Apo- and Antagonist-Binding Structures of Vitamin D Receptor Ligand-Binding Domain Revealed by Hybrid Approach Combining Small-Angle X-ray Scattering and Molecular Dynamics

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) controls the expression of numerous genes through the conformational change caused by binding 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-3. Helix 12 in the ligand-lpinding domain (LBD) is key to regulating VDR activation. The structures of apo VDR-LBD and the VDR-LBD antagonist complex are unclear. Here, we reveal their unprecedented structures in solution using a hybrid method combining small-angle X-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations. In apo rat VDR-LBD, helix 12 is partially unraveled, and it is positioned around the canonical active position and fluctuates. Helix 11 greatly bends toward the outside at Q396, creating a kink In the rat VDR-LBD/antagonist complex, helix 12 does not generate the activation function 2 surface, arid loop 1112 is remarkably flexible compared to that in the apo rat VDR-LBD. On the basis of these structural insights, we propose a folding-door model to deseribe the mechanism of agonism/antagonism of VDR-LBD,