|
A virtual screening study of the acetylcholine binding protein
using a computational relaxed-complex approach
Arneh Babakhani
Department of Mathematics
UCSD
Abstract
The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is a member of the
ligand-gated ion channel family and is implicated in many neurological
events. Yet, the receptor is difficult to target without high-resolution
structures. In contrast, the structure of the acetylcholine binding
protein (AChBP) has been solved to high resolution, and it serves as a
surrogate structure of the extra-cellular domain in nAChR. Here we conduct
a virtual screening study of the AChBP using the relaxedcomplex method,
which involves a combination of molecular dynamics simulations (to achieve
receptor structures) and ligand docking. The library screened through
comes from the National Cancer Institute, and its ligands show great
potential for binding AChBP in various manners. These ligands mimic the
known binders of AChBP; a significant subset docks well against all
species of the protein and some distinguish between the various
structures. These novel ligands could serve as potential pharmaceuticals
in the AChBP/nAChR systems.
|











