1
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Kenakin T. Know your molecule: pharmacological characterization of drug candidates to enhance efficacy and reduce late-stage attrition. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2024; 23:626-644. [PMID: 38890494 DOI: 10.1038/s41573-024-00958-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024]
Abstract
Despite advances in chemical, computational and biological sciences, the rate of attrition of drug candidates in clinical development is still high. A key point in the small-molecule discovery process that could provide opportunities to help address this challenge is the pharmacological characterization of hit and lead compounds, culminating in the selection of a drug candidate. Deeper characterization is increasingly important, because the 'quality' of drug efficacy, at least for G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), is now understood to be much more than activation of commonly evaluated pathways such as cAMP signalling, with many more 'efficacies' of ligands that could be harnessed therapeutically. Such characterization is being enabled by novel assays to characterize the complex behaviour of GPCRs, such as biased signalling and allosteric modulation, as well as advances in structural biology, such as cryo-electron microscopy. This article discusses key factors in the assessments of the pharmacology of hit and lead compounds in the context of GPCRs as a target class, highlighting opportunities to identify drug candidates with the potential to address limitations of current therapies and to improve the probability of them succeeding in clinical development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Terry Kenakin
- Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
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2
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Hasse T, Huang YMM. Multiple Parameter Replica Exchange Gaussian Accelerated Molecular Dynamics for Enhanced Sampling and Free Energy Calculation of Biomolecular Systems. J Chem Theory Comput 2024. [PMID: 39085770 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/02/2024]
Abstract
This study introduces a novel method named multiple parameter replica exchange Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (MP-Rex-GaMD), building on the Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) algorithm. GaMD enhances sampling and retrieves free energy information for biomolecular systems by adding a harmonic boost potential to smooth the potential energy surface without the need for predefined reaction coordinates. Our innovative approach advances the acceleration power and energetic reweighting accuracy of GaMD by incorporating a replica exchange algorithm that enables the exchange of multiple parameters, including the GaMD boost parameters of force constant and energy threshold, as well as temperature. Applying MP-Rex-GaMD to the three model systems of dialanine, chignolin, and HIV protease, we demonstrate its superior capability over conventional molecular dynamics and GaMD simulations in exploring protein conformations and effectively navigating various biomolecular states across energy barriers. MP-Rex-GaMD allows users to accurately map free energy landscapes through energetic reweighting, capturing the ensemble of biomolecular states from low-energy conformations to rare high-energy transitions within practical computational time scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy Hasse
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201, United States
| | - Yu-Ming M Huang
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201, United States
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3
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Stein C. Effects of pH on opioid receptor activation and implications for drug design. Biophys J 2024:S0006-3495(24)00446-6. [PMID: 38970252 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2024.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2024] [Revised: 05/29/2024] [Accepted: 07/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024] Open
Abstract
G-protein-coupled receptors are integral membrane proteins that transduce chemical signals from the extracellular matrix into the cell. Traditional drug design has considered ligand-receptor interactions only under normal conditions. However, studies on opioids indicate that such interactions are very different in diseased tissues. In such microenvironments, protons play an important role in structural and functional alterations of both ligands and receptors. The pertinent literature strongly suggests that future drug design should take these aspects into account in order to reduce adverse side effects while preserving desired effects of novel compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Stein
- Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Experimental Anaesthesiology, Berlin, Germany.
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4
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Pirona L, Ballabio F, Alfonso-Prieto M, Capelli R. Calcium-Driven In Silico Inactivation of a Human Olfactory Receptor. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:2971-2978. [PMID: 38523266 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Conformational changes as well as molecular determinants related to the activation and inactivation of olfactory receptors are still poorly understood due to the intrinsic difficulties in the structural determination of this GPCR family. Here, we perform, for the first time, the in silico inactivation of human olfactory receptor OR51E2, highlighting the possible role of calcium in this receptor state transition. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we show that a divalent ion in the ion binding site, coordinated by two acidic residues at positions 2.50 and 3.39 conserved across most ORs, stabilizes the receptor in its inactive state. In contrast, protonation of the same two acidic residues is not sufficient to drive inactivation within the microsecond timescale of our simulations. Our findings suggest a novel molecular mechanism for OR inactivation, potentially guiding experimental validation and offering insights into the possible broader role of divalent ions in GPCR signaling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenza Pirona
- Department of Biosciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, I-20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Federico Ballabio
- Department of Biosciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, I-20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Mercedes Alfonso-Prieto
- Computational Biomedicine, Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine INM-9, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, D-54248 Jülich, Germany
| | - Riccardo Capelli
- Department of Biosciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, I-20133 Milano, Italy
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5
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Chen J, Gou Q, Chen X, Song Y, Zhang F, Pu X. Exploring biased activation characteristics by molecular dynamics simulation and machine learning for the μ-opioid receptor. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:10698-10710. [PMID: 38512140 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp05050e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
Biased ligands selectively activating specific downstream signaling pathways (termed as biased activation) exhibit significant therapeutic potential. However, the conformational characteristics revealed are very limited for the biased activation, which is not conducive to biased drug development. Motivated by the issue, we combine extensive accelerated molecular dynamics simulations and an interpretable deep learning model to probe the biased activation features for two complex systems constructed by the inactive μOR and two different biased agonists (G-protein-biased agonist TRV130 and β-arrestin-biased agonist endomorphin2). The results indicate that TRV130 binds deeper into the receptor core compared to endomorphin2, located between W2936.48 and D1142.50, and forms hydrogen bonding with D1142.50, while endomorphin2 binds above W2936.48. The G protein-biased agonist induces greater outward movements of the TM6 intracellular end, forming a typical active conformation, while the β-arrestin-biased agonist leads to a smaller extent of outward movements of TM6. Compared with TRV130, endomorphin2 causes more pronounced inward movements of the TM7 intracellular end and more complex conformational changes of H8 and ICL1. In addition, important residues determining the two different biased activation states were further identified by using an interpretable deep learning classification model, including some common biased activation residues across Class A GPCRs like some key residues on the TM2 extracellular end, ECL2, TM5 intracellular end, TM6 intracellular end, and TM7 intracellular end, and some specific important residues of ICL3 for μOR. The observations will provide valuable information for understanding the biased activation mechanism for GPCRs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianfang Chen
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
| | - Qiaoling Gou
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
| | - Xin Chen
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
| | - Yuanpeng Song
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
| | - Fuhui Zhang
- Graduate School, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
| | - Xuemei Pu
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
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6
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Sk MF, Samanta S, Poddar S, Kar P. Deciphering the molecular choreography of Janus kinase 2 inhibition via Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics simulations: a dynamic odyssey. J Comput Aided Mol Des 2024; 38:8. [PMID: 38324213 DOI: 10.1007/s10822-023-00548-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/08/2024]
Abstract
The Janus kinases (JAK) are crucial targets in drug development for several diseases. However, accounting for the impact of possible structural rearrangements on the binding of different kinase inhibitors is complicated by the extensive conformational variability of their catalytic kinase domain (KD). The dynamic KD contains mainly four prominent mobile structural motifs: the phosphate-binding loop (P-loop), the αC-helix within the N-lobe, the Asp-Phe-Gly (DFG) motif, and the activation loop (A-loop) within the C-lobe. These distinct structural orientations imply a complex signal transmission path for regulating the A-loop's flexibility and conformational preference for optimal JAK function. Nevertheless, the precise dynamical features of the JAK induced by different types of inhibitors still remain elusive. We performed comparative, microsecond-long, Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics simulations in triplicate of three phosphorylated JAK2 systems: the KD alone, type-I ATP-competitive inhibitor (CI) bound KD in the catalytically active DFG-in conformation, and the type-II inhibitor (AI) bound KD in the catalytically inactive DFG-out conformation. Our results indicate significant conformational variations observed in the A-loop and αC helix motions upon inhibitor binding. Our studies also reveal that the DFG-out inactive conformation is characterized by the closed A-loop rearrangement, open catalytic cleft of N and C-lobe, the outward movement of the αC helix, and open P-loop states. Moreover, the outward positioning of the αC helix impacts the hallmark salt bridge formation between Lys882 and Glu898 in an inactive conformation. Finally, we compared their ligand binding poses and free energy by the MM/PBSA approach. The free energy calculations suggested that the AI's binding affinity is higher than CI against JAK2 due to an increased favorable contribution from the total non-polar interactions and the involvement of the αC helix. Overall, our study provides the structural and energetic insights crucial for developing more promising type I/II JAK2 inhibitors for treating JAK-related diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Md Fulbabu Sk
- Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Khandwa Road, Simrol, MP, 453552, India
- Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Visualization, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Sunanda Samanta
- Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Khandwa Road, Simrol, MP, 453552, India
| | - Sayan Poddar
- Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Khandwa Road, Simrol, MP, 453552, India
| | - Parimal Kar
- Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Khandwa Road, Simrol, MP, 453552, India.
