Transmembrane signaling of chemotaxis receptor tar: insights from molecular dynamics simulation studies.

ABSTRACT: Transmembrane signaling of chemotaxis receptors has long been studied, but how the conformational change induced by ligand binding is transmitted across the bilayer membrane is still elusive at the molecular level. To tackle this problem, we carried out a total of 600-ns comparative molecular dynamics simulations (including model-building simulations) of the chemotaxis aspartate receptor Tar (a part of the periplasmic domain/transmembrane domain/HAMP domain) in explicit lipid bilayers. These simulations reveal valuable insights into the mechanistic picture of Tar transmembrane signaling. The piston-like movement of a transmembrane helix induced by ligand binding on the periplasmic side is transformed into a combination of both longitudinal and transversal movements of the helix on the cyto

SUBMITTER: Park H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3123975 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature