Comparative and statistical analysis of nAChR sequences: An ab initio approach to the origin of molecular discrimination

作     者：WANG YanLi LI Zhong QIAN XuHong 

作者机构：Shanghai Key Laboratory of Chemical BiologySchool of PharmacyEast China University of Science and TechnologyShanghai 200237China 

出 版 物：《Chinese Science Bulletin》 (Chinese Science Bulletin)

年 卷 期：2012年第57卷第5期

页      面：479-486页

核心收录：

学科分类：1007[医学-药学(可授医学、理学学位)] 02[经济学] 0202[经济学-应用经济学] 020208[经济学-统计学] 07[理学] 0714[理学-统计学（可授理学、经济学学位）] 070103[理学-概率论与数理统计] 0701[理学-数学] 10[医学] 

基　　金：supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB126100) the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2011AA10A207) supported by the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2011BAE06B01) the Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (B507) the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China 

主　　题：乙酰胆碱受体 蛋白质序列 分子选择性 统计分析 从头算方法 物种特异性 从头计算方法 结构信息 

摘      要：Compared with traditional structure-based approaches for the identification of species-specific ligands, the ab initio approach, based on large-scale protein sequences from different species, has been used to locate specific sites that may be important to the molecular selectivity of species. Statistically significant differences in the distribution of residues in different species and differences in the physicochemical properties of residue-specific sites may largely account for species selectivity. The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), an important neuro-receptor with significantly different ligand selectivity in different species, was used to test our method. Because of the lack of nAChR structural information, the mechanism of ligand discrimination is unclear which hinders attempts at novel molecular design. In this study, the specific site residues 186 and 189 in the principal subunits and residues 34, 55, 56, 57, 106 and 112 in complementary subunits of nAChR were identified by applying our method with stringent statistical cutoffs. These sites were predicted to contribute to ligand selectivity and this result coincides well with the known experimental data.