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7
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Madhu MK, Shewani K, Murarka RK. Biased Signaling in Mutated Variants of β 2-Adrenergic Receptor: Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations. J Chem Inf Model 2024; 64:449-469. [PMID: 38194225 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2024]
Abstract
The molecular basis of receptor bias in G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) caused by mutations that preferentially activate specific intracellular transducers over others remains poorly understood. Two experimentally identified biased variants of β2-adrenergic receptors (β2AR), a prototypical GPCR, are a triple mutant (T68F, Y132A, and Y219A) and a single mutant (Y219A); the former bias the receptor toward the β-arrestin pathway by disfavoring G protein engagement, while the latter induces G protein signaling explicitly due to selection against GPCR kinases (GRKs) that phosphorylate the receptor as a prerequisite of β-arrestin binding. Though rigorous characterizations have revealed functional implications of these mutations, the atomistic origin of the observed transducer selectivity is not clear. In this study, we investigated the allosteric mechanism of receptor bias in β2AR using microseconds of all-atom Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) simulations. Our observations reveal distinct rearrangements in transmembrane helices, intracellular loop 3, and critical residues R1313.50 and Y3267.53 in the conserved motifs D(E)RY and NPxxY for the mutant receptors, leading to their specific transducer interactions. Moreover, partial dissociation of G protein from the receptor core is observed in the simulations of the triple mutant in contrast to the single mutant and wild-type receptor. The reorganization of allosteric communications from the extracellular agonist BI-167107 to the intracellular receptor-transducer interfaces drives the conformational rearrangements responsible for receptor bias in the single and triple mutants. The molecular insights into receptor bias of β2AR presented here could improve the understanding of biased signaling in GPCRs, potentially opening new avenues for designing novel therapeutics with fewer side-effects and superior efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Midhun K Madhu
- Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal Bypass Road, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462066, India
| | - Kunal Shewani
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal Bypass Road, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462066, India
| | - Rajesh K Murarka
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal Bypass Road, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462066, India
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8
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Barbhuiya TK, Jayarathna DK, Gilmour R, Smet-Nocca C, Gandhi NS. Characterization of Posttranslationally Modified PHF-1 Tau Peptides Using Gaussian Accelerated Molecular Dynamics Simulation. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2754:3-31. [PMID: 38512658 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3629-9_1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
The microtubule-associated protein, Tau, is an intrinsically disordered protein that plays a crucial role in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease. The posttranslational modifications across the Tau protein domains are involved in regulating Tau protein's function and disease onset. Of the various posttranslational modifications at Ser, Thr, and Tyr sites, O-GlcNAcylation and phosphorylation are the most critical ones, playing a vital role in Tau aggregation and tauopathies. To understand the function, it is essential to characterize the structural changes associated with Tau modification. Previous experimental studies have focused on high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to structurally characterize the effect of phosphorylation, O-GlcNAcylation, and combination of both PTMs on Tau conformation in small peptides centered on the PHF-1 epitope from amino acid 392 to 411. The structural characterization using atomistic molecular dynamics simulation of such disordered peptides requires long simulation time, proper sampling method, and utilization of appropriate force fields for accurate determination of conformational ensembles, resembling the experimental data. This chapter details the protocol for the structural characterization of modified Tau peptides using the CHARMM36m force field and enhanced sampling methods like Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) simulation. We have focused on a detailed explanation of the GaMD method and analyses of molecular dynamics trajectories to explain the relationship between two modifications, phospho- and glyco-, at C-terminus of Tau protein and its stable conformation over the longer simulation timeframes. The analyses involve energetics reweighting, clustering of simulation trajectories, and characterization of secondary structure using circular dichroism data from the simulation. The reader can utilize this protocol to investigate the structures of complex proteins, especially the disordered ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tabassum Khair Barbhuiya
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Faculty of Science, Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Cancer and Ageing Research Program, Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia
| | - Dulari K Jayarathna
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Faculty of Science, Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Raechelle Gilmour
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Faculty of Science, Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Caroline Smet-Nocca
- University of Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, Institut Pasteur de Lille, U1167 - RID-AGE - Risk Factors and Molecular Determinants of Aging-Related Diseases, Lille, France
- CNRS EMR9002 Integrative Structural Biology, Lille, France
| | - Neha S Gandhi
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Faculty of Science, Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
- Cancer and Ageing Research Program, Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
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9
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Do HN, Wang J, Miao Y. Deep Learning Dynamic Allostery of G-Protein-Coupled Receptors. JACS AU 2023; 3:3165-3180. [PMID: 38034960 PMCID: PMC10685416 DOI: 10.1021/jacsau.3c00503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) make up the largest superfamily of human membrane proteins and represent primary targets of ∼1/3 of currently marketed drugs. Allosteric modulators have emerged as more selective drug candidates compared with orthosteric agonists and antagonists. However, many X-ray and cryo-EM structures of GPCRs resolved so far exhibit negligible differences upon the binding of positive and negative allosteric modulators (PAMs and NAMs). The mechanism of dynamic allosteric modulation in GPCRs remains unclear. In this work, we have systematically mapped dynamic changes in free energy landscapes of GPCRs upon binding of allosteric modulators using the Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD), deep learning (DL), and free energy prOfiling Workflow (GLOW). GaMD simulations were performed for a total of 66 μs on 44 GPCR systems in the presence and absence of the modulator. DL and free energy calculations revealed significantly reduced dynamic fluctuations and conformational space of GPCRs upon modulator binding. While the modulator-free GPCRs often sampled multiple low-energy conformational states, the NAMs and PAMs confined the inactive and active agonist-G-protein-bound GPCRs, respectively, to mostly only one specific conformation for signaling. Such cooperative effects were significantly reduced for binding of the selective modulators to "non-cognate" receptor subtypes. Therefore, GPCR allostery exhibits a dynamic "conformational selection" mechanism. In the absence of available modulator-bound structures as for most current GPCRs, it is critical to use a structural ensemble of representative GPCR conformations rather than a single structure for compound docking ("ensemble docking"), which will potentially improve structure-based design of novel allosteric drugs of GPCRs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jinan Wang
- Computational Biology Program
and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047, United States
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10
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Hasse T, Zhang Z, Huang YMM. Molecular dynamics study reveals key disruptors of MEIG1-PACRG interaction. Proteins 2023; 91:555-566. [PMID: 36444670 PMCID: PMC10374433 DOI: 10.1002/prot.26449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Interactions between the meiosis-expressed gene 1 (MEIG1) and Parkin co-regulated gene (PACRG) protein are critical in the formation of mature sperm cells. Targeting either MEIG1 or PACRG protein could be a contraceptive strategy. The W50A and Y68A mutations on MEIG1 are known to interrupt the MEIG1-PACRG interactions resulting in defective sperm cells. However, the details about how the mutants disrupt the protein-protein binding are not clear. In this study, we reveal insights on MEIG1 and PACRG protein dynamics by applying Gaussian-accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) simulations and post-GaMD analysis. Our results show that the mutations destabilize the protein-protein interfacial interaction. The effect of the Y68A mutation is more significant than W50A as Y68 forms stronger polar interactions with PACRG. Because both human and mouse models demonstrate similar dynamic properties, the findings from mouse proteins can be applied to the human system. Moreover, we report a potential ligand binding pocket on the MEIG1 and PACRG interaction surface that could be a target for future drug design to inhibit the MEIG1-PACRG interaction. PACRG shows more qualified pockets along the protein-protein interface, implying that it is a better target than MEIG1. Our work provides a fundamental understanding of MEIG1 and PACRG protein dynamics, paving the way for drug discovery in male-based contraception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy Hasse
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA
| | - Zhibing Zhang
- Department of Physiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, USA.,Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA
| | - Yu-Ming M Huang
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA
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11
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Wang J, Do HN, Koirala K, Miao Y. Predicting Biomolecular Binding Kinetics: A Review. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:2135-2148. [PMID: 36989090 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c01085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
Abstract
Biomolecular binding kinetics including the association (kon) and dissociation (koff) rates are critical parameters for therapeutic design of small-molecule drugs, peptides, and antibodies. Notably, the drug molecule residence time or dissociation rate has been shown to correlate with their efficacies better than binding affinities. A wide range of modeling approaches including quantitative structure-kinetic relationship models, Molecular Dynamics simulations, enhanced sampling, and Machine Learning has been developed to explore biomolecular binding and dissociation mechanisms and predict binding kinetic rates. Here, we review recent advances in computational modeling of biomolecular binding kinetics, with an outlook for future improvements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinan Wang
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047, United States
| | - Hung N Do
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047, United States
| | - Kushal Koirala
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047, United States
| | - Yinglong Miao
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047, United States
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12
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Do H, Wang J, Miao Y. Deep Learning Dynamic Allostery of G-Protein-Coupled Receptors. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-2543463. [PMID: 36865316 PMCID: PMC9980202 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2543463/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/22/2023]
Abstract
G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest superfamily of human membrane proteins and represent primary targets of ~ 1/3 of currently marketed drugs. Allosteric modulators have emerged as more selective drug candidates compared with orthosteric agonists and antagonists. However, many X-ray and cryo-EM structures of GPCRs resolved so far exhibit negligible differences upon binding of positive and negative allosteric modulators (PAMs and NAMs). Mechanism of dynamic allosteric modulation in GPCRs remains unclear. In this work, we have systematically mapped dynamic changes in free energy landscapes of GPCRs upon binding of allosteric modulators using the Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD), Deep Learning (DL) and free energy prOfiling Workflow (GLOW). A total of 18 available high-resolution experimental structures of allosteric modulator-bound class A and B GPCRs were collected for simulations. A number of 8 computational models were generated to examine selectivity of the modulators by changing their target receptors to different subtypes. All-atom GaMD simulations were performed for a total of 66 μs on 44 GPCR systems in the presence/absence of the modulator. DL and free energy calculations revealed significantly reduced conformational space of GPCRs upon modulator binding. While the modulator-free GPCRs often sampled multiple low-energy conformational states, the NAMs and PAMs confined the inactive and active agonist-G protein-bound GPCRs, respectively, to mostly only one specific conformation for signaling. Such cooperative effects were significantly reduced for binding of the selective modulators to "non-cognate" receptor subtypes in the computational models. Therefore, comprehensive DL of extensive GaMD simulations has revealed a general dynamic mechanism of GPCR allostery, which will greatly facilitate rational design of selective allosteric drugs of GPCRs.
