Philip S. Portoghese, Principal Investigator
Maria Germana Paterlini, Co-Principal Investigator

Modeling of Opioid Receptors With Their Ligands

The transmembrane region of opioid receptors was reconstructed based on a previous structural template and recent experimental data on rhodopsin. The intracellular and extracellular loop regions were also modeled by these researchers. These regions, ranging from 9 to 25 amino acid residues in length, were studied using a previously developed conformational search algorithm for loops, together with indirect structural information obtained through site-directed mutagenesis data, secondary structure prediction and homology modeling. The models were then used to study the binding mode of both endogenous opioid peptides and alkaloids and to suggest possible mechanisms of receptor activation. Following this, the modeling effort was extended to predicting cross-linking of opioid receptors by affinity labels. Modeling results were used to propose a possible mode of interaction between these receptors and opioid ligands.

Research Group

David J. Daniels, Graduate Student Researcher
Rashmi Gupta, Graduate Student Researcher
Dennis L. Larson, Research Associate
Sathit Niratisai, Graduate Student Researcher
Sarika Prabhu, Research Associate
Zhihua Xie, Research Associate
Yan Zhang, Research Associate