scholarly journals An allosteric ligand stabilizes distinct conformations in the M2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Xu ◽  
Harald Hübner ◽  
Yunfei Hu ◽  
Xiaogang Niu ◽  
Peter Gmeiner ◽  
...  

AbstractAllosteric modulators provide therapeutic advantages over orthosteric drugs. A plethora of allosteric modulators have been identified for several GPCRs, particularly for muscarinic receptors (mAChRs)1,2. To study the molecular mechanisms governing allosteric modulation, we utilized a recently developed NMR system to investigate the conformational changes in the M2 muscarinic receptor (M2R) in response to the positive allosteric modulator (PAM) LY2119620. Our studies provide the first biophysical data showing that LY2119620 can substantially change the structure and dynamics of M2R in both the extracellular and G-protein coupling domains during the activation process. These NMR data suggest that LY2119620 may function by stabilizing distinct sets of conformations not observed in the presence of orthosteric agonists alone, which may account for the different signaling behaviors of the M2R when bound to LY2119620. Our studies provide new structural information for understanding the mechanism of GPCR allostery, and may facilitate the rational design of allosteric therapeutics targeting muscarinic receptors.

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (51) ◽  
pp. 26001-26007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziva Vuckovic ◽  
Patrick R. Gentry ◽  
Alice E. Berizzi ◽  
Kunio Hirata ◽  
Swapna Varghese ◽  
...  

The human M5muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR) has recently emerged as an exciting therapeutic target for treating a range of disorders, including drug addiction. However, a lack of structural information for this receptor subtype has limited further drug development and validation. Here we report a high-resolution crystal structure of the human M5mAChR bound to the clinically used inverse agonist, tiotropium. This structure allowed for a comparison across all 5 mAChR family members that revealed important differences in both orthosteric and allosteric sites that could inform the rational design of selective ligands. These structural studies, together with chimeric swaps between the extracellular regions of the M2and M5mAChRs, provided structural insight into kinetic selectivity, where ligands show differential residency times between related family members. Collectively, our study provides important insights into the nature of orthosteric and allosteric ligand interaction across the mAChR family that could be exploited for the design of selective drugs.


2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice E. Berizzi ◽  
Patrick R. Gentry ◽  
Patricia Rueda ◽  
Sandra Den Hoedt ◽  
Patrick M. Sexton ◽  
...  

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Han ◽  
Yungang Wu ◽  
Yi Xu ◽  
Wentao Guo ◽  
Na Zhang ◽  
...  

Background Monopolar spindle 1 (Mps1/TTK) is an apical dual-specificity protein kinase in the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) that guarantees accurate segregation of chromosomes during mitosis. High levels of Mps1 are found in various types of human malignancies, such as glioblastoma, osteosarcoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and breast cancer. Several potent inhibitors of Mps1 exist, and exhibit promising activity in many cell cultures and xenograft models. However, resistance due to point mutations in the kinase domain of Mps1 limits the therapeutic effects of these inhibitors. Understanding the detailed resistance mechanism induced by Mps1 point mutations is therefore vital for the development of novel inhibitors against malignancies. Methods In this study, conventional molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and Gaussian accelerated MD (GaMD) simulation were performed to elucidate the resistance mechanisms of Cpd-5, a potent Mps1 inhibitor, induced by the four representative mutations I531M, I598F, C604Y, S611R. Results Our results from conventional MD simulation combined with structural analysis and free energy calculation indicated that the four mutations weaken the binding affinity of Cpd-5 and the major variations in structural were the conformational changes of the P-loop, A-loop and αC-helix. Energetic differences of per-residue between the WT system and the mutant systems indicated the mutations may allosterically regulate the conformational ensemble and the major variations were residues of Ile-663 and Gln-683, which located in the key loops of catalytic loop and A-loop, respectively. The large conformational and energetic differences were further supported by the GaMD simulations. Overall, these obtained molecular mechanisms will aid rational design of novel Mps1 inhibitors to combat inhibitor resistance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. e202101149
Author(s):  
Yumiko Saijo-Hamano ◽  
Aalaa Alrahman Sherif ◽  
Ariel Pradipta ◽  
Miwa Sasai ◽  
Naoki Sakai ◽  
...  