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13
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Do HN, Wang J, Miao Y. Deep Learning Dynamic Allostery of G-Protein-Coupled Receptors. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.01.15.524128. [PMID: 36711515 PMCID: PMC9882226 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.15.524128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest superfamily of human membrane proteins and represent primary targets of ~1/3 of currently marketed drugs. Allosteric modulators have emerged as more selective drug candidates compared with orthosteric agonists and antagonists. However, many X-ray and cryo-EM structures of GPCRs resolved so far exhibit negligible differences upon binding of positive and negative allosteric modulators (PAMs and NAMs). Mechanism of dynamic allosteric modulation in GPCRs remains unclear. In this work, we have systematically mapped dynamic changes in free energy landscapes of GPCRs upon binding of allosteric modulators using the Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD), Deep Learning (DL) and free energy prOfiling Workflow (GLOW). A total of 18 available high-resolution experimental structures of allosteric modulator-bound class A and B GPCRs were collected for simulations. A number of 8 computational models were generated to examine selectivity of the modulators by changing their target receptors to different subtypes. All-atom GaMD simulations were performed for a total of 66 μs on 44 GPCR systems in the presence/absence of the modulator. DL and free energy calculations revealed significantly reduced conformational space of GPCRs upon modulator binding. While the modulator-free GPCRs often sampled multiple low-energy conformational states, the NAMs and PAMs confined the inactive and active agonist-G protein-bound GPCRs, respectively, to mostly only one specific conformation for signaling. Such cooperative effects were significantly reduced for binding of the selective modulators to "non-cognate" receptor subtypes in the computational models. Therefore, comprehensive DL of extensive GaMD simulations has revealed a general dynamic mechanism of GPCR allostery, which will greatly facilitate rational design of selective allosteric drugs of GPCRs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hung N. Do
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047
| | - Jinan Wang
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047
| | - Yinglong Miao
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047
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14
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Zang Y, Wang H, Kang Y, Zhang J, Li X, Zhang L, Yang Z, Zhang S. TAB1 binding induced p38α conformation change: an accelerated molecular dynamics simulation study. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:10506-10513. [PMID: 35441632 DOI: 10.1039/d2cp00144f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
p38α mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) undergoes autophosphorylation induced by the binding of TGFβ-activated kinase 1 binding protein 1 (TAB1) in myocardial ischemia. Investigation of the conformational transformations in p38α triggered by TAB1 binding is motivated by the need to find selective p38α activation inhibitors to treat myocardial ischemia. Herein, the conformational transformations of p38α were studied via all-atom accelerated molecular dynamics simulations and principal component analysis. With the binding of TAB1, the conformational changes of p38α auto-activation were characterized by the movement of the activation loop (A-loop) away from the αG helix toward the αF, αE helixes and L16-loop. In addition, a diverse intermediate state with an extensional and phosphorylated A-loop different from the transition intermediate state was explored. The conformational changes, including the A-loop alpha-structure breaking and the stronger hydrogen bond network formation, are accompanied by the extension of the A-loop and more intramolecular interactions in p38α. TAB1 correlates with other regions of p38α that are distal from the TAB1-binding site, including the A-loop, αC helix, and L16-loop, which regulates the intramolecular correlation of p38α. And, the phosphorylation further enhances the correlations between the A-loop and the other regions of p38α. The correlation results imply the regulation process of p38α conformational transformations. These findings will improve our understanding of the autophosphorylation of kinase and facilitate the development of selective inhibitors for the treatment of ischemic injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongjian Zang
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
| | - He Wang
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
| | - Ying Kang
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
| | - Jianwen Zhang
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
| | - Xuhua Li
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
| | - Lei Zhang
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
| | - Zhiwei Yang
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
| | - Shengli Zhang
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
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15
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Chen G, Xu J, Inoue A, Schmidt MF, Bai C, Lu Q, Gmeiner P, Liu Z, Du Y. Activation and allosteric regulation of the orphan GPR88-Gi1 signaling complex. Nat Commun 2022; 13:2375. [PMID: 35501348 PMCID: PMC9061749 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30081-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractGPR88 is an orphan class A G-protein-coupled receptor that is highly expressed in the striatum and regulates diverse brain and behavioral functions. Here we present cryo-EM structures of the human GPR88-Gi1 signaling complex with or without a synthetic agonist (1R, 2R)-2-PCCA. We show that (1R, 2R)-2-PCCA is an allosteric modulator binding to a herein identified pocket formed by the cytoplasmic ends of transmembrane segments 5, 6, and the extreme C terminus of the α5 helix of Gi1. We also identify an electron density in the extracellular orthosteric site that may represent a putative endogenous ligand of GPR88. These structures, together with mutagenesis studies and an inactive state model obtained from metadynamics simulations, reveal a unique activation mechanism for GPR88 with a set of distinctive structure features and a water-mediated polar network. Overall, our results provide a structural framework for understanding the ligand binding, activation and signaling mechanism of GPR88, and will facilitate the innovative drug discovery for neuropsychiatric disorders and for deorphanization of this receptor.
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16
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Zhang F, Yuan Y, Chen Y, Chen J, Guo Y, Pu X. Molecular insights into the allosteric coupling mechanism between an agonist and two different transducers for μ-opioid receptors. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:5282-5293. [PMID: 35170592 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp05736g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) as the most important class of pharmacological targets regulate G-protein and β-arrestin-mediated signaling through allosteric interplay, which are responsible for different biochemical and physiological actions like therapeutic efficacy and side effects. However, the allosteric mechanism underlying preferentially recruiting one transducer versus the other has been poorly understood, limiting drug design. Motivated by this issue, we utilize accelerated molecular dynamics simulation coupled with potential of mean force (PMF), molecular mechanics Poisson Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) and protein structure network (PSN) to study two ternary complex systems of a representative class A GPCR (μ-opioid receptor (μOR)) bound by an agonist and one specific transducer (G-protein and β-arrestin). The results show that no significant difference exists in the whole structure of μOR between two transducer couplings, but displays transducer-dependent changes in the intracellular binding region of μOR, where the β-arrestin coupling results in a narrower crevice with TM7 inward movement compared with the G-protein. In addition, both the G-protein and β-arrestin coupling can increase the binding affinity of the agonist to the receptor. However, the interactions between the agonist and μOR also exhibit transducer-specific changes, in particular for the interaction with ECL2 that plays an important role in recruiting β-arrestin. The allosteric network analysis further indicates that Y1483.33, F1523.37, F1563.41, N1914.49, T1603.45, Y1062.42, W2936.48, F2896.44, I2485.54 and Y2525.58 play important roles in equally activating G-protein and β-arrestin. In contrast, M1613.46 and R1653.50 devote important contributions to preferentially recruit G-protein while D1643.49 and R179ICL2 are revealed to be important for selectively activating β-arrestin. The observations provide useful information for understanding the biased activation mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fuhui Zhang
- Faculty of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
| | - Yuan Yuan
- College of Management, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of China
| | - Yichi Chen
- Faculty of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
| | - Jianfang Chen
- Faculty of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
| | - Yanzhi Guo
- Faculty of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
| | - Xuemei Pu
- Faculty of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
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17
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Do HN, Haldane A, Levy RM, Miao Y. Unique features of different classes of G-protein-coupled receptors revealed from sequence coevolutionary and structural analysis. Proteins 2022; 90:601-614. [PMID: 34599827 PMCID: PMC8738117 DOI: 10.1002/prot.26256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of human membrane proteins and represent the primary targets of about one third of currently marketed drugs. Despite the critical importance, experimental structures have been determined for only a limited portion of GPCRs and functional mechanisms of GPCRs remain poorly understood. Here, we have constructed novel sequence coevolutionary models of the A and B classes of GPCRs and compared them with residue contact frequency maps generated with available experimental structures. Significant portions of structural residue contacts were successfully detected in the sequence-based covariational models. "Exception" residue contacts predicted from sequence coevolutionary models but not available structures added missing links that were important for GPCR activation and allosteric modulation. Moreover, we identified distinct residue contacts involving different sets of functional motifs for GPCR activation, such as the Na+ pocket, CWxP, DRY, PIF, and NPxxY motifs in the class A and the HETx and PxxG motifs in the class B. Finally, we systematically uncovered critical residue contacts tuned by allosteric modulation in the two classes of GPCRs, including those from the activation motifs and particularly the extracellular and intracellular loops in class A GPCRs. These findings provide a promising framework for rational design of ligands to regulate GPCR activation and allosteric modulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hung N Do
- The Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047
| | - Allan Haldane
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, Institute for Computational Molecular Science, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122,Corresponding authors: and
| | - Ronald M Levy
- Department of Chemistry, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, Institute for Computational Molecular Science, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
| | - Yinglong Miao
- The Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66047,Corresponding authors: and
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18
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Pawnikar S, Bhattarai A, Wang J, Miao Y. Binding Analysis Using Accelerated Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Future Perspectives. Adv Appl Bioinform Chem 2022; 15:1-19. [PMID: 35023931 PMCID: PMC8747661 DOI: 10.2147/aabc.s247950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2020] [Accepted: 02/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Biomolecular recognition such as binding of small molecules, nucleic acids, peptides and proteins to their target receptors plays key roles in cellular function and has been targeted for therapeutic drug design. Molecular dynamics (MD) is a computational approach to analyze these binding processes at an atomistic level, which provides valuable understandings of the mechanisms of biomolecular recognition. However, the rather slow biomolecular binding events often present challenges for conventional MD (cMD), due to limited simulation timescales (typically over hundreds of nanoseconds to tens of microseconds). In this regard, enhanced sampling methods, particularly accelerated MD (aMD), have proven useful to bridge the gap and enable all-atom simulations of biomolecular binding events. Here, we will review the recent method developments of Gaussian aMD (GaMD), ligand GaMD (LiGaMD) and peptide GaMD (Pep-GaMD), which have greatly expanded our capabilities to simulate biomolecular binding processes. Spontaneous binding of various biomolecules to their receptors has been successfully simulated by GaMD. Microsecond LiGaMD and Pep-GaMD simulations have captured repetitive binding and dissociation of small-molecule ligands and highly flexible peptides, and thus enabled ligand/peptide binding thermodynamics and kinetics calculations. We will also present relevant application studies in simulations of important drug targets and future perspectives for rational computer-aided drug design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shristi Pawnikar
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66047, USA
| | - Apurba Bhattarai
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66047, USA
| | - Jinan Wang
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66047, USA
| | - Yinglong Miao
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66047, USA
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19
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Challenges and frontiers of computational modelling of biomolecular recognition. QRB DISCOVERY 2022. [DOI: 10.1017/qrd.2022.11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Biomolecular recognition including binding of small molecules, peptides and proteins to their target receptors plays a key role in cellular function and has been targeted for therapeutic drug design. However, the high flexibility of biomolecules and slow binding and dissociation processes have presented challenges for computational modelling. Here, we review the challenges and computational approaches developed to characterise biomolecular binding, including molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations (especially enhanced sampling) and machine learning. Further improvements are still needed in order to accurately and efficiently characterise binding structures, mechanisms, thermodynamics and kinetics of biomolecules in the future.
