Internet resources in GPCR modelling1

¹Presented at CMTPI 2007: Computational Methods in Toxicology and Pharmacology Integrating Internet Resources (Moscow, Russia, September 1–5, 2007).

Abstract

G-Protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), one of the most important families of drug targets, belong to the super family of integral membrane proteins characterized by seven transmembrane helices. Because they are difficult to crystallize, the three dimensional structure of these receptors have not yet been determined by X-ray crystallography, except one. In the absence of a 3-D structure, in-silico approaches for solving the structure of this class of proteins are widely used and provide valuable information for structure based drug design. There are several web servers and computer programs available that automate the modelling process of GPCRs. Some of these include Modeller, Swiss-Model server, Homer, etc. Using these tools reliable homology models of human histamine H1 receptor (HRH1) and thrombin receptor (PAR-1) have been generated which explain the binding mode of the standard antagonists of these receptors and may be useful in designing their novel antagonists.

¹Presented at CMTPI 2007: Computational Methods in Toxicology and Pharmacology Integrating Internet Resources (Moscow, Russia, September 1–5, 2007).

Keywords:

• GPCR
• sequence alignment
• homology modelling
• docking

Acknowledgements

The authors thank ICMR (IA), CSIR (AD) and DST (MS) for financial assistance. Mr. A. S. Kushwah also deserves acknowledgement for technical assistance.

Notes

¹Presented at CMTPI 2007: Computational Methods in Toxicology and Pharmacology Integrating Internet Resources (Moscow, Russia, September 1–5, 2007).