In silico strategy for detailing the binding modes of a novel family of peptides proven as ghrelin receptor agonists.
J Mol Model
; 26(11): 294, 2020 Oct 05.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33015729
Ghrelin is a peptide hormone involved in multiple functions, including growth hormone release stimulation, food intake regulation, and metabolic and cytoprotective effect. A novel family of peptides with internal cycles was designed as ghrelin analogs and the biological activity of two of them (A228 and A233) was experimentally studied in-depth. In this work, an in silico strategy was developed for describing and assessing the binding modes of A228 and A233 to GHS-R1a (ghrelin receptor) comparing it with ghrelin and GHRP-6 peptides. Several reported structures of different G protein coupled receptors were used as templates, to obtain a good quality model of GHS-R1a. The best model was selected by preliminary molecular docking with ghrelin and GHRP-6. Docking was used to estimate peptide orientations in the binding site of the best model, observing a superposition of its N-terminal and its first aromatic residue. To test the complex stability in time, the C-terminal fragments of each peptide were added and the complexes were inserted a 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) membrane, performing a molecular dynamic simulation for 100 ns using the CHARMM36 force field. Despite of the structural differences, the studied peptides share a common binding mode; the N-terminal interacts with E124 and the aromatic residue close to it, with the aromatic cluster (F279, F309, and F312). A preliminary pharmacophore model, consisting in a positive charged amine and an aromatic ring at an approximate distance of 0.79 nm, can be proposed. The results here described could represent a step forward in the efficient search of new ghrelin analogs.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Peptídeos
/
Simulação por Computador
/
Receptores de Grelina
Limite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Mol Model
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Cuba
País de publicação:
Alemanha