Statistical interaction analyses between SARS-CoV-2 main protease and inhibitor N3 by combining molecular dynamics simulation and fragment molecular orbital calculation
Ryo Hatada, Koji Okuwaki, Kazuki Akisawa, Yuji Mochizuki, Yuma Handa, Kaori Fukuzawa, Yuto Komeiji, Yoshio Okiyama, Shigenori Tanaka
Abstract
Abstract A combination of classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and ab initio fragment molecular orbital (FMO) calculation was applied to a complex formed between the main protease of the new coronavirus and the inhibitor N3 to calculate interactions within the complex while incorporating structural fluctuations mimicking physiological conditions. Namely, a statistical evaluation of interaction energies between N3 and amino acid residues was performed by processing a thousand of structure samples. It was found that relative importance of each residue is altered by the structural fluctuation. The MD-FMO combination should be promising to simulate protein related systems in a more realistic way.