Shining Light on Molecular Mechanism for Odor-selectivity of CNT-immobilized Olfactory Receptor.

ABSTRACT: Olfactory receptor (OR)-based bioelectronic nose is a new type of bio-affinity sensor applied for detecting numerous odorant molecules. In order to elucidate the effect of the adsorption of nanomaterial carriers on the receptor structure and its selectivity to odors, we used a systematic computation-scheme to study two OR models immobilized onto carbon nanotube. Our result indicates that there is a multistep OR-adsorption process driven by hydrophobic interaction. Many allosteric communication pathways exist between the absorbed residues and the pocket ones, leading to a significant shrinkage of the pocket. Consequently, the size-selectivity of the receptor to the odors is changed to some extent. But, the odor size and its hydrophobicity, rather than specific functional groups of the odor,

SUBMITTER: Zhang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5959861 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature