Volume 46, Issue 1 e27508
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Fragment and torsion biasing algorithms for construction of small organic molecules in proteins using DOCK

John D. Bickel

John D. Bickel

Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, New York, USA

Search for more papers by this author
Brock T. Boysan

Brock T. Boysan

Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, New York, USA

Search for more papers by this author
Robert C. Rizzo

Corresponding Author

Robert C. Rizzo

Department of Applied Mathematics & Statistics, Stony Brook University, New York, USA

Institute of Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery, Stony Brook University, New York, USA

Laufer Center for Physical & Quantitative Biology, Stony Brook University, New York, USA

Correspondence

Robert C. Rizzo, Department of Applied Mathematics & Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA.

Email: [email protected]

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 22 October 2024

Abstract

The computational construction of small organic molecules (de novo design), directly in a protein binding site, is an effective means for generating novel ligands tailored to fit the pocket environment. In this work, we present two new methods, which aim to improve de novo design outcomes using (1) biasing algorithms to prioritize selection and/or acceptance of fragments and torsions during growth, and (2) parallel-based clustering and pruning algorithms to remove duplicate molecules as candidate fragment are added. Large-scale testing encompassing thousands of simulations were employed to interrogate the methods in terms of multiple metrics which include numbers of duplicate molecules generated, pairwise-similarity, focused library reconstruction rates, fragment and torsion frequencies, fragment and torsion rank scores, interaction energy and drug-likeness scores, and 3D pose comparisons. The biasing algorithms, particularly those that include fragment and torsion components simultaneously, led to molecules that more closely mimicked the distributions of fragments and torsions found in drug-like libraries. The new parallel-based clustering and pruning algorithms, compared with the existing serial approach, also led to larger ensembles comprised of topologically unique molecules with much greater efficiency by removing redundant growth paths.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.