skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A Machine Learning Approach for the Discovery of Ligand-Specific Functional Mechanisms of GPCRs

Journal Article · · Molecules
 [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Weill Medical College
  2. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Weill Medical College; Consiglio Nazionale dell Ricerche, Milano (Italy). ICRM
  3. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Weill Medical College; Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Weill Medical College. Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics. Inst. for Computational Biomedicine

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) play a key role in many cellular signaling mechanisms, and must select among multiple coupling possibilities in a ligand-specific manner in order to carry out a myriad of functions in diverse cellular contexts. Much has been learned about the molecular mechanisms of ligand-GPCR complexes from Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. However, to explore ligand-specific differences in the response of a GPCR to diverse ligands, as is required to understand ligand bias and functional selectivity, necessitates creating very large amounts of data from the needed large-scale simulations. This becomes a Big Data problem for the high dimensionality analysis of the accumulated trajectories. Here we describe a new machine learning (ML) approach to the problem that is based on transforming the analysis of GPCR function-related, ligand-specific differences encoded in the MD simulation trajectories into a representation recognizable by state-of-the-art deep learning object recognition technology. We illustrate this method by applying it to recognize the pharmacological classification of ligands bound to the 5-HT2A and D2 subtypes of class-A GPCRs from the serotonin and dopamine families. The ML-based approach is shown to perform the classification task with high accuracy, and we identify the molecular determinants of the classifications in the context of GPCR structure and function. This study builds a framework for the efficient computational analysis of MD Big Data collected for the purpose of understanding ligand-specific GPCR activity.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1628488
Journal Information:
Molecules, Vol. 24, Issue 11; ISSN 1420-3049
Publisher:
MDPICopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (61)