The p47 immunity-related GTPase (IRG) Irgb6 plays a pioneering role in host defense against Toxoplasma gondii infection. Irgb6 is recruited to the parasitophorous vacuole membrane (PVM) formed by T. gondii and disrupts it. Despite the importance of this process, the molecular mechanisms accounting for PVM recognition by Irgb6 remain elusive because of lack of structural information on Irgb6. Here we report the crystal structures of mouse Irgb6 in the GTP-bound and nucleotide-free forms. Irgb6 exhibits a similar overall architecture to other IRGs in which GTP binding induces conformational changes in both the dimerization interface and the membrane-binding interface. The membrane-binding interface of Irgb6 assumes a unique conformation, composed of N- and C-terminal helical regions forming a phospholipid binding site. In silico docking of phospholipids further revealed membrane-binding residues that were validated through mutagenesis and cell-based assays. Collectively, these data demonstrate a novel structural basis for Irgb6 to recognize T. gondii PVM in a manner distinct from other IRGs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yumiko Saijo Hamano ◽  
Aalaa Alrahman Sherif ◽  
Ariel Pradipta ◽  
Miwa Sasai ◽  
Naoki Sakai ◽  
...  

The p47 immunity-related GTPase (IRG) Irgb6 plays a pioneering role in host defense against Toxoplasma gondii infection. It is recruited to the parasitophorous vacuole membrane (PVM) formed by T. gondii and disrupts it. Despite the importance of this process, the molecular mechanisms accounting for PVM recognition by Irgb6 remain elusive due to lack of structural information on Irgb6. Here we report the crystal structures of mouse Irgb6 in the GTP-bound and nucleotide-free forms. Irgb6 exhibits a similar overall architecture to other IRGs in which GTP-binding induces conformational changes in both the dimerization interface and the membrane-binding interface. The membrane-binding interface of Irgb6 assumes a unique conformation, composed of N- and C-terminal helical regions forming a phospholipid binding site. In silico docking of phospholipids further revealed membrane binding residues that were validated through mutagenesis and cell-based assays. Collectively, these data demonstrate a novel structural basis for Irgb6 to recognize T. gondii PVM in a manner distinct from other IRGs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (42) ◽  
pp. 11151-11156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan-Ping Liu ◽  
Qun Tang ◽  
Jie-Zhong Zhang ◽  
Li-Fei Tian ◽  
Pu Gao ◽  
...  

Type I restriction-modification (R-M) systems are multisubunit enzymes with separate DNA-recognition (S), methylation (M), and restriction (R) subunits. Despite extensive studies spanning five decades, the detailed molecular mechanisms underlying subunit assembly and conformational transition are still unclear due to the lack of high-resolution structural information. Here, we report the atomic structure of a type I MTase complex (2M+1S) bound to DNA and cofactor S-adenosyl methionine in the “open” form. The intermolecular interactions between M and S subunits are mediated by a four-helix bundle motif, which also determines the specificity of the interaction. Structural comparison between open and previously reported low-resolution “closed” structures identifies the huge conformational changes within the MTase complex. Furthermore, biochemical results show that R subunits prefer to load onto the closed form MTase. Based on our results, we proposed an updated model for the complex assembly. The work reported here provides guidelines for future applications in molecular biology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Kumari ◽  
Lovika Mittal ◽  
Mitul Srivastava ◽  
Dharam Pal Pathak ◽  
Shailendra Asthana

FXR bioactive states are responsible for the regulation of metabolic pathways, which are modulated by agonists and co-activators. The synergy between agonist binding and ‘co-activator’ recruitment is highly conformationally driven. The characterization of conformational dynamics is essential for mechanistic and therapeutic understanding. To shed light on the conformational ensembles, dynamics, and structural determinants that govern the activation process of FXR, molecular dynamic (MD) simulation is employed. Atomic insights into the ligand binding domain (LBD) of FXR revealed significant differences in inter/intra molecular bonding patterns, leading to structural anomalies in different systems of FXR. The sole presence of an agonist or ‘co-activator’ fails to achieve the essential bioactive conformation of FXR. However, the presence of both establishes the bioactive conformation of FXR as they modulate the internal wiring of key residues that coordinate allosteric structural transitions and their activity. We provide a precise description of critical residue positioning during conformational changes that elucidate the synergy between its binding partners to achieve an FXR activation state. Our study offers insights into the associated modulation occurring in FXR at bound and unbound forms. Thereafter, we also identified hot-spots that are critical to arrest the activation mechanism of FXR that would be helpful for the rational design of its agonists.


