Paper Citing NAMD - Abstract
Gorham, Ronald D., Jr.; Kieslich, Chris A.; Morikis, Dimitrios
Complement Inhibition by Staphylococcus aureus: Electrostatics of C3d-EfbC and C3d-Ehp Association
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR BIOENGINEERING, 5:32-43, MAR 2012
Virulence factors EfbC and Ehp from Staphylococcus aureus are potent inhibitors of complement activation. Both are excessively charged and bind to complement protein C3d at an acidic interface. We computationally generated single-alanine mutants of charged residues in the C3d-EfbC and C3d-Ehp complexes, and utilized electrostatic clustering and Poisson-Boltzmann free energy calculations to evaluate the role of electrostatics in association. Our results indicate that both interfacial electrostatic interactions and electrostatic potential distribution are crucial for C3d-EfbC and C3d-Ehp association. The results presented herein serve as a predictive tool in the selection of mutants with desired binding and immunological activity, and will narrow the search for viable candidates for further computational and experimental analyses. This study serves as the foundation for development of an inhibitor of the C3d-EfbC and C3d-Ehp interactions to combat bacterial infection and design of a complement inhibitor using EfbC and Ehp as a model.
