Computational studies on acetylcholinesterases

Yechun Xu*, Shanmei Cheng, Joel L. Sussman, Israel Silman, Hualiang Jiang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Functions of biomolecules, in particular enzymes, are usually modulated by structural fluctuations. This is especially the case in a gated diffusion-controlled reaction catalyzed by an enzyme such as acetylcholinesterase. The catalytic triad of acetylcholinesterase is located at the bottom of a long and narrow gorge, but it catalyzes the extremely rapid hydrolysis of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, with a reaction rate close to the diffusion-controlled limit. Computational modeling and simulation have produced considerable advances in exploring the dynamical and conformational properties of biomolecules, not only aiding in interpreting the experimental data, but also providing insights into the internal motions of the biomolecule at the atomic level. Given the remarkably high catalytic efficiency and the importance of acetylcholinesterase in drug development, great efforts have been made to understand the dynamics associated with its functions by use of various computational methods. Here, we present a comprehensive overview of recent computational studies on acetylcholinesterase, expanding our views of the enzyme from a microstate of a single structure to conformational ensembles, strengthening our understanding of the integration of structure, dynamics and function associated with the enzyme, and promoting the structure-based and/or mechanism-based design of new inhibitors for it.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1324
JournalMolecules
Volume22
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Drug Discovery
  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Chemistry (miscellaneous)
  • Molecular Medicine
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Pharmaceutical Science
  • Organic Chemistry

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