The cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB <sub>1 </sub>) is the principal target of the psychoactive constituent of marijuana, the partial agonist Δ <sup>9 </sup>-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ <sup>9 </sup>-THC). Here we report two agonist-bound crystal structures of ...
The cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB 1 ) is the principal target of the psychoactive constituent of marijuana, the partial agonist Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ 9 -THC). Here we report two agonist-bound crystal structures of human CB 1 in complex with a tetrahydrocannabinol (AM11542) and a hexahydrocannabinol (AM841) at 2.80 Å and 2.95 Å resolution, respectively. The two CB 1 -agonist complexes reveal important conformational changes in the overall structure, relative to the antagonist-bound state, including a 53% reduction in the volume of the ligand-binding pocket and an increase in the surface area of the G-protein-binding region. In addition, a 'twin toggle switch' of Phe200 3.36 and Trp356 6.48 (superscripts denote Ballesteros-Weinstein numbering) is experimentally observed and appears to be essential for receptor activation. The structures reveal important insights into the activation mechanism of CB 1 and provide a molecular basis for predicting the binding modes of Δ 9 -THC, and endogenous and synthetic cannabinoids. The plasticity of the binding pocket of CB 1 seems to be a common feature among certain class A G-protein-coupled receptors. These findings should inspire the design of chemically diverse ligands with distinct pharmacological properties.
Organizational Affiliation:
GPCR Consortium, San Marcos, California 92078, USA.,Center for Drug Discovery, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.,School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China.,Departments of Molecular Medicine and Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida 33458, USA.,Complex Systems Division, Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100193, China.,National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.,Departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA.,iHuman Institute, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
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