Origin of the catalytic power of acetylcholinesterase: Computer simulation studies

The energetics of the acylation step of AChE (acetylcholinesterase) is explored by using molecular simulation approaches. These include the evaluation of activation free energies by using the empirical valence bond (EVE) potential surface and an all-atom free energy perturbation (FEP) approach, as well as estimates of the catalytic effect of the enzyme by using the semimicroscopic version of the Protein Dipoles Langevin Dipoles (PDLD/S) method. The determination of the effect of the enzyme is based on the use of reliable experimental information in evaluating the energetics of the reference reaction in water and then on using robust simulations for the evaluation of the effect of moving the reacting system from a solvent cage to the protein active site. This procedure reduces the error range of the overall analysis since the energetics in water is not evaluated by a first principle approach. The use of two simulation methods and different initial conditions provide a way for assessing the error range of the calculations and the validity of the corresponding conclusions. Both the EVE and PDLD/S approaches show that the enzyme reduces the activation barrier of the acylation step by 10-15 kcal/mol relative to the corresponding reference reaction in water. This corresponds to a (10(7)-10(11))-fold rate acceleration, which is in good agreement with the corresponding experimental estimate. The origin of the catalytic power of the enzyme appears to be associated with electrostatic stabilization of the transition state. This electrostatic effect can be classified as a combination of reduction of the energy of the charged intermediate and reduction in the reorganization energy. The contributions of different protein residues to the stabilization of the transition state are estimated. It is demonstrated that, in contrast to some proposals, AChE and other enzymes do not work by providing a hydrophobic environment but rather a polar environment. This work concludes that the most important catalytic effects are associated with nearby residues rather than distant ionized residues. It is also concluded that the enzyme has evolved first to optimize the speed of the actual bond breaking/bond making chemical processes and only then to fine-tune the rate by optimizing the barrier for the diffusion step. Since the optimization of the chemical step involves more than 10 kcal/mol and the optimization of the diffusion step involves at most 1 or 2 kcal/mol, it appears that the possible acceleration of the diffusion step is a second-order effect. These conclusions are consistent with the available experimental studies.