Global simulations of enzymatic catalysis

Abstract

Enzymatic catalytic processes generally involve substrate delivery, selective catalytic reaction, and product release. Owing to the complex protein environment effect, any nonchemical or chemical step may determine the enzyme activity. Herein, to comprehensively understand enzymatic activity, extensive combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) and molecular mechanics (MM) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out on several kinds of enzymes. Possible reaction mechanisms, roles of the conserved residues, and effects of the protein environment on the whole enzymatic process are discussed in detail, which will enrich the knowledge of reactivity in proteins. With the improvement and development of multiscale models and computational methods, it is expected that global simulations of extremely large and complicated enzymes will enable and lend support to enzyme engineering.