2004 ◽  
Vol 382 (2) ◽  
pp. 607-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amaury FERNÁNDEZ-MONTALVÁN ◽  
Irmgard ASSFALG-MACHLEIDT ◽  
Dietmar PFEILER ◽  
Hans FRITZ ◽  
Marianne JOCHUM ◽  
...  

The ubiquitous μ- and m-calpains are Ca2+-dependent cysteine proteases. They are activated via rearrangement of the catalytic domain II induced by cooperative binding of Ca2+ to several sites of the molecule. Based on the crystallographic structures, a cluster of acidic residues in domain III, the acidic loop, has been proposed to function as part of an electrostatic switch in the activation process. Experimental support for this hypothesis was obtained by site-directed mutagenesis of recombinant human μ-calpain expressed with the baculovirus system in insect cells. Replacing the acidic residues of the loop individually with alanine resulted in an up to 7-fold reduction of the half-maximal Ca2+ concentration required for conformational changes (probed with 2-p-toluidinylnapthalene-6-sulphonate fluorescence) and for enzymic activity. Along with structural information, the contribution of individual acidic residues to the Ca2+ requirement for activation revealed that interactions of the acidic loop with basic residues in the catalytic subdomain IIb and in the pre-transducer region of domain III stabilize the structure of inactive μ-calpain. Disruption of these electrostatic interactions makes the molecule more flexible and increases its Ca2+ sensitivity. It is proposed that the acidic loop and the opposing basic loop of domain III constitute a double-headed electrostatic switch controlling the assembly of the catalytic domain.


MedChemComm ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 1998-2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Szabo ◽  
Tracey Huynh ◽  
Celine Valant ◽  
J. Robert Lane ◽  
Patrick M. Sexton ◽  
...  

Positive allosteric modulators targeting the M4 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor offer greater sub-type selectivity and unique potential as CNS agents through their novel mode of action to traditional orthosteric ligands.


2019 ◽  
Vol 476 (21) ◽  
pp. 3227-3240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanshan Wang ◽  
Yanxiang Zhao ◽  
Long Yi ◽  
Minghe Shen ◽  
Chao Wang ◽  
...  

Trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) synthase (Tps1) catalyzes the formation of T6P from UDP-glucose (UDPG) (or GDPG, etc.) and glucose-6-phosphate (G6P), and structural basis of this process has not been well studied. MoTps1 (Magnaporthe oryzae Tps1) plays a critical role in carbon and nitrogen metabolism, but its structural information is unknown. Here we present the crystal structures of MoTps1 apo, binary (with UDPG) and ternary (with UDPG/G6P or UDP/T6P) complexes. MoTps1 consists of two modified Rossmann-fold domains and a catalytic center in-between. Unlike Escherichia coli OtsA (EcOtsA, the Tps1 of E. coli), MoTps1 exists as a mixture of monomer, dimer, and oligomer in solution. Inter-chain salt bridges, which are not fully conserved in EcOtsA, play primary roles in MoTps1 oligomerization. Binding of UDPG by MoTps1 C-terminal domain modifies the substrate pocket of MoTps1. In the MoTps1 ternary complex structure, UDP and T6P, the products of UDPG and G6P, are detected, and substantial conformational rearrangements of N-terminal domain, including structural reshuffling (β3–β4 loop to α0 helix) and movement of a ‘shift region' towards the catalytic centre, are observed. These conformational changes render MoTps1 to a ‘closed' state compared with its ‘open' state in apo or UDPG complex structures. By solving the EcOtsA apo structure, we confirmed that similar ligand binding induced conformational changes also exist in EcOtsA, although no structural reshuffling involved. Based on our research and previous studies, we present a model for the catalytic process of Tps1. Our research provides novel information on MoTps1, Tps1 family, and structure-based antifungal drug design.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document