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20
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Wang J, Arantes PR, Bhattarai A, Hsu RV, Pawnikar S, Huang YMM, Palermo G, Miao Y. Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD): principles and applications. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COMPUTATIONAL MOLECULAR SCIENCE 2021; 11:e1521. [PMID: 34899998 PMCID: PMC8658739 DOI: 10.1002/wcms.1521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 31.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2020] [Accepted: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD) is a robust computational method for simultaneous unconstrained enhanced sampling and free energy calculations of biomolecules. It works by adding a harmonic boost potential to smooth biomolecular potential energy surface and reduce energy barriers. GaMD greatly accelerates biomolecular simulations by orders of magnitude. Without the need to set predefined reaction coordinates or collective variables, GaMD provides unconstrained enhanced sampling and is advantageous for simulating complex biological processes. The GaMD boost potential exhibits a Gaussian distribution, thereby allowing for energetic reweighting via cumulant expansion to the second order (i.e., "Gaussian approximation"). This leads to accurate reconstruction of free energy landscapes of biomolecules. Hybrid schemes with other enhanced sampling methods, such as the replica exchange GaMD (rex-GaMD) and replica exchange umbrella sampling GaMD (GaREUS), have also been introduced, further improving sampling and free energy calculations. Recently, new "selective GaMD" algorithms including the ligand GaMD (LiGaMD) and peptide GaMD (Pep-GaMD) enabled microsecond simulations to capture repetitive dissociation and binding of small-molecule ligands and highly flexible peptides. The simulations then allowed highly efficient quantitative characterization of the ligand/peptide binding thermodynamics and kinetics. Taken together, GaMD and its innovative variants are applicable to simulate a wide variety of biomolecular dynamics, including protein folding, conformational changes and allostery, ligand binding, peptide binding, protein-protein/nucleic acid/carbohydrate interactions, and carbohydrate/nucleic acid interactions. In this review, we present principles of the GaMD algorithms and recent applications in biomolecular simulations and drug design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinan Wang
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, 2030 Becker Dr., Lawrence, KS, 66047, United States
| | - Pablo R Arantes
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92512, United States
| | - Apurba Bhattarai
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, 2030 Becker Dr, Lawrence, KS, 66047, United States
| | - Rohaine V Hsu
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92512, United States
| | - Shristi Pawnikar
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, 2030 Becker Dr., Lawrence, KS, 66047, United States
| | - Yu-Ming M Huang
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Wayne State University, 666 W Hancock St, Detroit, MI 48207, USA
| | - Giulia Palermo
- Department of Bioengineering and Department of Chemistry, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92512, United States
| | - Yinglong Miao
- Center for Computational Biology and Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Kansas, 2030 Becker Dr., Lawrence, Kansas 66047, United States
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21
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van Aalst E, Koneri J, Wylie BJ. In Silico Identification of Cholesterol Binding Motifs in the Chemokine Receptor CCR3. MEMBRANES 2021; 11:570. [PMID: 34436333 PMCID: PMC8401243 DOI: 10.3390/membranes11080570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2021] [Revised: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
CC motif chemokine receptor 3 (CCR3) is a Class A G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) mainly responsible for the cellular trafficking of eosinophils. As such, it plays key roles in inflammatory conditions, such as asthma and arthritis, and the metastasis of many deadly forms of cancer. However, little is known about how CCR3 functionally interacts with its bilayer environment. Here, we investigate cholesterol binding sites in silico through Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Pylipid analysis using an extensively validated homology model based on the crystal structure of CCR5. These simulations identified several cholesterol binding sites containing Cholesterol Recognition/Interaction Amino Acid Consensus motif (CRAC) and its inversion CARC motifs in CCR3. One such site, a CARC site in TM1, in conjunction with aliphatic residues in TM7, emerged as a candidate for future investigation based on the cholesterol residency time within the binding pocket. This site forms the core of a cholesterol binding site previously observed in computational studies of CCR2 and CCR5. Most importantly, these cholesterol binding sites are conserved in other chemokine receptors and may provide clues to cholesterol regulation mechanisms in this subfamily of Class A GPCRs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Benjamin J. Wylie
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79423, USA; (E.v.A.); (J.K.)
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22
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Ecklonia cava Extract and Its Derivative Dieckol Promote Vasodilation by Modulating Calcium Signaling and PI3K/AKT/eNOS Pathway in In Vitro and In Vivo Models. Biomedicines 2021; 9:biomedicines9040438. [PMID: 33921856 PMCID: PMC8073412 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9040438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2021] [Revised: 04/14/2021] [Accepted: 04/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Nitric oxide (NO), an endothelial-derived relaxing factor synthesized by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in endothelial cells, enhances vasodilation by modulating vascular tone. The calcium concentration critically influences eNOS activation in endothelial cells. Thus, modulation of calcium-dependent signaling pathways may be a potential therapeutic strategy to enhance vasodilation. Marine algae reportedly possess protective effects against cardiovascular disorders, including hypertension and vascular dysfunction; however, the underlying molecular signaling pathways remain elusive. In the present study, we extracted and isolated dieckol from Ecklonia cava and investigated calcium transit-enhanced vasodilation. Calcium modulation via the well-known M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (AchM3R), which is linked to NO formation, was investigated and the vasodilatory effect of dieckol was verified. Our results indicated that dieckol effectively promoted NO generation via the PI3K/Akt/eNOS axis and calcium transients influenced by AchM3R. We also treated Tg(flk: EGFP) transgenic zebrafish with dieckol to assess its vasodilatory effect. Dieckol promoted vasodilation by enlarging the dorsal aorta diameter, thus regulating blood flow velocity. In conclusion, our findings suggest that dieckol modulates calcium transit through AchM3R, increases endothelial-dependent NO production, and efficiently enhances vasodilation. Thus, E. cava and its derivative, dieckol, can be considered as potential natural vasodilators.
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23
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Deciphering collaborative sidechain motions in proteins during molecular dynamics simulations. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15901. [PMID: 32985550 PMCID: PMC7522237 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-72766-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2020] [Accepted: 06/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The dynamic structure of proteins is essential for their functions and may include large conformational transitions which can be studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. However, details of these transitions are difficult to automatically track. To facilitate their analysis, we developed two scores of correlation between sidechain dihedral angles. The CIRCULAR and OMES scores are computed from, respectively, dihedral angle values and rotamer distributions. As a case study, we applied our methods to an activation-like transition of the chemokine receptor CXCR4, observed during accelerated MD simulations. The principal component analysis of the correlation matrices was consistent with the networking structure of the top ranking pairs. Both scores identify a set of residues whose “collaborative” sidechain rotamerization immediately preceded or accompanied the conformational transition of CXCR4. Detailed analysis of the sequential order of these rotamerizations suggests that an allosteric mechanism, involving the outward motion of an asparagine residue in transmembrane helix 3, might be a prerequisite to the large scale conformational transition of CXCR4. This case study provides the proof-of-concept that the correlation methods developed here are valuable exploratory techniques to help decipher complex reactional pathways.
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24
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Sodium ions allosterically modulate the M2 muscarinic receptor. Sci Rep 2020; 10:11177. [PMID: 32636499 PMCID: PMC7341750 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68133-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) play a key role in the vast majority of cellular signal transduction processes. Previous experimental evidence has shown that sodium ion (Na+) allosterically modulate several class A GPCRs and theoretical studies suggested that the same also holds true for muscarinic receptors. Here we examined, using Xenopus oocytes as an expression system, the effect of Na+ on a prototypical GPCR, the M2 muscarinic receptor (M2R). We found that removal of extracellular Na+ resulted in a decrease in the potency of ACh toward the M2R and that a conserved aspartate in transmembrane domain 2 is crucial for this effect. We further show that this allosteric effect of Na+ does not underlie the voltage-dependence of this receptor.
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25
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Chan HC, Xu Y, Tan L, Vogel H, Cheng J, Wu D, Yuan S. Enhancing the Signaling of GPCRs via Orthosteric Ions. ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE 2020; 6:274-282. [PMID: 32123746 PMCID: PMC7047428 DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.9b01247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
G protein-coupled receptors play essential roles in cellular processes such as neuronal signaling, vision, olfaction, tasting, and metabolism. As GPCRs are the most important drug targets, understanding their interactions with ligands is of utmost importance for discovering related new medicines. In many GPCRs, an allosteric sodium ion next to the highly conserved residue D2.50 has been proposed to stabilize the inactive receptor state by mediating interactions between transmembrane helices. Here, we probed the existence of internal and functionally important sodium ions in the dopamine D2 receptor, using molecular dynamics simulations. Besides a new sodium ion at the allosteric ligand binding site, we discovered an additional sodium ion, located close to the orthosteric ligand binding site. Through cell-based activation assays, the signaling of D2 receptor with site-specific mutations was tested against a series of chemically modified agonists. We concluded an important structural role of this newly discovered orthosteric sodium ion in modulating the receptor signaling: It enables the coordination of a polar residue in the ligand binding site with an appropriately designed agonist molecule. An identical interaction was also observed in a recently released high-resolution crystal structure of mu-opioid receptor, which was reresolved in this work. Probably because of similar interactions, various metal ions have been found to increase the signaling of many other GPCRs. This unique principle and strategy could be used to optimize the drug activity of GPCR. Our findings open a new mechanistic opportunity of GPCR signaling and help design the next generation of drugs targeting GPCRs.
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Affiliation(s)
- H. C.
