Allosteric conformational ensembles have unlimited capacity for integrating information.

ABSTRACT: Integration of binding information by macromolecular entities is fundamental to cellular functionality. Recent work has shown that such integration cannot be explained by pairwise cooperativities, in which binding is modulated by binding at another site. Higher-order cooperativities (HOCs), in which binding is collectively modulated by multiple other binding events, appear to be necessary but an appropriate mechanism has been lacking. We show here that HOCs arise through allostery, in which effective cooperativity emerges indirectly from an ensemble of dynamically interchanging conformations. Conformational ensembles play important roles in many cellular processes but their integrative capabilities remain poorly understood. We show that sufficiently complex ensembles can implement any form

SUBMITTER: Biddle JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8189718 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature