Чугунов Антон Олегович кандидат физико-математических наук Научный сотрудник (лаборатория моделирования биомолекулярных систем) Тел.: +7 (495) 336-20-00 Эл. почта: batch2k@yandex.ru — biomolecula.ru

Личная информация

Кроме профессии у людей, конечно, должно быть хобби. Моё главное хобби на протяжении уже нескольких лет — это популяризация естественно-научного образа мысли как антитезы тотальному оболваниванию гламуром. Для этого я и несколько моих друзей создали и поддерживаем научно-популярный сайт о современной молекулярной и физико-химической биологии, вся суть которого, как я надеюсь, передаётся в названии: «биомолекула».

Образование

Научные интересы

Меня интересуют принципы пространственной организации белков и механизмы их сворачивания. В первую очередь это касается мембранных белков и рецепторов, таких как G-белоксопряжённые рецепторы. Поскольку выбранная мной методическая сфера — это компьютерное моделирование структуры и динамики биомакромолекул, больше всего мне интересно, удастся ли когда-нибудь моделировать все эти важнейшие процессы на компьютере — без такой большой оглядки на эксперимент, которую всегда приходится делать теперь.

Премии и заслуги

Призер конкурса научно-популярных статей «Живые слова» в номинации «Лучшее освещение исследований по биотехнологиям» (2 место). Призовая статья — «Ловля бабочек, или чем структурная геномика поможет биологии».

Гранты и проекты

Избранные публикации

1. Deyev I.E., Sohet F., Vassilenko K.P., Serova O.V., Popova N.V., Zozulya S.A., Burova E.B., Houillier P., Rzhevsky D.I., Berchatova A.A., Murashev A.N., Chugunov A.O., Efremov R.G., Nikolsky N.N., Bertelli E., Eladari D., Petrenko A.G. (2011). Insulin receptor-related receptor as an extracellular alkali sensor. Cell Metab. 13 (6), 679–89 [+]

   The insulin receptor-related receptor (IRR), an orphan receptor tyrosine kinase of the insulin receptor family, can be activated by alkaline media both in vitro and in vivo at pH >7.9. The alkali-sensing property of IRR is conserved in frog, mouse, and human. IRR activation is specific, dose-dependent and quickly reversible and demonstrates positive cooperativity. It also triggers receptor conformational changes and elicits intracellular signaling. The pH sensitivity of IRR is primarily defined by its L1F extracellular domains. IRR is predominantly expressed in organs that come in contact with mildly alkaline media. In particular, IRR is expressed in the cell subsets of the kidney that secrete bicarbonate into urine. Disruption of IRR in mice impairs the renal response to alkali loading attested by development of metabolic alkalosis and decreased urinary bicarbonate excretion in response to this challenge. We therefore postulate that IRR is an alkali sensor that functions in the kidney to manage metabolic bicarbonate excess.

2. Chugunov A.O., Simms J., Poyner D.R., Dehouck Y., Rooman M., Gilis D., Langer I. (2010). Evidence that interaction between conserved residues in transmembrane helices 2, 3, and 7 are crucial for human VPAC1 receptor activation. Mol. Pharmacol. 78 (3), 394–401 [+]

   The VPAC(1) receptor belongs to family B of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR-B) and is activated upon binding of the vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). Despite the recent determination of the structure of the N terminus of several members of this receptor family, little is known about the structure of the transmembrane (TM) region and about the molecular mechanisms leading to activation. In the present study, we designed a new structural model of the TM domain and combined it with experimental mutagenesis experiments to investigate the interaction network that governs ligand binding and receptor activation. Our results suggest that this network involves the cluster of residues Arg(188) in TM2, Gln(380) in TM7, and Asn(229) in TM3. This cluster is expected to be altered upon VIP binding, because Arg(188) has been shown previously to interact with Asp(3) of VIP. Several point mutations at positions 188, 229, and 380 were experimentally characterized and were shown to severely affect VIP binding and/or VIP-mediated cAMP production. Double mutants built from reciprocal residue exchanges exhibit strong cooperative or anticooperative effects, thereby indicating the spatial proximity of residues Arg(188), Gln(380), and Asn(229). Because these residues are highly conserved in the GPCR-B family, they can moreover be expected to have a general role in mediating function.

3. Чугунов А.О., Ефремов Р.Г. (2009). Предсказание пространственной структуры белков: акцент на мембранных мишенях. Биоорг. хим. 35 (6), 1–17 [+]

   Интегральные белки биологических мембран — объекты, пространственная структура которых с большим трудом поддаётся экспериментальному определению. Во многих случаях существует возможность теоретического предсказания строения белковых молекул, используя физические или эмпирические закономерности. В обзоре рассмотрены основные существующие приёмы предсказания пространственной структуры белков с использованием компьютерных алгоритмов; основной акцент сделан на наиболее «сложные» объекты — мембранных белки (МБ).