Stephen Chan
- Shenzhen
Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Yueming Xu
- iHuman
Institute, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
| | - Liang Tan
- iHuman
Institute, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
| | - Horst Vogel
- Shenzhen
Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
- Institute
of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Ecole
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Jianjun Cheng
- iHuman
Institute, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
- E-mail:
| | - Dong Wu
- iHuman
Institute, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
- E-mail:
| | - Shuguang Yuan
- Shenzhen
Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
- E-mail:
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26
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Isawi IH, Morales P, Sotudeh N, Hurst DP, Lynch DL, Reggio PH. GPR6 Structural Insights: Homology Model Construction and Docking Studies. Molecules 2020; 25:molecules25030725. [PMID: 32046081 PMCID: PMC7037797 DOI: 10.3390/molecules25030725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2019] [Revised: 02/01/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
GPR6 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor that has been associated with the cannabinoid family because of its recognition of a sub-set of cannabinoid ligands. The high abundance of GPR6 in the central nervous system, along with high constitutive activity and a link to several neurodegenerative diseases make GPR6 a promising biological target. In fact, diverse research groups have demonstrated that GPR6 represents a possible target for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington's disease. Several patents have claimed the use of a wide range of pyrazine derivatives as GPR6 inverse agonists for the treatment of Parkinson's disease symptoms and other dyskinesia syndromes. However, the full pharmacological importance of GPR6 has not yet been fully explored due to the lack of high potency, readily available ligands targeting GPR6. The long-term goal of the present study is to develop such ligands. In this paper, we describe our initial steps towards this goal. A human GPR6 homology model was constructed using a suite of computational techniques. This model permitted the identification of unique GPR6 structural features and the exploration of the GPR6 binding crevice. A subset of patented pyrazine analogs were docked in the resultant GPR6 inactive state model to validate the model, rationalize the structure-activity relationships from the reported patents and identify the key residues in the binding crevice for ligand recognition. We will take this structural knowledge into the next phase of GPR6 project, in which scaffold hopping will be used to design new GPR6 ligands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Israa H. Isawi
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (I.H.I.); (D.P.H.); (D.L.L.)
| | - Paula Morales
- Instituto de Química Medica (IQM-CSIC), C/Juan de la Cierva 3, 28006 Madrid, Spain;
| | - Noori Sotudeh
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA;
| | - Dow P. Hurst
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (I.H.I.); (D.P.H.); (D.L.L.)
| | - Diane L. Lynch
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (I.H.I.); (D.P.H.); (D.L.L.)
| | - Patricia H. Reggio
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (I.H.I.); (D.P.H.); (D.L.L.)
- Correspondence:
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27
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Shen L, Yuan Y, Guo Y, Li M, Li C, Pu X. Probing the Druggablility on the Interface of the Protein-Protein Interaction and Its Allosteric Regulation Mechanism on the Drug Screening for the CXCR4 Homodimer. Front Pharmacol 2019; 10:1310. [PMID: 31787895 PMCID: PMC6855241 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2019.01310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2019] [Accepted: 10/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Modulating protein–protein interactions (PPIs) with small drug-like molecules targeting it exhibits great promise in modern drug discovery. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of targeted proteins and could form dimers in living biological cells through PPIs. However, compared to drug development of the orthosteric site, there has been lack of investigations on the druggability of the PPI interface for GPCRs and its functional implication on experiments. Thus, in order to address these issues, we constructed a novel computational strategy, which involved in molecular dynamics simulation, virtual screening and protein structure network (PSN), to study one representative GPCR homodimer (CXCR4). One druggable pocket was identified in the PPI interface and one small molecule targeting it was screened, which could strengthen PPI mainly through hydrophobic interaction between the benzene rings of the PPI molecule and TM4 of the receptor. The PSN results further reveals that the PPI molecule could increase the number of the allosteric regulation pathways between the druggable pocket of the dimer interface to the orthostatic site for the subunit A but only play minor role for the other subunit B, leading to the asymmetric change in the volume of the binding pockets for the two subunits (increase for the subunit A and minor change for the subunit B). Consequently, the screening performance of the subunit A to the antagonists is enhanced while the subunit B is unchanged nearly, implying that the PPI molecule may be beneficial to enhance the drug efficacies of the antagonists. In addition, one main regulation pathway with the highest frequency was identified for the subunit A, which consists of Trp1955.34–Tyr190ECL2–Val1965.35–Gln2005.39–Asp2626.58–Cys28N-term, revealing their importance in the allosteric regulation from the PPI molecule. The observations from the work could provide valuable information for the development of the PPI drug-like molecule for GPCRs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liting Shen
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yuan Yuan
- College of Management, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, China
| | - Yanzhi Guo
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Menglong Li
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Chuan Li
- College of Computer Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xuemei Pu
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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Zarzycka B, Zaidi SA, Roth BL, Katritch V. Harnessing Ion-Binding Sites for GPCR Pharmacology. Pharmacol Rev 2019; 71:571-595. [PMID: 31551350 PMCID: PMC6782022 DOI: 10.1124/pr.119.017863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Endogenous ions play important roles in the function and pharmacology of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Historically the evidence for ionic modulation of GPCR function dates to 1973 with studies of opioid receptors, where it was demonstrated that physiologic concentrations of sodium allosterically attenuated agonist binding. This Na+-selective effect was distinct from effects of other monovalent and divalent cations, with the latter usually counteracting sodium's negative allosteric modulation of binding. Since then, numerous studies documenting the effects of mono- and divalent ions on GPCR function have been published. While ions can act selectively and nonselectively at many sites in different receptors, the discovery of the conserved sodium ion site in class A GPCR structures in 2012 revealed the unique nature of Na+ site, which has emerged as a near-universal site for allosteric modulation of class A GPCR structure and function. In this review, we synthesize and highlight recent advances in the functional, biophysical, and structural characterization of ions bound to GPCRs. Taken together, these findings provide a molecular understanding of the unique roles of Na+ and other ions as GPCR allosteric modulators. We will also discuss how this knowledge can be applied to the redesign of receptors and ligand probes for desired functional and pharmacological profiles. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The function and pharmacology of GPCRs strongly depend on the presence of mono and divalent ions in experimental assays and in living organisms. Recent insights into the molecular mechanism of this ion-dependent allosterism from structural, biophysical, biochemical, and computational studies provide quantitative understandings of the pharmacological effects of drugs in vitro and in vivo and open new avenues for the rational design of chemical probes and drug candidates with improved properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Zarzycka
- Departments of Biological Sciences (B.Z., S.A.Z., V.K.) and Chemistry (V.K.), Bridge Institute, Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; and Department of Pharmacology (B.L.R.) and Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Eshelman School of Pharmacy (B.L.R.), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
| | - Saheem A Zaidi
- Departments of Biological Sciences (B.Z., S.A.Z., V.K.) and Chemistry (V.K.), Bridge Institute, Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; and Department of Pharmacology (B.L.R.) and Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Eshelman School of Pharmacy (B.L.R.), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
| | - Bryan L Roth
- Departments of Biological Sciences (B.Z., S.A.Z., V.K.) and Chemistry (V.K.), Bridge Institute, Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; and Department of Pharmacology (B.L.R.) and Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Eshelman School of Pharmacy (B.L.R.), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
| | - Vsevolod Katritch
- Departments of Biological Sciences (B.Z., S.A.Z., V.K.) and Chemistry (V.K.), Bridge Institute, Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; and Department of Pharmacology (B.L.R.) and Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Eshelman School of Pharmacy (B.L.R.), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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Ryazantsev MN, Nikolaev DM, Struts AV, Brown MF. Quantum Mechanical and Molecular Mechanics Modeling of Membrane-Embedded Rhodopsins. J Membr Biol 2019; 252:425-449. [PMID: 31570961 DOI: 10.1007/s00232-019-00095-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2019] [Accepted: 09/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Computational chemistry provides versatile methods for studying the properties and functioning of biological systems at different levels of precision and at different time scales. The aim of this article is to review the computational methodologies that are applicable to rhodopsins as archetypes for photoactive membrane proteins that are of great importance both in nature and in modern technologies. For each class of computational techniques, from methods that use quantum mechanics for simulating rhodopsin photophysics to less-accurate coarse-grained methodologies used for long-scale protein dynamics, we consider possible applications and the main directions for improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikhail N Ryazantsev
- Institute of Chemistry, Saint Petersburg State University, 26 Universitetskii pr, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 198504
| | - Dmitrii M Nikolaev
- Saint-Petersburg Academic University - Nanotechnology Research and Education Centre RAS, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 194021
| | - Andrey V Struts
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Laboratory of Biomolecular NMR, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 199034
| | - Michael F Brown
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. .,Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
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30
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Massink A, Amelia T, Karamychev A, IJzerman AP. Allosteric modulation of G protein-coupled receptors by amiloride and its derivatives. Perspectives for drug discovery? Med Res Rev 2019; 40:683-708. [PMID: 31495942 PMCID: PMC7028016 DOI: 10.1002/med.21633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2019] [Revised: 07/22/2019] [Accepted: 08/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The function of G protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs) can be modulated by compounds that bind to other sites than the endogenous orthosteric binding site, so‐called allosteric sites. Structure elucidation of a number of GPCRs has revealed the presence of a sodium ion bound in a conserved allosteric site. The small molecule amiloride and analogs thereof have been proposed to bind in this same sodium ion site. Hence, this review seeks to summarize and reflect on the current knowledge of allosteric effects by amiloride and its analogs on GPCRs. Amiloride is known to modulate adenosine, adrenergic, dopamine, chemokine, muscarinic, serotonin, gonadotropin‐releasing hormone, GABAB, and taste receptors. Amiloride analogs with lipophilic substituents tend to be more potent modulators than amiloride itself. Adenosine, α‐adrenergic and dopamine receptors are most strongly modulated by amiloride analogs. In addition, for a few GPCRs, more than one binding site for amiloride has been postulated. Interestingly, the nature of the allosteric effect of amiloride and derivatives varies considerably between GPCRs, with both negative and positive allosteric modulation occurring. Since the sodium ion binding site is strongly conserved among class A GPCRs it is to be expected that amiloride also binds to class A GPCRs not evaluated yet. Investigating this typical amiloride‐GPCR interaction further may yield general insight in the allosteric mechanisms of GPCR ligand binding and function, and possibly provide new opportunities for drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnault Massink
- Division of Drug Discovery and Safety, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Tasia Amelia
- Division of Drug Discovery and Safety, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Alex Karamychev
- Division of Drug Discovery and Safety, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Adriaan P IJzerman
- Division of Drug Discovery and Safety, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
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31
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Sotudeh N, Morales P, Hurst DP, Lynch DL, Reggio PH. Towards A Molecular Understanding of The Cannabinoid Related Orphan Receptor GPR18: A Focus on Its Constitutive Activity. Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:E2300. [PMID: 31075933 PMCID: PMC6539512 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20092300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2019] [Revised: 05/07/2019] [Accepted: 05/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The orphan G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR), GPR18, has been recently proposed as a potential member of the cannabinoid family as it recognizes several endogenous, phytogenic, and synthetic cannabinoids. Potential therapeutic applications for GPR18 include intraocular pressure, metabolic disorders, and cancer. GPR18 has been reported to have high constitutive activity, i.e., activation/signaling occurs in the absence of an agonist. This activity can be reduced significantly by the A3.39N mutation. At the intracellular (IC) ends of (transmembrane helices) TMH3 and TMH6 in GPCRs, typically, a pair of oppositely charged amino acids form a salt bridge called the "ionic lock". Breaking of this salt bridge creates an IC opening for coupling with G protein. The GPR18 "ionic lock" residues (R3.50/S6.33) can form only a hydrogen bond. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that the high constitutive activity of GPR18 is due to the weakness of its "ionic lock" and that the A3.39N mutation strengthens this lock. To this end, we report molecular dynamics simulations of wild-type (WT) GPR18 and the A3.39N mutant in fully hydrated (POPC) phophatidylcholine lipid bilayers. Results suggest that in the A3.39N mutant, TMH6 rotates and brings R3.50 and S6.33 closer together, thus strengthening the GPR18 "ionic lock".
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Affiliation(s)
- Noori Sotudeh
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA.
| | - Paula Morales
- Instituto de Química Médica, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
| | - Dow P Hurst
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA.
| | - Diane L Lynch
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA.
| | - Patricia H Reggio
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA.
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Structural basis for ligand modulation of the CCR2 conformational landscape. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:8131-8136. [PMID: 30975755 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1814131116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
CC chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) is a part of the chemokine receptor family, an important class of therapeutic targets. These class A G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are involved in mammalian signaling pathways and control cell migration toward endogenous CC chemokine ligands, named for the adjacent cysteine motif on their N terminus. Chemokine receptors and their associated ligands are involved in a wide range of diseases and thus have become important drug targets. CCR2, in particular, promotes the metastasis of cancer cells and is also implicated in autoimmunity-driven type-1 diabetes, diabetic nephropathy, multiple sclerosis, asthma, atherosclerosis, neuropathic pain, and rheumatoid arthritis. Although promising, CCR2 antagonists have been largely unsuccessful to date. Here, we investigate the effect of an orthosteric and an allosteric antagonist on CCR2 dynamics by coupling long-timescale molecular dynamics simulations with Markov-state model theory. We find that the antagonists shift CCR2 into several stable inactive conformations that are distinct from the crystal structure conformation and disrupt a continuous internal water and sodium ion pathway, preventing transitions to an active-like state. Several metastable conformations present a cryptic drug-binding pocket near the allosteric site that may be amenable to targeting with small molecules. Without antagonists, the apo dynamics reveal intermediate conformations along the activation pathway that provide insight into the basal dynamics of CCR2 and may also be useful for future drug design.
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33
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Peeking at G-protein-coupled receptors through the molecular dynamics keyhole. Future Med Chem 2019; 11:599-615. [DOI: 10.4155/fmc-2018-0393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Molecular dynamics is a state of the art computational tool for the investigation of biophysics phenomenon at a molecular scale, as it enables the modeling of dynamic processes, such as conformational motions, molecular solvation and ligand binding. The recent advances in structural biology have led to a bloom in published G-protein-coupled receptor structures, representing a solid and valuable resource for molecular dynamics studies. During the last decade, indeed, a plethora of physiological and pharmacological facets of this membrane protein superfamily have been addressed by means of molecular dynamics simulations, including the activation mechanism, allosterism and, very recently, biased signaling. Here, we try to recapitulate some of the main contributions that molecular dynamics has recently produced in the field.
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Zhang F, Yuan Y, Xiang M, Guo Y, Li M, Liu Y, Pu X. Molecular Mechanism Regarding Allosteric Modulation of Ligand Binding and the Impact of Mutations on Dimerization for CCR5 Homodimer. J Chem Inf Model 2019; 59:1965-1976. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.8b00850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Fuhui Zhang
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yuan Yuan
- College of Management, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu 610041, People’s Republic of China
| | - Minghui Xiang
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yanzhi Guo
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, People’s Republic of China
| | - Menglong Li
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yijing Liu
- College of Computer Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xuemei Pu
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, People’s Republic of China
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Zhang X, Yuan Y, Wang L, Guo Y, Li M, Li C, Pu X. Use multiscale simulation to explore the effects of the homodimerizations between different conformation states on the activation and allosteric pathway for the μ-opioid receptor. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2018; 20:13485-13496. [PMID: 29726867 DOI: 10.1039/c8cp02016g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Recently, oligomers of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been an important topic in the GPCR fields. However, knowledge about their structures and activation mechanisms is very limited due to the absence of crystal structures reported. In this work, we used multiscale simulations to study the effects of homodimerization between different conformation states on their activation, dynamic behaviors, and allosteric communication pathways for μ-OR. The results indicated that the dimerization of one inactive monomer with either one inactive monomer or one active one could enhance its constitutive activation. However, the conformation state of the other protomer (e.g., active or inactive) can influence the activated extent. The dimerization between the two inactive protomers leads to a negative cooperativity for their activation, which should contribute to the asymmetric activation of GPCR dimers observed in some experiments. On the other hand, for the active monomer, its dimerization with one inactive receptor could alleviate its deactivation, whereby negative and positive cooperativities can be observed between the two subunits of the dimer, depending on the different regions. Observations from protein structure network (PSN) analysis indicated that the dimerization of one inactive monomer with one active one would cause a significant drop in the number of main pathways from the ligand binding pocket to the G-protein coupled region for the inactive protomer, while the impact is minor for the active protomer. But, for the active monomer or the inactive one, its dimerization with one inactive monomer would significantly change the types of residues participating in the pathway with the highest frequency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi Zhang
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
| | - Yuan Yuan
- College of Management, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China
| | - Longrong Wang
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
| | - Yanzhi Guo
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
| | - Menglong Li
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
| | - Chuan Li
- College of Computer Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, P. R. China.
| | - Xuemei Pu
- College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China.
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36
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Cong X, Golebiowski J. Allosteric Na +-binding site modulates CXCR4 activation. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2018; 20:24915-24920. [PMID: 30238101 DOI: 10.1039/c8cp04134b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) control most cellular communications with the environment and are the largest protein family of drug targets. As strictly regulated molecular machines, profound comprehension of their activation mechanism is expected to significantly facilitate structure-based drug design. This study provides atomistic-level description of the activation dynamics of the C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4), a class A GPCR and important drug target. Using molecular dynamics and enhanced sampling, we demonstrate how mutations and protonation of conserved residues trigger activation through microswitches at the receptor core, while sodium ion - a known allosteric modulator - inhibits it. The findings point to a conserved mechanism of activation and the allosteric modulation by sodium in the chemokine receptor family. From the technical aspect, the enhanced sampling protocol effectively samples receptor conformational changes toward activation, and differentiates three variants of the receptor by their basal activity. This work provides structural basis and a powerful in silico tool for CXCR4 agonist design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaojing Cong
- Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, Institut de Chimie de Nice UMR7272, 06108 Nice, France.
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A Computational Modeling Approach Predicts Interaction of the Antifungal Protein AFP from Aspergillus giganteus with Fungal Membranes via Its γ-Core Motif. mSphere 2018; 3:3/5/e00377-18. [PMID: 30282755 PMCID: PMC6170789 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00377-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Fungal pathogens kill more people per year globally than malaria or tuberculosis and threaten international food security through crop destruction. New sophisticated strategies to inhibit fungal growth are thus urgently needed. Among the potential candidate molecules that strongly inhibit fungal spore germination are small cationic, cysteine-stabilized proteins of the AFP family secreted by a group of filamentous Ascomycetes. Its founding member, AFP from Aspergillus giganteus, is of particular interest since it selectively inhibits the growth of filamentous fungi without affecting the viability of mammalian, plant, or bacterial cells. AFPs are also characterized by their high efficacy and stability. Thus, AFP can serve as a lead compound for the development of novel antifungals. Notably, all members of the AFP family comprise a γ-core motif which is conserved in all antimicrobial proteins from pro- and eukaryotes and known to interfere with the integrity of cytoplasmic plasma membranes. In this study, we used classical molecular dynamics simulations combined with wet laboratory experiments and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to characterize the structure and dynamical behavior of AFP isomers in solution and their interaction with fungal model membranes. We demonstrate that the γ-core motif of structurally conserved AFP is the key for its membrane interaction, thus verifying for the first time that the conserved γ-core motif of antimicrobial proteins is directly involved in protein-membrane interactions. Furthermore, molecular dynamic simulations suggested that AFP does not destroy the fungal membrane by pore formation but covers its surface in a well-defined manner, using a multistep mechanism to destroy the membranes integrity.IMPORTANCE Fungal pathogens pose a serious danger to human welfare since they kill more people per year than malaria or tuberculosis and are responsible for crop losses worldwide. The treatment of fungal infections is becoming more complicated as fungi develop resistances against commonly used fungicides. Therefore, discovery and development of novel antifungal agents are of utmost importance.
