Cited by 24Protein Structure and DynamicsComputational Drug Discovery MethodsToxic Organic Pollutants Impact

Structural modeling of the AhR:ARNT complex in the bHLH–PASA–PASB region elucidates the key determinants of dimerization

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Corrada, Dario, Denison, Michael S, Bonati, Laura·2017·Molecular BioSystems

Abstract

Elucidation of the dimerization process of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) with the AhR nuclear translocator (ARNT) is crucial for understanding the mechanisms underlying the functional activity of AhR, including mediation of the toxicity of environmental contaminants. In this work, for the first time a structural model of the AhR:ARNT dimer encompassing the entire bHLH–PASA–PASB domain region is proposed. It is developed by using a template-based modeling approach, relying on the recently available crystallographic structures of two dimers of homologous systems in the bHLH–PAS family of proteins: the CLOCK:BMAL1 and the HIF2α:ARNT heterodimers. The structural and energetic characteristics of the modeled AhR:ARNT protein–protein interface are determined by evaluating the variations in solvent accessible surface area, the total binding free energy and the per-residue free energy contributions obtained by the MM-GBSA method and the Energy Decomposition Analysis. The analyses of the intricate network of inter-domain interactions at the dimerization interfaces provide insights into the key determinants of dimerization. These are confirmed by comparison of the computational findings with the available experimental mutagenesis and functional analysis data. The results presented here on the AhR:ARNT dimer structure and interactions provide a framework to start analyzing the mechanism of AhR transformation into its functional DNA binding form.

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  • Modeling studies on the AhR:ARNT dimer, based on the HIF-2α:ARNT template, predicted that the Fα/Gβ site may be involved in the dimerization interface.

    “our modeling studies on the AhR:ARNT dimer, based on the HIF-2α:ARNT template, predicted that the Fα/Gβ site may be involved in the dimerization interface47,48.”

    From Modeling the binding of diverse ligands within the Ah receptor ligand binding domain (2019) · cites this paper as [48]

    The Structural templates and homology models and Dimerization interfaces sections (pages unavailable) describe an AhR:ARNT model based on the HIF-2α:ARNT template and identify a PAS-B dimerization interface involving the F helix. Our copy does not identify an Fα/Gβ site or establish that this particular site is part of the predicted interface. (LLM, conf=0.78)

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [8]Denison MS Seidel SD Rogers WJ Ziccardi M Winter GM Heath-Pagliuso S Molecular biology approaches to toxicology Puga A Wallace KB Taylor & Francis 1998 393 410
  2. [13]Reisz-Porszasz S Probst MR Fukunaga BN Hankinson O Mol Cell Biol 1994 14 6075 6086 8065341 PMC359134

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Authors
Corrada, D., Denison, M. S., & Bonati, L.
Affiliations
  • University of Milano-Bicocca (IT)
  • University of California System (US)
Corresponding author
Bonati, Laura
Venue
Molecular BioSystems
Published
2017-03-30
Volume
13
Issue
5
Pages
981-990
ISSN
  • 1742-2051 (ISSN-L)
  • 1742-206X
OpenAlex
W2599603428
Cited by
24
References
69
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1
FWCI
1.12
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Molecular BioSystems (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • BOA (University of Milano-Bicocca) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R01ES07685)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Structure and Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Computational Drug Discovery Methods
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
Keywords
aryl hydrocarbon receptor, ARNT, protein dimerization, protein-protein interfaces, binding free energy, MM-GBSA, energy decomposition analysis, solvent accessible surface area, domain-domain interactions, Clock/BMAL1
MeSH terms
Protein Domains, Animals, Binding Sites, Models, Molecular, Protein Binding, Mutagenesis, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon, Crystallography, X-Ray, Structural Homology, Protein, Mice, Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Nuclear Translocator, Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins, Protein Multimerization

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