Closely related G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) subtypes often share highly conserved orthosteric pockets, making subtype-selective ligand development challenging. Here, we developed a five-agent workflow to systematically identify divergent protein-membrane-interface sites across class A GPCRs and exploit them for selective allosteric ligand discovery. By combining dMaSIF-derived surface fingerprints with Ballesteros-Weinstein (BW) position alignment, we compared structurally equivalent membrane-facing regions and identified the three most divergent hotspots for each of 163 receptor pairs. These regions showed substantial spatial overlap with experimentally characterized allosteric sites. Paired target-off-target screening of one million lead-like compounds, followed by detail-mode redocking and multi-seed consistency filtering, yielded 352 receptor-pair-specific candidates corresponding to 344 unique compounds across 104 receptor pairs. These candidates, together with their divergent sites and predicted selectivity profiles, were integrated into a searchable database. Our findings establish a scalable strategy for translating GPCR membrane-interface divergence into precise allosteric sites and testable subtype-selective ligand candidates.
Jingyi Zhu, Hengde Li, Min Xiao et al.· bioRxiv· 0 citations
The industrial application of enzyme catalysts is often constrained by the trade-off between thermostability and catalytic activity. Here, a region-focused engineering strategy was applied to a thermophilic GH10 xylanase to simultaneously improve both properties. The strategy integrates qProtein-guided hydrophobic cluster design for scaffold stabilization and dynamic loop analysis for active-site optimization. The resulting triple mutant A206S-N209D-F130L exhibited substantially improved thermostability, with a 5.79 °C increase in melting temperature and an 18.8-fold extension of the half-life at 60 °C. Its optimum temperature increased from 60 to 70 °C, accompanied by a 129.4% enhancement in catalytic activity at 70 °C relatively to the wild type. Molecular dynamics simulations indicated that these mutations reshape the conformational energy landscape by stabilizing hydrophobic packing and modulating loop dynamics. This study provides a generalizable framework for simultaneously improving enzyme stability and catalytic performance.
Zhaoran Li, Zhixin Dou, Sha Zhao et al.· Journal of Agricultural and...· 0 citations