Induced effects of sodium ions on dopaminergic G-protein coupled receptors.

ABSTRACT: G-protein coupled receptors, the largest family of proteins in the human genome, are involved in many complex signal transduction pathways, typically activated by orthosteric ligand binding and subject to allosteric modulation. Dopaminergic receptors, belonging to the class A family of G-protein coupled receptors, are known to be modulated by sodium ions from an allosteric binding site, although the details of sodium effects on the receptor have not yet been described. In an effort to understand these effects, we performed microsecond scale all-atom molecular dynamics simulations on the dopaminergic D(2) receptor, finding that sodium ions enter the receptor from the extracellular side and bind at a deep allosteric site (Asp2.50). Remarkably, the presence of a sodium ion at this allosteric

SUBMITTER: Selent J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2920834 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature