Related papers: Dewetting-controlled binding of ligands to hydroph…
We investigate the impact of water fluctuations on the key-lock association kinetics of a hydrophobic ligand (key) binding to a hydrophobic pocket (lock) by means of a minimalistic stochastic model system. It describes the collective…
Ligand-receptor binding and unbinding are fundamental biomolecular processes and particularly essential to drug efficacy. Environmental water fluctuations, however, impact the corresponding thermodynamics and kinetics and thereby challenge…
A model of protein-ligand binding kinetics in which slow solvent dynamics results from hydrophobic drying transitions is investigated. Molecular dynamics simulations show that solvent in the receptor pocket can fluctuate between wet and dry…
By means of Monte Carlo computer simulations in the isothermal-isobaric ensemble, we investigated the interaction of a hydrophobic ligand with the hydrophobic surfaces of various curvatures (planar, convex and concave). A simple…
Using explicit-water molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of a generic pocket-ligand model we investigate how chemical and shape anisotropy of small ligands influences the affinities, kinetic rates and pathways for their association to…
As a common view the hydrophobic association between molecular-scale binding partners is supposed to be dominantly driven by entropy. Recent calorimetric experiments and computer simulations heavily challenge this established paradigm by…
Water near hydrophobic surfaces is like that at a liquid-vapor interface, where fluctuations in water density are substantially enhanced compared to that in bulk water. Here we use molecular simulations with specialized sampling techniques…
A minimalist simulation model for lipid bilayers is presented. Each lipid is represented by a flexible chain of beads in implicit solvent. The hydrophobic effect is mimicked through an intermolecular pair potential localized at the…
Interfaces are a most common motif in complex systems. To understand how the presence of interfaces affect hydrophobic phenomena, we use molecular simulations and theory to study hydration of solutes at interfaces. The solutes range in size…
We studied the dynamics of a liquid contact line receding on a hydrophobic soft gel (SBS-paraffin). In order to realize a well-defined geometry with an accurate control of velocity, a dip-coating setup was implemented. Provided that the…
We present a coarse-grained lattice model of solvation thermodynamics and the hydrophobic effect that implements the ideas of Lum-Chandler-Weeks (LCW) theory [J. Phys. Chem. B 103, 4570 (1999)] and improves upon previous lattice models…
The physics of air-water interfaces plays a central role in modern theories of the hydrophobic effect. Implementing these theories, however, has been hampered by the difficulty of addressing fluctuations in the shape of such soft…
We use molecular simulations to demonstrate the connection between transverse water-water correlations and wetting phenomena for a range of hydrophobic to hydrophilic solid surfaces.Near superhydrophobic surfaces, the correlations are long…
Drops deposited on rough and hydrophobic surfaces can stay suspended with gas pockets underneath the liquid, then showing very low hydrodynamic resistance. When this superhydrophobic state breaks down, the subsequent wetting process can…
Solvent often manifests itself as the key determinant of the kinetic aspect of molecular recognition process. While the solvent is often depicted as a source of barrier in the ligand recognition process by polar cavity, the nature of…
We present an overview of the recent progress that has been made in understanding the origin of hydrophobic interactions. We discuss the different character of the solvation behavior of apolar solutes at small and large length scales. We…
Hydrophobic interactions are central to biological self-assembly and soft matter organization, yet their microscopic origins remain debated. A key hallmark is the strengthening of attraction between hydrophobic solutes with increasing…
A key factor influencing a drug's efficacy is its residence time in the binding pocket of the host protein. Using atomistic computer simulation to predict this residence time and the associated dissociation process is a desirable but…
Ligand unbinding is mediated by the free energy change, which has intertwined contributions from both energy and entropy. It is important but not easy to quantify their individual contributions. We model hydrophobic ligand unbinding for two…
Adsorption of small amphiphilic molecules occurs in various biological and technological processes, sometimes desired, the other times unwanted (e.g., contamination). Surface-active molecules preferentially bind to interfaces and affect…