   Отдельно описаны идеология “de novo”-предсказаний, основывающаяся на эмпирических физических закономерностях, и подход сопоставительного моделирования (или моделирования на основании гомологии), в котором используется информация о трёхмерном строении родственных белков. В качестве примеров рассмотрены фармакологически важные классы G-белоксопряжённых рецепторов, рецепторных тирозинкиназ и другие МБ. Обсуждаются потенциальные сферы применения моделей белков и существующие подходы к оценке «качества» упаковки полипептидной цепи в моделях.

4. Pyrkov T.V., Chugunov A.O., Krylov N.A., Nolde D.E., Efremov R.G. (2009). PLATINUM: a web tool for analysis of hydrophobic/hydrophilic organization of biomolecular complexes. Bioinformatics 25 (9), 1201–2 [+]

   The PLATINUM (Protein-Ligand ATtractions Investigation NUMerically) web service is designed for analysis and visualization of hydrophobic/hydrophilic properties of biomolecules supplied as 3D-structures. Furthermore, PLATINUM provides a number of tools for quantitative characterization of the hydrophobic/hydrophilic match in biomolecular complexes e.g. in docking poses. These complement standard scoring functions. The calculations are based on the concept of empirical Molecular Hydrophobicity Potential (MHP). AVAILABILITY: The PLATINUM web tool as well as detailed documentation and tutorial are available free of charge for academic users at http://model.nmr.ru/platinum/. PLATINUM requires Java 5 or higher and Adobe Flash Player 9. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

5. Farce A., Chugunov A.O., Logé C., Sabaouni A., Yous S., Dilly S., Renault N., Vergoten G., Efremov R.G., Lesieur D., Chavatte P. (2008). Homology modeling of MT1 and MT2 receptors. European journal of medicinal chemistry 43 (9), 1926–44 [+]

   Melatonin is a neurohormone synthesized and secreted mainly during the dark period of the circadian cycle by the pineal gland. It has already been proved to be involved in a number of chronobiological processes, most of them being mediated by its membranar receptors MT1 and MT2. Both are members of the GPCR class and, despite the interest they elicit, their 3D structure is still to be described. Models for both human MT1 and MT2 receptors have been constructed by homology modeling, using the X-ray structure of bovine rhodopsin as template. These models have been evaluated in terms of hydrophobic properties of the helices and refined to take into account the rearrangement of GPCRs necessary for their activation, thus leading to a putative activated model for each subtype.

6. Chugunov A.O., Novoseletsky V.N., Nolde D.E., Arseniev A.S., Efremov R.G. (2007). Method to assess packing quality of transmembrane alpha-helices in proteins. 1. Parametrization using structural data. Journal of chemical information and modeling 47 (3), 1150–62 [+]

   Integral membrane proteins (MPs) are pharmaceutical targets of exceptional importance. Modern methods of three-dimensional protein structure determination often fail to supply the fast growing field of structure-based drug design with the requested MPs' structures. That is why computational modeling techniques gain a special importance for these objects. Among the principal difficulties limiting application of these methods is the low quality of the MPs' models built in silico. In this series of two papers we present a computational approach to the assessment of the packing "quality" of transmembrane (TM) alpha-helical domains in proteins. The method is based on the concept of protein environment classes, whereby each amino acid residue is described in terms of its environment polarity and accessibility to the membrane. In the first paper we analyze a nonredundant set of 26 TM alpha-helical domains and compute the residues' propensities to five predefined classes of membrane-protein environments. Here we evaluate the proposed approach only by various test sets, cross-validation protocols and ability of the method to delimit the crystal structure of visual rhodopsin, and a number of its erroneous theoretical models. More advanced validation of the method is given in the second article of this series. We assume that the developed "membrane score" method will be helpful in optimizing computer models of TM domains of MPs, especially G-protein coupled receptors.

7. Chugunov A.O., Novoseletsky V.N., Nolde D.E., Arseniev A.S., Efremov R.G. (2007). Method to assess packing quality of transmembrane alpha-helices in proteins. 2. Validation by "correct vs misleading" test. Journal of chemical information and modeling 47 (3), 1163–70 [+]

   We describe a set of tests designed to check the ability of the new "membrane score" method (see the first paper of this series) to assess the packing quality of transmembrane (TM) alpha-helical domains in proteins. The following issues were addressed: (1) Whether there is a relation between the score (S(mem)) of a model and its closeness to the "nativelike" conformation? (2) Is it possible to recognize a correct model among misfolded and erroneous ones? (3) To what extent the score of a homology-built model is sensitive to errors in sequence alignment? To answer the first question, two test cases were considered: (i) Several models of bovine aquaporin-1 (target protein) were built on the structural templates provided by its homologs with known X-ray structure. (ii) Side chains in the spatial models of visual rhodopsin and cytochrome c oxidase were rebuilt based on the backbone scaffolds taken from their crystal structures, and the resulting models were iteratively fitted into the full-atom X-ray conformations. It was shown that the higher the S(mem) value of a model is, the lower its root-mean-square deviation is from the "correct" (crystal) structure of a target. Furthermore, the "membrane score" method successfully identifies the rhodopsin crystal structure in an ensemble of "rotamer-type" decoys, thus providing the way to optimize mutual orientations of alpha-helices in models of TM domains. Finally, being applied to a set of homology models of rhodopsin built on its crystal structure with systematically shifted alignment, the approach demonstrates a prominent ability to detect alignment errors. We therefore assume that the "membrane score" method will be helpful in optimization of in silico models of TM domains in proteins, especially those in GPCRs.

8. Chugunov A.O., Novoseletsky V.N., Arseniev A.S., Efremov R.G. (2007). A novel method for packing quality assessment of transmembrane alpha-helical domains in proteins. Biochemistry Mosc. 72 (3), 293–300 [+]

   Here we present a novel method for assessment of packing quality for transmembrane (TM) domains of alpha-helical membrane proteins (MPs), based on analysis of available high-resolution experimental structures of MPs. The presented concept of protein-membrane environment classes permits quantitative description of packing characteristics in terms of membrane accessibility and polarity of the nearest protein groups. We demonstrate that the method allows identification of native-like conformations among the large set of theoretical MP models. The developed "membrane scoring function" will be of use for optimization of TM domain packing in theoretical models of MPs, first of all G-protein coupled receptors.

9. Efremov R.G., Chugunov A.O., Pyrkov T.V., Priestle J.P., Arseniev A.S., Jacoby E. (2007). Molecular lipophilicity in protein modeling and drug design. Curr. Med. Chem. 14 (4), 393–415 [+]

   Hydrophobic interactions play a key role in the folding and maintenance of the 3-dimensional structure of proteins, as well as in the binding of ligands (e.g. drugs) to protein targets. Therefore, quantitative assessment of spatial hydrophobic (lipophilic) properties of these molecules is indispensable for the development of efficient computational methods in drug design. One possible solution to the problem lies in application of a concept of the 3-dimensional molecular hydrophobicity potential (MHP). The formalism of MHP utilizes a set of atomic physicochemical parameters evaluated from octanol-water partition coefficients (log P) of numerous chemical compounds. It permits detailed assessment of the hydrophobic and/or hydrophilic properties of various parts of molecules and may be useful in analysis of protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions. This review surveys recent applications of MHP-based techniques to a number of biologically relevant tasks. Among them are: (i) Detailed assessment of hydrophobic/hydrophilic organization of proteins; (ii) Application of this data to the modeling of structure, dynamics, and function of globular and membrane proteins, membrane-active peptides, etc. (iii) Employment of the MHP-based criteria in docking simulations for ligands binding to receptors. It is demonstrated that the application of the MHP-based techniques in combination with other molecular modeling tools (e.g. Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations, docking, etc.) permits significant improvement to the standard computational approaches, provides additional important insights into the intimate molecular mechanisms driving protein assembling in water and in biological membranes, and helps in the computer-aided drug discovery process.

10. Chugunov A.O., Farce A., Chavatte P., Efremov R.G. (2006). Differences in binding sites of two melatonin receptors help to explain their selectivity to some melatonin analogs: a molecular modeling study. J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn. 24 (2), 91–107 [+]

    Numerous diseases have been linked to the malfunction of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Their adequate treatment requires rational design of new high-affinity and high-selectivity drugs targeting these receptors. In this work, we report three-dimensional models of the human MT(1) and MT(2) melatonin receptors, members of the GPCR family. The models are based on the X-ray structure of bovine rhodopsin. The computational approach employs an original procedure for optimization of receptor-ligand structures. It includes rotation of one of the transmembrane alpha-helices around its axis with simultaneous assessment of quality of the resulting complexes according to a number of criteria we have developed for this purpose. The optimal geometry of the receptor-ligand binding is selected based on the analysis of complementarity of hydrophobic/hydrophilic properties between the ligand and its protein environment in the binding site. The elaborated "optimized" models are employed to explore the details of protein-ligand interactions for melatonin and a number of its analogs with known affinity to MT(1) and MT(2) receptors. The models permit rationalization of experimental data, including those that were not used in model building. The perspectives opened by the constructed models and by the optimization procedure in the design of new drugs are discussed.