each of the said pattern residue positions are assigned a fixed conformation in accordance with a full main-chain/side-chain rotamer known in the said rotamer library for the corresponding amino acid residue type located at each pattern residue position. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the said function allowing to assess the quality of a global protein structure is an energy function allowing to assess the potential or free energy of a global protein structure or any part thereof. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the said conformational search method of step (C) includes a method comprising the steps of:
 (a) receiving a three dimensional representation of the molecular structure of a protein, the said representation comprising a first set of residue portions and a template;   (b) modifying the representation of step (a) by at least one optimization cycle; wherein each optimization cycle comprises the steps of:
 (b1) perturbing a first representation of the molecular structure by modifying the structure of one or more of the first set of residue portions; 
 (b2) relaxing the perturbed representation by optimizing the structure of one or more of the non-perturbed residue portions of the first set with respect to the one or more perturbed residue portions; 
 (b3) evaluating the perturbed and relaxed representation of the molecular structure by using a function which is an energetic cost function and replacing the first representation by the perturbed and relaxed representation if the latter's global energy is more optimal than that of the first representation; and 
   (c) terminating the optimization process according to step (b) when a predetermined termination criterion is reached; and   (d) outputting to a storage medium or to a consecutive method a data structure comprising information extracted from step (b).   
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the function allowing to assess the quality of a global protein structure in step (C) is an energy function which includes an energetic contribution accounting for solvation effects. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the function allowing to assess the quality of a global protein structure in step (C) is an energy function which includes an energetic contribution accounting for solvation effects, and wherein the said energetic contribution for solvation effects is a type-dependent, topology-specific solvation method including establishing a set of energetic parameters for each of different classes of solvent exposure. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the function allowing to assess the quality of a global protein structure in step (C) is an energy function which includes an energetic contribution accounting for solvation effects and the said energetic contribution for solvation effects is a type-dependent, topology-specific solvation (TTS) method including establishing a set of energetic parameters for each of different classes of solvent exposure and wherein:
 first, each residue type at a given residue position in a specific rotameric state is substituted into the protein structure and its accessible surface area (ASA) is calculated,   next, a class assignment occurs on the basis of the percentage ASA of the residue side chain in the protein structure compared to the maximal ASA of the same side chain being shielded from the solvent only by its own main-chain atoms, and   finally an appropriate type- and topology-specific energy, ETTS(T,C), for the considered pattern element is retrieved from a table of TTS values, using the pattern type (T) and class (C) indices.   
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the reference structure of step (A) further represents the three-dimensional structure of ligands including co-factors, ions or water molecules. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the pattern of step (B) consists of a series of consecutive, interconnected residue positions, the said pattern being referred to as a loop pattern. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein each of the pattern residue positions carrying a particular amino acid residue type as defined in step (B) are assigned a specific conformation which is received from a rotamer library, the said pattern being referred to as a rotameric pattern. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein each of the pattern residue positions carrying a particular amino acid residue type as defined in step (B) are assigned a specific conformation which is received from a backbone-independent rotamer library, the said library being referred to as a side-chain rotamer library, and the said pattern being referred to as a rotameric pattern. 
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein each of the pattern residue positions carrying a particular amino acid residue type as defined in step (B) are assigned a specific conformation which is received from a backbone-dependent rotamer library, the said pattern being referred to as a rotameric pattern, the said library being referred to as a combined main-chain/side-chain rotamer library, and wherein each of the said pattern residue positions are assigned a fixed conformation in accordance with a full main-chain/side-chain rotamer known in the said rotamer library for the corresponding amino acid residue type located at each pattern residue position. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the said function allowing to assess the quality of a global protein structure is an energy function allowing to assess the potential or free energy of a global protein structure or any part thereof. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the said conformational search method of step (C) includes a method comprising the steps of:
 (a) receiving a three dimensional representation of the molecular structure of a protein, the said representation comprising a first set of residue portions and a template;   (b) modifying the representation of step (a) by at least one optimization cycle;   wherein each optimization cycle comprises the steps of:
 (b1) perturbing a first representation of the molecular structure by modifying the structure of one or more of the first set of residue portions; 
   (b2) relaxing the perturbed representation by optimizing the structure of one or more of the non-perturbed residue portions of the first set with respect to the one or more perturbed residue portions;
 (b3) evaluating the perturbed and relaxed representation of the molecular structure by using a function which is an energetic cost function and replacing the first representation by the perturbed and relaxed representation if the latter's global energy is more optimal than that of the first representation; and 
   (c) terminating the optimization process according to step (b) when a predetermined termination criterion is reached; and   (d) outputting to a storage medium or to a consecutive method a data structure comprising information extracted from step (b).   
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the function allowing to assess the quality of a global protein structure in step (C) is an energy function which includes an energetic contribution accounting for solvation effects.