Understanding the mechanism by which ligands affect receptor conformational equilibria is key in accelerating membrane protein structural biology. In the case of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), we currently pursue a brute-force approach for iden ...
Understanding the mechanism by which ligands affect receptor conformational equilibria is key in accelerating membrane protein structural biology. In the case of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), we currently pursue a brute-force approach for identifying ligands that stabilize receptors and facilitate crystallogenesis. The nociceptin/orphanin FQ peptide receptor (NOP) is a member of the opioid receptor subfamily of GPCRs for which many structurally diverse ligands are available for screening. We observed that antagonist potency is correlated with a ligand's ability to induce receptor stability (Tm) and crystallogenesis. Using this screening strategy, we solved two structures of NOP in complex with top candidate ligands SB-612111 and C-35. Docking studies indicate that while potent, stabilizing antagonists strongly favor a single binding orientation, less potent ligands can adopt multiple binding modes, contributing to their low Tm values. These results suggest a mechanism for ligand-aided crystallogenesis whereby potent antagonists stabilize a single ligand-receptor conformational pair.
Organizational Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.,Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and LTTA (Laboratorio per le Tecnologie delle Terapie Avanzate), University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.,Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Department of Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA; Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. Electronic address: stevens@usc.edu.,Department of Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.,Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.,Department of Medical Sciences, Section of Pharmacology and National Institute of Neuroscience, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
Download Mendeley
Download Endnote
