Quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) docking: an evaluation for known test systems

A combined quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) docking approach for the investigation of protein-inhibitor complexes is presented. Starting points for QM/MM optimizations are generated with AutoDock. The subsequent semiempirical AMI QM/MM optimization of the complex obtained by the docking procedure gives a more detailed description of the binding mode and the electronic properties of the ligand. As we use a flexible protein environment in the QM/MM optimizations, we are able to simulate limited structural changes of the enzyme upon binding a ligand, even within a simple geometry optimization. The method was validated using a set of structurally known protein-inhibitor complexes, whose crystallographic data were taken from the Protein Data Bank. In addition to protein structures taken directly from complexes with the inhibitors, structures of uncomplexed HIV-1-protease and thrombin were also used successfully for QM/MM docking experiments. By comparing the resulting structures with those obtained using protein structures from protein-inhibitor complexes, we find that the method is able to simulate the effect of the induced fit when a simple optimization is adequate to reproduce the protein movement. Describing the ligand quantum mechanically gives a detailed view of its electronic properties, for example its polarization within the active site of the enzyme. This study suggests strongly that a QM/MM molecular dynamics approach will be able to simulate the induced fit in general cases.