Visualization analysis of inter-fragment interaction energies of CRP–cAMP–DNA complex based on the fragment molecular orbital method Original Research Article

A visualization method for inter-fragment interaction energies (IFIEs) of biopolymers is presented on the basis of the fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method. The IFIEs appropriately illustrate the information about the interaction energies between the fragments consisting of amino acids, nucleotides and other molecules. The IFIEs are usually analyzed in a matrix form called an IFIE matrix. Analyzing the IFIE matrix, we detect important fragments for the function of biomolecular systems and quantify the strength of interaction energies based on quantum chemistry, including the effects of charge transfer, electronic polarization and dispersion force. In this study, by analyzing a protein–DNA complex, we report a visual representation of the IFIE matrix, a so-called IFIE map. We comprehensively examine what information the IFIE map contains concerning structures and stabilities of the protein–DNA complex.