Computational toolbox for the analysis of protein–glycan interactions

• Ferran Nieto-Fabregat,
• Maria Pia Lenza,
• Angela Marseglia,
• Cristina Di Carluccio,
• Antonio Molinaro,
• Alba Silipo and
• Roberta Marchetti

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2084–2107, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.180

• as powerful tools that can help in drawing, building and visualising complex biomolecules and provide insights into their dynamic behaviour at atomic and molecular levels. This review provides an overview of the main computational tools useful for studying biomolecular systems, particularly glycans

• –ligand complexes, and analyse MD outcomes. Moreover, selected case studies have been reported to highlight the importance of computational tools in studying protein–glycan systems, revealing the capability of these tools to provide valuable insights into the binding kinetics, energetics, and structural

• determinants that govern specific molecular interactions. Keywords: computational tools; glycan–protein interactions; MD; molecular recognition; Review Introduction Carbohydrates also referred to as saccharides, sugars, or glycans, constitute one of the main building blocks of biomolecules, alongside lipids

Generation of multimillion chemical space based on the parallel Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé reaction

• Evgen V. Govor,
• Vasyl Naumchyk,
• Ihor Nestorak,
• Dmytro S. Radchenko,
• Dmytro Dudenko,
• Yurii S. Moroz,
• Olexiy D. Kachkovsky and
• Oleksandr O. Grygorenko

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 1604–1613, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.143

• -component reactions are very effective for the generation of synthetically tractable ultra-large chemical space [30][31][32]. Such virtual but readily accessible (REAL) compound libraries demonstrated excellent performance in early drug discovery programs when combined with modern computational tools such

Studying specificity in protein–glycosaminoglycan recognition with umbrella sampling

• Mateusz Marcisz,
• Sebastian Anila,
• Margrethe Gaardløs,
• Martin Zacharias and
• Sergey A. Samsonov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1933–1946, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.144

• and, therefore, could be a way for a protein to effectively sample different particular GAG recognition patterns. The findings in this work should contribute to the broadening of the knowledge regarding the specificity of protein–GAG interactions and the limitations of the computational tools employed

Combretastatins D series and analogues: from isolation, synthetic challenges and biological activities

• Jorge de Lima Neto and
• Paulo Henrique Menezes

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 399–427, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.31

• biological studies remains highly desirable. The pharmacological potential of these compounds also requires further studies since most of them showed activity on a micromolar scale in in vitro assays, with the compounds containing the cis double bond being the most active. However, the use of computational

• tools and new assay technologies for high throughput screening (HTS) could lead to the discovery of new analogues with more potent activities. Moreover, the study on the application of these compounds to neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which include Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and human African

GlycoBioinformatics

• Kiyoko F. Aoki-Kinoshita,
• Frédérique Lisacek,
• Niclas Karlsson,
• Daniel Kolarich and
• Nicolle H. Packer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2726–2728, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.184

• al. [7], wherein glycan substrate specificities and glycoenzyme reaction rules are described using an improved linear code that is standardized for use in analytical computational tools. This links with McDonald and Davey’s paper [8], which expands on their previously described theoretically derived

A consensus-based and readable extension of Linear Code for Reaction Rules (LiCoRR)

• Benjamin P. Kellman,
• Yujie Zhang,
• Emma Logomasini,
• Eric Meinhardt,
• Karla P. Godinez-Macias,
• Austin W. T. Chiang,
• James T. Sorrentino,
• Chenguang Liang,
• Bokan Bao,
• Yusen Zhou,
• Sachiko Akase,
• Isami Sogabe,
• Thukaa Kouka,
• Elizabeth A. Winzeler,
• Iain B. H. Wilson,
• Matthew P. Campbell,
• Sriram Neelamegham,
• Frederick J. Krambeck,
• Kiyoko F. Aoki-Kinoshita and
• Nathan E. Lewis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2645–2662, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.215

• computational tools exist to compare XML-type models directly [44], the verbosity of the models can challenge comprehension. While less descriptive, succinct human-readable and understandable LiCoRR expressions provide an opportunity for a human observer to manually compare and consider two related models

Computational tools for drawing, building and displaying carbohydrates: a visual guide

• Kanhaya Lal,
• Rafael Bermeo and
• Serge Perez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2448–2468, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.199

• carried out in structural glycobiology, typically using various software. In this perspective article, we outline developments in the computational tools for the sketching, visualisation and modelling of glycans. The article also provides details on the standard representation of glycans, and

• developments supported the construction and representation of glycan structures in symbolic form by computational tools like GlycanBuilder [10]. Since then, several advancements have been made to allow the user to both draw glycans manually or by importing and exporting the structure files in different text

• computational tools was inspected for general features related to sketching, representing and model building, all of which could be further used as input for translation into other formats, search from glycan databases or complex calculations such as molecular simulations. Several tools feature an interactive

Back to the future: Why we need enzymology to build a synthetic metabolism of the future

• Tobias J. Erb

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 551–557, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.49

• transcarboxylases [51], respectively, which are not capable of fixing CO2, but are still found very often misannotated as their CO2 fixing homologs RubisCO, with which they share a common evolutionary history [52]. A solution to overcome the problem of misannotation might come from novel computational tools that

Evaluation of dispersion type metal···π arene interaction in arylbismuth compounds – an experimental and theoretical study

• Ana-Maria Preda,
• Małgorzata Krasowska,
• Lydia Wrobel,
• Philipp Kitschke,
• Phil C. Andrews,
• Jonathan G. MacLellan,
• Lutz Mertens,
• Marcus Korb,
• Tobias Rüffer,
• Heinrich Lang,
• Alexander A. Auer and
• Michael Mehring

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2125–2145, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.187

• interaction of main group metals has increased significantly, both experimentally and theoretically in the past decade [1][2][3][4][5]. Especially the development of novel computational tools demonstrated the importance of London dispersion type interactions for structures and functions of molecules [6][7][8

Terahertz spectroscopy of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene molecular solids from first principles

• Ido Azuri,
• Anna Hirsch,
• Anthony M. Reilly,
• Alexandre Tkatchenko,
• Shai Kendler,
• Oded Hod and
• Leeor Kronik

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 381–388, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.26

• orthorombic TNT. The relatively modest chemical modification leaves clear fingerprints in the terahertz spectrum. This demonstrates the significant selectivity of terahertz spectroscopy and the importance of the ability to predict such spectra using advanced computational tools. Conclusion In this article, we

Halogen-containing thiazole orange analogues – new fluorogenic DNA stains

• Aleksey A. Vasilev,
• Meglena I. Kandinska,
• Stanimir S. Stoyanov,
• Stanislava B. Yordanova,
• David Sucunza,
• Juan J. Vaquero,
• Obis D. Castaño,
• Stanislav Baluschev and
• Silvia E. Angelova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2902–2914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.283

• bioanalytical methods. Higher photochemical stability was demonstrated by dye 5c and this had very low fluorescence in the free state. Computational tools were used in an attempt to explain the optical properties of the studied chromophores. The results are encouraging and warrant further investigations into

Glycoscience@Synchrotron: Synchrotron radiation applied to structural glycoscience

• Serge Pérez and
• Daniele de Sanctis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1145–1167, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.114

• elaborate experiments even to users that are less familiar with computational tools. Beamline control software is interfaced with a laboratory information management system (LIMS), a metadata management system [27]. It is used to track samples, record experiment details and report experimental protocols and

Opportunities and challenges for the sustainable production of structurally complex diterpenoids in recombinant microbial systems

• Katarina Kemper,
• Max Hirte,
• Markus Reinbold,
• Monika Fuchs and
• Thomas Brück

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 845–854, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.85

• databases and computational tools [73] that enable model-based optimization such as flux-balance analyses [74]. Taking advantage of natural presence and manipulability of distinct isoprenoid pathways in both organisms (MEP in E. coli and MEV in S. cerevisiae), heterologous production of several isoprenoid

Physical properties and biological activities of hesperetin and naringenin in complex with methylated β-cyclodextrin

• Waratchada Sangpheak,
• Jintawee Kicuntod,
• Roswitha Schuster,
• Thanyada Rungrotmongkol,
• Peter Wolschann,
• Nawee Kungwan,
• Helmut Viernstein,
• Monika Mueller and
• Piamsook Pongsawasdi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2763–2773, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.297

• physical properties and biological activities of hesperetin and naringenin through complexation with cyclodextrins. Computational tools (molecular dynamics simulation) were adopted to first predict the stability of flavanones/CDs inclusion complexes. Consequently, the experimental phase solubility and

A small azide-modified thiazole-based reporter molecule for fluorescence and mass spectrometric detection

• Stefanie Wolfram,
• Hendryk Würfel,
• Stefanie H. Habenicht,
• Christine Lembke,
• Phillipp Richter,
• Eckhard Birckner,
• Rainer Beckert and
• Georg Pohnert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 2470–2479, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.258

• allows the application of cluster analysis [19] or other software [38] as computational tools to identify probe-reactive analytes out of complex mixtures even of unknown mass. Visualization of proteins by in-gel fluorescence detection In a model reaction we tested the suitability of BPT (1) and the other

True and masked three-coordinate T-shaped platinum(II) intermediates

• Manuel A. Ortuño,
• Salvador Conejero and
• Agustí Lledós

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1352–1382, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.153

• computational tools [32][33]. The agostic interaction shows different behaviors. It can be a transient species prior to the C–H bond breaking or stabilize low electron count situations. In this section we will focus on the latter aspect. Since this intramolecular interaction is difficult to avoid, even in the

The diketopiperazine-fused tetrahydro-β-carboline scaffold as a model peptidomimetic with an unusual α-turn secondary structure

• Francesco Airaghi,
• Andrea Fiorati,
• Giordano Lesma,
• Manuele Musolino,
• Alessandro Sacchetti and
• Alessandra Silvani

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 147–154, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.17

• conclusion, we realized the synthesis of a new constrained THBC-DKP-based scaffold able to mimic an α-turn. It was designed with the aid of computational tools, which highlight the relative cis arrangement of the substituents on the THBC piperidine ring as being a crucial requirement in order to obtain the