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Jiang CH, Huang CX, Chen YJ, Chuang YC, Huang BY, Yang CN. Molecular Modeling for Structural Insights Concerning the Activation Mechanisms of F1174L and R1275Q Mutations on Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase. Molecules 2018; 23:molecules23071610. [PMID: 30004444 PMCID: PMC6100628 DOI: 10.3390/molecules23071610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2018] [Revised: 06/28/2018] [Accepted: 06/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is a receptor tyrosine kinase involved in various cancers. In its basal state, the structure of ALK is in an autoinhibitory form stabilized by its A-loop, which runs from the N-lobe to the C-lobe of the kinase. Specifically, the A-loop adopts an inhibitory pose with its proximal A-loop helix (αAL-helix) to anchor the αC-helix orientation in an inactive form in the N-lobe; the distal portion of the A-loop is packed against the C-lobe to block the peptide substrate from binding. Upon phosphorylation of the first A-loop tyrosine (Y1278), the αAL-helix unfolds; the distal A-loop detaches from the C-lobe and reveals the P+1 pocket that accommodates the residues immediately after their phosphorylation, and ALK is activated accordingly. Recently, two neuroblastoma mutants, F1174L and R1275Q, have been determined to cause ALK activation without phosphorylation on Y1278. Notably, F1174 is located on the C-terminus of the αC-helix and away from the A-loop, whereas R1275 sits on the αAL-helix. In this molecular modeling study, we investigated the structural impacts of F1174L and R1275Q that lead to the gain-of-function event. Wild-type ALK and ALK with phosphorylated Y1278 were also modeled for comparison. Our modeling suggests that the replacement of F1174 with a smaller residue, namely leucine, moves the αC-helix and αAL-helix into closer contact and further distorts the distal portion of the A-loop. In wild-type ALK, R1275 assumes the dual role of maintaining the αAL-helix–αC-helix interaction in an inactive form and securing αAL-helix conformation through the D1276–R1275 interaction. Accordingly, mutating R1275 to a glutamine reorients the αC-helix to an active form and deforms the entire A-loop. In both F1174L and R1275Q mutants, the A-loop rearranges itself to expose the P+1 pocket, and kinase activity resumes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheng-Han Jiang
- Department of Life Sciences, National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
| | - Chong-Xian Huang
- Department of Life Sciences, National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
| | - Ya-Jyun Chen
- Department of Life Sciences, National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
| | - Yu-Chung Chuang
- Department of Life Sciences, National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
| | - Bo-Yen Huang
- Department of Life Sciences, National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
| | - Chia-Ning Yang
- Department of Life Sciences, National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
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De La Rosa V, Bennett AL, Ramsey IS. Coupling between an electrostatic network and the Zn 2+ binding site modulates Hv1 activation. J Gen Physiol 2018; 150:863-881. [PMID: 29743298 PMCID: PMC5987874 DOI: 10.1085/jgp.201711822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2017] [Revised: 02/15/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
The voltage sensor (VS) domain in Hv1 proton channels mediates a voltage-dependent and H+-selective "aqueous" conductance (GAQ) that is potently modulated by extracellular Zn2+ Although two conserved His residues are required for Zn2+ effects on GAQ gating, the atomic structure of the Zn2+ coordination site and mechanism by which extracellular Zn2+ stabilizes a closed-state conformation remain unknown. Here we use His mutagenesis to identify residues that increase Zn2+ potency and are therefore likely to participate in first solvation shell interactions with Zn2+ Experimental Zn2+-mapping data were then used to constrain the structure of a new resting-state Hv1 model (Hv1 F). Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations show how protein and water atoms directly contribute to octahedral Zn2+ coordination spheres in Zn2+-bound and -unbound Hv1 F models. During MD simulations, we observed correlated movements of Zn2+-interacting side chains and residues in a highly conserved intracellular Coulombic network (ICN) that contains highly conserved Arg "gating charges" in S4 as well as acidic "counter-charges" in S2 and S3 and is known to control VS activation, suggesting that occupancy of the extracellular Zn2+ site is conformationally coupled to reorganization of the ICN. To test this hypothesis, we neutralized an ICN Glu residue (E153) and show that in addition to shifting GAQ activation to more negative voltages, E153A also decreases Zn2+ potency. We speculate that extracellular gating-modifier toxins and other ligands may use a generally similar long-range conformational coupling mechanism to modulate VS activation in related ion channel proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor De La Rosa
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Medical College of Virginia Campus, Richmond, VA
| | - Ashley L Bennett
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Medical College of Virginia Campus, Richmond, VA
| | - Ian Scott Ramsey
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Medical College of Virginia Campus, Richmond, VA
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Perricone U, Gulotta MR, Lombino J, Parrino B, Cascioferro S, Diana P, Cirrincione G, Padova A. An overview of recent molecular dynamics applications as medicinal chemistry tools for the undruggable site challenge. MEDCHEMCOMM 2018; 9:920-936. [PMID: 30108981 PMCID: PMC6072422 DOI: 10.1039/c8md00166a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2018] [Accepted: 04/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Molecular dynamics (MD) has become increasingly popular due to the development of hardware and software solutions and the improvement in algorithms, which allowed researchers to scale up calculations in order to speed them up. MD simulations are usually used to address protein folding issues or protein-ligand complex stability through energy profile analysis over time. In recent years, the development of new tools able to deeply explore a potential energy surface (PES) has allowed researchers to focus on the dynamic nature of the binding recognition process and binding-induced protein conformational changes. Moreover, modern approaches have been demonstrated to be effective and reliable in calculating some kinetic and thermodynamic parameters behind the host-guest recognition process. Starting from all of these considerations, several efforts have been made in order to integrate MD within the virtual screening process in drug discovery. Knowledge retrieved from MD can, in fact, be exploited as a starting point to build pharmacophores or docking constraints in the early stage of the screening campaign as well as to define key features, in order to unravel hidden binding modes and help the optimisation of the molecular structure of a lead compound. Based on these outcomes, researchers are nowadays using MD as an invaluable tool to discover and target previously considered undruggable binding sites, including protein-protein interactions and allosteric sites on a protein surface. As a matter of fact, the use of MD has been recognised as vital to the discovery of selective protein-protein interaction modulators. The use of a dynamic overview on how the host-guest recognition occurs and of the relative conformational modifications induced allows researchers to optimise small molecules and small peptides capable of tightly interacting within the cleft between two proteins. In this review, we aim to present the most recent applications of MD as an integrated tool to be used in the rational design of small molecules or small peptides able to modulate undruggable targets, such as allosteric sites and protein-protein interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ugo Perricone
- Computational and Medicinal Chemistry Group , Fondazione Ri.MED , Via Bandiera 11 , 90133 Palermo , Italy .
| | - Maria Rita Gulotta
- Computational and Medicinal Chemistry Group , Fondazione Ri.MED , Via Bandiera 11 , 90133 Palermo , Italy .
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , Università degli Studi di Palermo , Via Archirafi 32 , 90123 Palermo , Italy
| | - Jessica Lombino
- Computational and Medicinal Chemistry Group , Fondazione Ri.MED , Via Bandiera 11 , 90133 Palermo , Italy .
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , Università degli Studi di Palermo , Via Archirafi 32 , 90123 Palermo , Italy
| | - Barbara Parrino
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , Università degli Studi di Palermo , Via Archirafi 32 , 90123 Palermo , Italy
| | - Stella Cascioferro
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , Università degli Studi di Palermo , Via Archirafi 32 , 90123 Palermo , Italy
| | - Patrizia Diana
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , Università degli Studi di Palermo , Via Archirafi 32 , 90123 Palermo , Italy
| | - Girolamo Cirrincione
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche Chimiche e Farmaceutiche (STEBICEF) , Università degli Studi di Palermo , Via Archirafi 32 , 90123 Palermo , Italy
| | - Alessandro Padova
- Computational and Medicinal Chemistry Group , Fondazione Ri.MED , Via Bandiera 11 , 90133 Palermo , Italy .
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Taddese B, Deniaud M, Garnier A, Tiss A, Guissouma H, Abdi H, Henrion D, Chabbert M. Evolution of chemokine receptors is driven by mutations in the sodium binding site. PLoS Comput Biol 2018; 14:e1006209. [PMID: 29912865 PMCID: PMC6037435 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2018] [Revised: 07/09/2018] [Accepted: 05/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Chemokines and their receptors (members of the GPCR super-family) are involved in a wide variety of physiological processes and diseases; thus, understanding the specificity of the chemokine receptor family could help develop new receptor specific drugs. Here, we explore the evolutionary mechanisms that led to the emergence of the chemokine receptors. Based on GPCR hierarchical classification, we analyzed nested GPCR sets with an eigen decomposition approach of the sequence covariation matrix and determined three key residues whose mutation was crucial for the emergence of the chemokine receptors and their subsequent divergence into homeostatic and inflammatory receptors. These residues are part of the allosteric sodium binding site. Their structural and functional roles were investigated by molecular dynamics simulations of CXCR4 and CCR5 as prototypes of homeostatic and inflammatory chemokine receptors, respectively. This study indicates that the three mutations crucial for the evolution of the chemokine receptors dramatically altered the sodium binding mode. In CXCR4, the sodium ion is tightly bound by four protein atoms and one water molecule. In CCR5, the sodium ion is mobile within the binding pocket and moves between different sites involving from one to three protein atoms and two to five water molecules. Analysis of chemokine receptor evolution reveals that a highly constrained sodium binding site characterized most ancient receptors, and that the constraints were subsequently loosened during the divergence of this receptor family. We discuss the implications of these findings for the evolution of the chemokine receptor functions and mechanisms of action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruck Taddese
- Laboratoire MITOVASC, UMR CNRS 6015 – INSERM 1083, Université d’Angers, Angers, France
| | - Madeline Deniaud
- Laboratoire MITOVASC, UMR CNRS 6015 – INSERM 1083, Université d’Angers, Angers, France
| | - Antoine Garnier
- Laboratoire MITOVASC, UMR CNRS 6015 – INSERM 1083, Université d’Angers, Angers, France
| | - Asma Tiss
- Laboratoire MITOVASC, UMR CNRS 6015 – INSERM 1083, Université d’Angers, Angers, France
- Laboratoire de Génétique, Immunologie et Pathologies Humaines, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisie
| | - Hajer Guissouma
- Laboratoire de Génétique, Immunologie et Pathologies Humaines, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisie
| | - Hervé Abdi
- The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Dallas, Texas, United States of America
| | - Daniel Henrion
- Laboratoire MITOVASC, UMR CNRS 6015 – INSERM 1083, Université d’Angers, Angers, France
| | - Marie Chabbert
- Laboratoire MITOVASC, UMR CNRS 6015 – INSERM 1083, Université d’Angers, Angers, France
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42
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Li Q, Chen HF. Synergistic regulation mechanism of iperoxo and LY2119620 for muscarinic acetylcholine M2 receptor. RSC Adv 2018; 8:13067-13074. [PMID: 35542505 PMCID: PMC9079678 DOI: 10.1039/c8ra01545g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2018] [Accepted: 03/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are GPCRs that regulate the activity of a diverse array of central and peripheral functions in the human body, including the parasympathetic actions of acetylcholine. The M2 muscarinic receptor subtype plays a key role in modulating cardiac function and many important central processes. The orthosteric agonist and allosteric modulator can bind the pocket of M2. However, the detailed relationship between orthosteric agonist and allosteric modulator of M2 is still unclear. In this study, we intend to elucidate the residue-level regulation mechanism and pathway via a combined approach of dynamical correlation network and molecular dynamics simulation. Specifically computational residue-level fluctuation correlation data was analyzed to reveal detailed dynamics signatures in the regulation process. A hypothesis of "synergistic regulation" is proposed to reveal the cooperation affection between the orthosteric agonist and allosteric modulator, which is subsequently validated by perturbation and mutation analyses. Two possible synergistic regulation pathways of 2CU-I178-Y403-W400-F396-L114-Y440-Nb9 and IXO-V111-F396-L114-Y440-Nb9 were identified by the shortest path algorithm and were confirmed by the mutation of junction node. Furthermore, the efficiency of information transfer of bound M2 is significant higher than any single binding system. Our study shows that targeting the synergistic regulation pathways may better regulate the calcium channel of M2. The knowledge gained in this study may help develop drugs for diseases of the central nervous system and metabolic disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, National Experimental Teaching Center for Life Sciences and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiaotong University Shanghai 200240 China +86-21-34204348 +86-21-34204348
