Molecular dynamic simulations reveal structural insights into substrate and inhibitor binding modes and functionality of Ecto-Nucleoside Triphosphate Diphosphohydrolases

Ecto-nucleotidase enzymes catalyze the hydrolysis of extracellular nucleotides to their respective nucleosides. Herein, we place the focus on the elucidation of structural features of the cell surface located ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases (E-NTPDase1-3 and 8). The physiological role of these isozymes is crucially important as they control purinergic signaling by modulating the extracellular availability of nucleotides. Since, crystal or NMR structure of the human isozymes are not available – structures have been obtained by homology modeling. Refinement of the homology models with poor stereo-chemical quality is of utmost importance in order to derive reliable structures for subsequent studies. Therefore, the resultant models obtained by homology modelling were refined by running molecular dynamic simulation. Binding mode analysis of standard substrates and of competitive inhibitor was conducted to highlight important regions of the active site involved in hydrolysis of the substrates and possible mechanism of inhibition.