GPCRs through the keyhole: the role of protein flexibility in ligand binding to β-adrenoceptors

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are proteins of pharmaceutical importance, with over 30% of all drugs in clinical use targeting them. Increasing numbers of X-ray crystal (XRC) structures of GPCRs offer a wealth of data relating to ligand binding. For the -adrenoceptors (-ARs), XRC structures are available for human (2)- and turkey (1)-subtypes, in complexes with a range of ligands. While these structures provide insight into the origins of ligand structure-activity relationships (SARs), questions remain. The ligands in all published complexed XRC structures lack extensive substitution, with no obvious way the ligand-binding site can accommodate (1)-AR-selective antagonists with extended side-chains para- to the common aryloxypropanolamine pharmacophore. Using standard computational docking tools with such ligands generally returns poses that fail to explain known SARs. Application of our Active Site Pressurisation modelling method to -AR XRC structures and homology models, however, reveals a dynamic area in the ligand-binding pocket that, through minor changes in amino acid side chain orientations, opens a fissure between transmembrane helices H4 and H5, exposing intra-membrane space. This fissure, which we term the keyhole, is ideally located to accommodate extended moieties present in many high-affinity (1)-AR-selective ligands, allowing the rest of the ligand structure to adopt a canonical pose in the orthosteric binding site. We propose the keyhole may be a feature of both (1)- and (2)-ARs, but that subtle structural differences exist between the two, contributing to subtype-selectivity. This has consequences for the rational design of future generations of subtype-selective ligands for these therapeutically important targets.