Umbrella Visualization: a method of analysis dedicated to glycan flexibility with UnityMol.
Fiche publication
Date publication
juillet 2019
Journal
Methods (San Diego, Calif.)
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Dr BLAISE Sébastien, Pr DAUCHEZ Manuel, Pr BAUD Stéphanie
Tous les auteurs :
Besançon C, Guillot A, Blaise S, Dauchez M, Belloy N, Prévoteau-Jonquet J, Baud S
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
N-glycosylation is a post-translational modification heavily impacting protein functions. Some alterations of glycosylation, such as sialic acid hydrolysis, are related to protein dysfunction. Because of their high flexibility and the many reactive groups of the glycan chains, studying glycans with in vitro methods is a challenging task. Molecular dynamics is a useful tool and probably the only one in biology able to overcome this problem and gives access to conformational information through exhaustive sampling. To better decipher the impact of N-glycans, the analysis and visualization of their influence over time on protein structure is a prerequisite. We developed the Umbrella Visualization, a graphical method that assign the glycan intrinsic flexibility during a molecular dynamics trajectory. The density plot generated by this method brought relevant informations regarding glycans dynamics and flexibility, but needs further development in order to integrate an accurate description of the protein topology and its interactions. We propose here to transform this analysis method into a visualization mode in UnityMol. UnityMol is a molecular editor, viewer and prototyping platform, coded in C#. The new representation of glycan chains presented in this study takes into account both the main positions adopted by each antenna of a glycan and their statistical relevance. By displaying the collected data on the protein surface, one is then able to investigate the protein / glycan interactions.
Mots clés
Covered surface, Glycan flexibility, Molecular dynamics, Unity, UnityMol
Référence
Methods. 2019 Jul 11;: