scholarly journals Critical analysis of the successes and failures of homology models of G protein-coupled receptors

2013 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 729-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Supriyo Bhattacharya ◽  
Alfonso Ramon Lam ◽  
Hubert Li ◽  
Gouthaman Balaraman ◽  
Michiel Jacobus Maria Niesen ◽  
...  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley R. Vidad ◽  
Stephen Macaspac ◽  
Ho-Leung Ng

AbstractG-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest protein family of drug targets. Detailed mechanisms of binding are unknown for many important GPCR-ligand pairs due to the difficulties of GPCR recombinant expression, biochemistry, and crystallography. We describe our new method, ConDock, for predicting ligand binding sites in GPCRs using combined information from surface conservation and docking starting from crystal structures or homology models. We demonstrate the effectiveness of ConDock on well-characterized GPCRs such as the β2 adrenergic and A2A adenosine receptors. We also demonstrate that ConDock successfully predicts ligand binding sites from high-quality homology models. Finally, we apply ConDock to predict ligand binding sites on a structurally uncharacterized GPCR, GPER. GPER is the G-protein coupled estrogen receptor, with four known ligands: estradiol, G1, G15, and tamoxifen. ConDock predicts that all four ligands bind to the same location on GPER, centered on L119, H307, and N310; this site is deeper in the receptor cleft than predicted by previous studies. We compare the sites predicted by ConDock and traditional methods that utilize information from surface geometry, surface conservation, and ligand chemical interactions. Incorporating sequence conservation information in ConDock overcomes errors introduced from physics-based scoring functions and homology modeling.


PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12219
Author(s):  
Ashley Ryan Vidad ◽  
Stephen Macaspac ◽  
Ho Leung Ng

GPCRs (G-protein coupled receptors) are the largest family of drug targets and share a conserved structure. Binding sites are unknown for many important GPCR ligands due to the difficulties of GPCR recombinant expression, biochemistry, and crystallography. We describe our approach, ConDockSite, for predicting ligand binding sites in class A GPCRs using combined information from surface conservation and docking, starting from crystal structures or homology models. We demonstrate the effectiveness of ConDockSite on crystallized class A GPCRs such as the beta2 adrenergic and A2A adenosine receptors. We also demonstrate that ConDockSite successfully predicts ligand binding sites from high-quality homology models. Finally, we apply ConDockSite to predict the ligand binding sites on a structurally uncharacterized GPCR, GPER, the G-protein coupled estrogen receptor. Most of the sites predicted by ConDockSite match those found in other independent modeling studies. ConDockSite predicts that four ligands bind to a common location on GPER at a site deep in the receptor cleft. Incorporating sequence conservation information in ConDockSite overcomes errors introduced from physics-based scoring functions and homology modeling.


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