GPCR and Other Proteins: Predictions of Structures and Ligand Binding

In 1998 Vaidehi Nagarajan and I initiated a project to predict the structures of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) from first principles (there were no crystal structures at the time). Our early methods were successful in predicting fairly accurate structures for several GPCRs, and we published the first GPCR crystal structures. First for olfactory receptors and then in 2004, the dopamine D₂ and adrenergic b2 structures. The first experimental X-ray crystallography structure was for bovine rhodopsin and then for b2 AR in 2005, which showed that our 1st principle structure was rather accurate. Later we used the templates of transmembrane tilt from experiment to develop methods for predicting the low energy packing of GPCRs sufficiently stable to bind to ligands, with a number of successes. More recently, we have focused on the mechanism by which the GPCR attached to a Gprotein activates the G protein after binding an agonis.