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N Marchand-Geneste

Publications and source records attributed to N Marchand-Geneste.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

SAR and QSAR modeling of endocrine disruptors.

A number of xenobiotics by mimicking natural hormones can disrupt crucial functions in wildlife and humans. These chemicals termed endocrine disruptors are able to exert adverse effects through a variety of mechanisms. Fortunately, there is a growing interest in the study of these structurally diverse chemicals mainly through research programs based on in vitro and in vivo experimentations but also by means of SAR and QSAR models. The goal of our study was to retrieve from the literature all the papers dealing with structure-activity models on endocrine disruptor xenobiotics. A critical analysis of these models was made focusing our attention on the quality of the biological data, the significance of the molecular descriptors and the validity of the statistical tools used for deriving the models. The predictive power and domain of application of these models were also discussed.

Endocrine Disruptors↗

Structural e-bioinformatics and drug design.

Nowadays the in silico scenario for drug design is totally dependent on structural biology and structural bioinformatics. A myriad of free bioinformatics applications and services have been posted on the web. This mini-review mentions web sites that are useful in structure-based drug design. The information is given in a logical manner, following the drug design process i.e. characterization of a protein target, modelling the protein using sequence homology, optimization of the protein structure and finally docking of small ligands into the active site.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Homology model of the rainbow trout estrogen receptor (rtERalpha) and docking of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

A model for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) estrogen receptor (rtERa) was built by homology with the human estrogen receptor (hERa). A high level of sequence conservation between the two receptors was found with 64% and 80% of identity and similarity, respectively. Selected endocrine disrupting chemicals were docked into the ligand binding domain (LBD) of rtERa and the corresponding free binding energies Delta(DeltaG(bind)) values were calculated. A Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) model between the relative binding affinity data and the Delta(DeltaG(bind)) values was derived in order to predict which further organic pollutants are likely to bind to rtERa.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

e-Quantum chemistry free resources.

Among computational chemistry methods, quantum mechanics calculates geometries and electronic structures with accuracy especially for systems with electronic delocalization. The use of a multiconfigurational approach is able to treat highly degenerated states such as those occurring at the transition state in some chemical reactions. Moreover, an accurate description of potential energy surfaces can be obtained with the evaluation of the dynamic electron correlation effects by this approach. Molecular properties range from simple dipole moments, vibrational frequencies or IR intensities to frequency dependent hyperpolarizabilities. Quantum chemical calculations are thus an attractive source of molecular descriptors which can be used in QSAR/QSPR studies and which can express all electronic and geometric properties of molecules. A survey and a comparison of the performance of free e-resources for semi-empirical and ab initio calculations is provided.

Data Collection↗

An ab initio investigation of 2-amino-2-imidazoline: a key moiety in chemical and biochemical processes.

The 2-amino-2-imidazoline moiety is currently used not only in drugs, but also in insecticides, and fungicides. Ab initio calculations are performed to evaluate the molecular properties of the two tautomeric forms and the protonated form with extended basis sets ranging from 6-31G* to 6-311++G** at Hartree-Fock and density functional (BLYP and B3LYP) levels. Møller-Plesset perturbation is tested at the MP2/6-31G* level only. Optimized geometry structures, energies and thermochemical properties are generated. Basis set and correlation effects on geometries, tautomer equilibrium constant and protonation enthalpy are carefully analysed. Although observed for the isolated molecule, these results may be extrapolated to chemical and biochemical systems of interest.

Fungicides, Industrial↗

e-molecular shapes and properties.

Due to recent computer technology advances, shape analysis has gained importance in all domains. In drug design and proteomics, molecular surfaces (van der Waals surface, solvent accessible surface, solvent excluded surface, polar surface area, electron density surface, separating surface, etc.), buried surfaces (gap, cleft, cavity, etc.) as well as shape properties of these surfaces, can be easily computed and visualized via the Internet. Freely available resources from the Internet for academic use, are reviewed.

Computer Simulation↗