Spontaneous Inward Opening of the Dopamine Transporter is Triggered by PIP2-Regulated Dynamics of the N-Terminus journal February 2016
[19] Integrated methods for the construction of three-dimensional models and computational probing of structure-function relations in G protein-coupled receptors book January 1995
Mapping the Binding Site Pocket of the Serotonin 5-Hydroxytryptamine 2A Receptor: Ser 3.36(159) PROVIDES A SECOND INTERACTION SITE FOR THE PROTONATED AMINE OF SEROTONIN BUT NOT OF LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE OR BUFOTENIN journal June 1996
Biased signalling: from simple switches to allosteric microprocessors journal January 2018
Crystal Structure of an LSD-Bound Human Serotonin Receptor journal January 2017
Scalable molecular dynamics with NAMD journal January 2005
Big Data: A Survey journal January 2014
Spontaneous Inward Opening of the Dopamine Transporter Is Triggered by PIP 2 -Regulated Dynamics of the N-Terminus journal August 2015
Millisecond-scale molecular dynamics simulations on Anton conference January 2009
New insights about HERG blockade obtained from protein modeling, potential energy mapping, and docking studies journal May 2006
Crystal Structure of an LSD-Bound Human Serotonin Receptor text January 2017
Angiotensin Analogs with Divergent Bias Stabilize Distinct Receptor Conformations journal January 2019
High-Performance Data Analysis on the Big Trajectory Data of Cellular Scale All-atom Molecular Dynamics Simulations journal June 2018
Related Contribution of Specific Helix 2 and 7 Residues to Conformational Activation of the Serotonin 5-HT 2A Receptor journal July 1995
Automation of the CHARMM General Force Field (CGenFF) I: Bond Perception and Atom Typing journal November 2012
CHARMM general force field: A force field for drug-like molecules compatible with the CHARMM all-atom additive biological force fields journal January 2009
Directory of Useful Decoys, Enhanced (DUD-E): Better Ligands and Decoys for Better Benchmarking journal July 2012
ZINC: A Free Tool to Discover Chemistry for Biology journal June 2012
Molecular Interaction of Serotonin 5-HT 2A Receptor Residues Phe339 (6.51) and Phe340 (6.52) with Superpotent N -Benzyl Phenethylamine Agonists journal September 2006
Rapid parameterization of small molecules using the force field toolkit journal September 2013
Automation of the CHARMM General Force Field (CGenFF) II: Assignment of Bonded Parameters and Partial Atomic Charges journal November 2012
Densely Connected Convolutional Networks preprint January 2016
Structure of the Human Dopamine D3 Receptor in Complex with a D2/D3 Selective Antagonist journal November 2010
Big data: Distilling meaning from data journal September 2008
Protein and ligand preparation: parameters, protocols, and influence on virtual screening enrichments journal March 2013
Structure of the D2 dopamine receptor bound to the atypical antipsychotic drug risperidone journal January 2018
Structure-Function of the G Protein–Coupled Receptor Superfamily journal January 2013
Novel Procedure for Modeling Ligand/Receptor Induced Fit Effects journal January 2006
ACEMD: Accelerating Biomolecular Dynamics in the Microsecond Time Scale journal May 2009
Mechanism of NMDA Receptor Channel Block by MK-801 and Memantine journal February 2018
Ligand-Dependent Conformations and Dynamics of the Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor Determine Its Activation and Membrane-Driven Oligomerization Properties journal April 2012
The Mechanism of a Neurotransmitter:Sodium Symporter—Inward Release of Na+ and Substrate Is Triggered by Substrate in a Second Binding Site journal June 2008
5-HT2C Receptor Structures Reveal the Structural Basis of GPCR Polypharmacology journal February 2018
Densely Connected Convolutional Networks conference July 2017
CHARMM-GUI: A web-based graphical user interface for CHARMM journal March 2008
Extra Precision Glide:  Docking and Scoring Incorporating a Model of Hydrophobic Enclosure for Protein−Ligand Complexes journal October 2006
Use of an Induced Fit Receptor Structure in Virtual Screening journal January 2006
Molecular Dynamics Simulation for All journal September 2018
The IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY in 2018: updates and expansion to encompass the new guide to IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGY. journalarticle January 2018
Mechanism of NMDA receptor channel block by MK-801 and memantine journal April 2018
NbIT - A New Information Theory-Based Analysis of Allosteric Mechanisms Reveals Residues that Underlie Function in the Leucine Transporter LeuT journal May 2014
Lifting the lid on GPCRs: the role of extracellular loops: GPCR extracellular loops journal February 2012
Revised Pharmacophore Model for 5-HT 2A Receptor Antagonists Derived from the Atypical Antipsychotic Agent Risperidone journal January 2019
Hallucinogen actions on 5-HT receptors reveal distinct mechanisms of activation and signaling by G protein-coupled receptors journal December 2005
Selectivity determinants of GPCR–G-protein binding journal May 2017
Active-State Model of a Dopamine D2 Receptor - Gαi Complex Stabilized by Aripiprazole-Type Partial Agonists journal June 2014
A Functional Selectivity Mechanism at the Serotonin-2A GPCR Involves Ligand-Dependent Conformations of Intracellular Loop 2 journal October 2014
Molecular signatures of G-protein-coupled receptors journal February 2013
Functional Selectivity and Classical Concepts of Quantitative Pharmacology journal June 2006
Millisecond-scale molecular dynamics simulations on Anton conference January 2009
The ensemble nature of allostery journal April 2014
Human aminolevulinate synthase structure reveals a eukaryotic-specific autoinhibitory loop regulating substrate binding and product release journal June 2020
The IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY in 2018: updates and expansion to encompass the new guide to IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGY journal November 2017
Structural basis for Na + -sensitivity in dopamine D2 and D3 receptors journal January 2015
Effector Pathway-Dependent Relative Efficacy at Serotonin Type 2A and 2C Receptors: Evidence for Agonist-Directed Trafficking of Receptor Stimulus journal July 1998
A Markov State-based Quantitative Kinetic Model of Sodium Release from the Dopamine Transporter journal January 2017
The effect of acidic pH on the adsorption and lytic activity of the peptides Polybia-MP1 and its histidine-containing analog in anionic lipid membrane: a biophysical study by molecular dynamics and spectroscopy journal April 2021
EGFRisopred: a machine learning-based classification model for identifying isoform-specific inhibitors against EGFR and HER2 journal August 2021
Site-directed mutagenesis of the human dopamine D2 receptor journal October 1992
A novel specific PERK activator reduces toxicity and extends survival in Huntington's disease models journal April 2020
DSNet for Real-Time Driving Scene Semantic Segmentation preprint January 2018