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Structure‐based identification of binding sites, native ligands and potential inhibitors for G‐protein coupled receptors

G‐protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of cell‐surface receptors involved in signal transmission. Drugs associated with GPCRs represent more than one fourth of the 100 top‐selling drugs and are the targets of more than half of the current therapeutic agents on the market. Our methodology based on the internal coordinate mechanics (ICM) program can accurately identify the ligand‐binding pocket in the currently available crystal structures of seven transmembrane (7TM) proteins [bacteriorhodopsin (BR) and bovine rhodopsin (bRho)]. The binding geometry of the ligand can be accurately predicted by ICM flexible docking with and without the loop regions, a useful finding for GPCR docking because the transmembrane regions are easier to model. We also demonstrate that the native ligand can be identified by flexible docking and scoring in 1.5% and 0.2% (for bRho and BR, respectively) of the best scoring compounds from two different types of compound database. The same procedure can be applied to the database of available chemicals to identify specific GPCR binders. Finally, we demonstrate that even if the sidechain positions in the bRho binding pocket are entirely wrong, their correct conformation can be fully restored with high accuracy (0.28 Å) through the ICM global optimization with and without the ligand present. These binding site adjustments are critical for flexible docking of new ligands to known structures or for docking to GPCR homology models. The ICM docking method has the potential to be used to “de‐orphanize” orphan GPCRs (oGPCRs) and to identify antagonists–agonists for GPCRs if an accurate model (experimentally and computationally validated) of the structure has been constructed or when future crystal structures are determined. Proteins 2003;51:423–433. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.