Interaction of HIV-1 aspartic protease with its inhibitor, by molecular dynamics and ab initio fragment molecular orbital method

For the three complex crystal structures of HIV-1 aspartic protease (an enzyme of AIDS) with its inhibitor in the Protein Data Bank, molecular dynamics of the generalized Born surface area and the ab initio fragment molecular orbital of an ABINIT-MP calculation was performed to obtain the binding free energy, the molecular orbital energy, the interaction energy of residues with an inhibitor and the charge transfer at the active site. The inhibitors are five symmetric cyclic ureas, of which three were modelled, and an asymmetric dipeptide. The interaction energy of the inhibitor at the active sites of aspartic acid is as great as 50 kcal mol(−1), coinciding with a tetrahedral transition state. For the inhibitor with a higher affinity, charge was transferred to the inhibitor from the active site. The difference in symmetry of the inhibitor was not evident. Binding free energy corresponds to the experimental value of the binding constant, while molecular orbital energy does not always, which is considered to be an entropy effect.