| | - Hai-Feng Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, National Experimental Teaching Center for Life Sciences and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiaotong University Shanghai 200240 China +86-21-34204348 +86-21-34204348
- Shanghai Center for Bioinformation Technology Shanghai 200235 China
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43
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Selvam B, Shamsi Z, Shukla D. Universality of the Sodium Ion Binding Mechanism in Class A G-Protein-Coupled Receptors. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2018; 57:3048-3053. [DOI: 10.1002/anie.201708889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2017] [Revised: 12/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Balaji Selvam
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
| | - Zahra Shamsi
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
| | - Diwakar Shukla
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
- Department of Plant Biology, Center for Biophysics & Quantitative Biology, National Center for Supercomputing Applications; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
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44
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Selvam B, Shamsi Z, Shukla D. Universality of the Sodium Ion Binding Mechanism in Class A G-Protein-Coupled Receptors. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201708889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Balaji Selvam
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
| | - Zahra Shamsi
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
| | - Diwakar Shukla
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
- Department of Plant Biology, Center for Biophysics & Quantitative Biology, National Center for Supercomputing Applications; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Urbana IL 61801 USA
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45
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Vickery ON, Carvalheda CA, Zaidi SA, Pisliakov AV, Katritch V, Zachariae U. Intracellular Transfer of Na + in an Active-State G-Protein-Coupled Receptor. Structure 2018; 26:171-180.e2. [PMID: 29249607 PMCID: PMC5805466 DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2017.11.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2017] [Revised: 10/13/2017] [Accepted: 11/15/2017] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Playing a central role in cell signaling, G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest superfamily of membrane proteins and form the majority of drug targets in humans. How extracellular agonist binding triggers the activation of GPCRs and associated intracellular effector proteins remains, however, poorly understood. Structural studies have revealed that inactive class A GPCRs harbor a conserved binding site for Na+ ions in the center of their transmembrane domain, accessible from the extracellular space. Here, we show that the opening of a conserved hydrated channel in the activated state receptors allows the Na+ ion to egress from its binding site into the cytosol. Coupled with protonation changes, this ion movement occurs without significant energy barriers, and can be driven by physiological transmembrane ion and voltage gradients. We propose that Na+ ion exchange with the cytosol is a key step in GPCR activation. Further, we hypothesize that this transition locks receptors in long-lived active-state conformations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Owen N Vickery
- School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK; School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4NH, UK
| | - Catarina A Carvalheda
- School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK; School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4NH, UK
| | - Saheem A Zaidi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Andrei V Pisliakov
- School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK; School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4NH, UK
| | - Vsevolod Katritch
- Department of Biological Sciences, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA; Department of Chemistry, Bridge Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Ulrich Zachariae
- School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK; School of Science and Engineering, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4NH, UK.
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46
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Wang L, Yuan Y, Chen X, Chen J, Guo Y, Li M, Li C, Pu X. Probing the cooperative mechanism of the μ–δ opioid receptor heterodimer by multiscale simulation. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2018; 20:29969-29982. [DOI: 10.1039/c8cp06652c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The activation-cooperativity of the μ–δ opioid receptor heterodimer was probed by multiscale simulation coupled with a protein structure network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Longrong Wang
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Sichuan University
- Chengdu
- People's Republic of China
| | - Yuan Yuan
- College of Management
- Southwest University for Nationalities
- Chengdu 610041
- P. R. China
| | - Xin Chen
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Sichuan University
- Chengdu
- People's Republic of China
| | - Jiangfan Chen
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Sichuan University
- Chengdu
- People's Republic of China
| | - Yanzhi Guo
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Sichuan University
- Chengdu
- People's Republic of China
| | - Menglong Li
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Sichuan University
- Chengdu
- People's Republic of China
| | - Chuan Li
- College of Computer Science
- Sichuan University
- Chengdu
- P. R. China
| | - Xuemei Pu
- Faculty of Chemistry
- Sichuan University
- Chengdu
- People's Republic of China
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47
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Caliman AD, Miao Y, McCammon JA. Mapping the allosteric sites of the A 2A adenosine receptor. Chem Biol Drug Des 2018; 91:5-16. [PMID: 28639411 PMCID: PMC5741531 DOI: 10.1111/cbdd.13053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2017] [Revised: 05/19/2017] [Accepted: 06/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
The A2A adenosine receptor (A2A AR) is a G protein-coupled receptor that is pharmacologically targeted for the treatment of inflammation, sepsis, cancer, neurodegeneration, and Parkinson's disease. Recently, we applied long-timescale molecular dynamics simulations on two ligand-free receptor conformations, starting from the agonist-bound (PDB ID: 3QAK) and antagonist-bound (PDB ID: 3EML) X-ray structures. This analysis revealed four distinct conformers of the A2A AR: the active, intermediate 1, intermediate 2, and inactive. In this study, we apply the fragment-based mapping algorithm, FTMap, on these receptor conformations to uncover five non-orthosteric sites on the A2A AR. Two sites that are identified in the active conformation are located in the intracellular region of the transmembrane helices (TM) 3/TM4 and the G protein-binding site in the intracellular region between TM2/TM3/TM6/TM7. Three sites are identified in the intermediate 1 and intermediate 2 conformations, annexing a site in the lipid interface of TM5/TM6. Five sites are identified in the inactive conformation, comprising a site in the intracellular region of TM1/TM7 and in the extracellular region of TM3/TM4 of the A2A AR. We postulate that these sites on the A2A AR be screened for allosteric modulators for the treatment of inflammatory and neurological diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alisha D Caliman
- Department of Pharmacology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Yinglong Miao
- Department of Pharmacology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - James A McCammon
- Department of Pharmacology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
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48
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Point mutation of a conserved aspartate, D69, in the muscarinic M 2 receptor does not modify voltage-sensitive agonist potency. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2018; 496:101-104. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2017] [Accepted: 01/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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49
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Conformational landscapes of membrane proteins delineated by enhanced sampling molecular dynamics simulations. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES 2017; 1860:909-926. [PMID: 29113819 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.10.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Revised: 10/24/2017] [Accepted: 10/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
The expansion of computational power, better parameterization of force fields, and the development of novel algorithms to enhance the sampling of the free energy landscapes of proteins have allowed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to become an indispensable tool to understand the function of biomolecules. The temporal and spatial resolution of MD simulations allows for the study of a vast number of processes of interest. Here, we review the computational efforts to uncover the conformational free energy landscapes of a subset of membrane proteins: ion channels, transporters and G-protein coupled receptors. We focus on the various enhanced sampling techniques used to study these questions, how the conclusions come together to build a coherent picture, and the relationship between simulation outcomes and experimental observables.
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50
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Hoppe A, Marti-Solano M, Drabek M, Bünemann M, Kolb P, Rinne A. The allosteric site regulates the voltage sensitivity of muscarinic receptors. Cell Signal 2017; 42:114-126. [PMID: 29056499 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2017.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2017] [Revised: 09/28/2017] [Accepted: 10/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Muscarinic receptors (M-Rs) for acetylcholine (ACh) belong to the class A of G protein-coupled receptors. M-Rs are activated by orthosteric agonists that bind to a specific site buried in the M-R transmembrane helix bundle. In the active conformation, receptor function can be modulated either by allosteric modulators, which bind to the extracellular receptor surface or by the membrane potential via an unknown mechanism. Here, we compared the modulation of M1-Rs and M3-Rs induced by changes in voltage to their allosteric modulation by chemical compounds. We quantified changes in receptor signaling in single HEK 293 cells with a FRET biosensor for the Gq protein cycle. In the presence of ACh, M1-R signaling was potentiated by voltage, similarly to positive allosteric modulation by benzyl quinolone carboxylic acid. Conversely, signaling of M3-R was attenuated by voltage or the negative allosteric modulator gallamine. Because the orthosteric site is highly conserved among M-Rs, but allosteric sites vary, we constructed "allosteric site" M3/M1-R chimeras and analyzed their voltage dependencies. Exchanging the entire allosteric sites eliminated the voltage sensitivity of ACh responses for both receptors, but did not affect their modulation by allosteric compounds. Furthermore, a point mutation in M3-Rs caused functional uncoupling of the allosteric and orthosteric sites and abolished voltage dependence. Molecular dynamics simulations of the receptor variants indicated a subtype-specific crosstalk between both sites, involving the conserved tyrosine lid structure of the orthosteric site. This molecular crosstalk leads to receptor subtype-specific voltage effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anika Hoppe
- Department of Cardiovascular Physiology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany
| | - Maria Marti-Solano
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Philipps-University Marburg, Marbacher Weg 6-10, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Matthäus Drabek
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Philipps-University Marburg, Marbacher Weg 6-10, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Moritz Bünemann
- Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Philipps-University Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 1, 35043 Marburg, Germany
| | - Peter Kolb
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Philipps-University Marburg, Marbacher Weg 6-10, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Rinne
- Department of Cardiovascular Physiology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany.
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