Zavodszky lab
Ligand-induced changes in proteins
Ligand binding induces changes in the receptor protein, providing a way to regulate protein function. Ligand-induced changes can be either localized to the vicinity of the binding site, or can be long-range, as in the case of allosteric proteins. In this latter class of proteins, binding of a ligand to a regulatory site alters the activity at a distant active site with some kind of a signal believed to be transmitted from one site to the other. Experimentalists are trying to pinpoint the residues transmitting such signals by systematically mutating amino acids between the two sites, while theoreticians are looking for channels or pathways that would allow some kind of mechanistic communication between the two sites.
An alternative idea is that changes in flexibility and dynamics upon ligand binding are responsible for the observed effects. Network representations of biomolecules, as well as normal mode analysis and molecular dynamics simulations can be used to study the flexibility and dynamics of these systems.
Poster presented at the Steenbock symposium (May 2006) in this topic
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Michigan State University
Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building Room 4216
East Lansing, MI, 48824-1319
Phone: (517) 432-7177 Fax: (517) 353 9334
Email: zavodszk@msu.edu
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