Analysis of interactions responsible for vasopressin binding to human neurohypophyseal hormone receptors-molecular dynamics study of the activated receptor-vasopressin-G(alpha) systems

Vasopressin (CYFQNCPRG-NH2, AVP) is a semicyclic endogenous peptide, which exerts a variety of biological effects in mammals. The main physiological roles of AVP are the regulation of water balance and the control of blood pressure and adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) secretion, mediated via three different subtypes of vasopressin receptors: V1a, V1b and V2 receptors (V1aR, V1bR and V2R, respectively). They are the members of the class A, G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). AVP also modulates several behavioral and social functions. In this study, the interactions responsible for AVP binding to vasopressin V1a and V2 receptors versus the closely related oxytocin ([I3,L8]AVP, OT) receptor (OTR) have been investigated. Three-dimensional models of the activated receptors were constructed using multiple sequence alignment, followed by homology modeling using the complex of activated rhodopsin with GtαC-terminal peptide of transducin MII-Gt(338-350) prototype as a template. AVP was docked into the receptor-Gα systems. The three lowest-energy pairs of receptor-AVP-Gα (two complexes per each receptor) were selected. The 1-ns unconstrained molecular dynamics (MD) of complexes embedded into the fully hydrated 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) lipid bilayer was conducted in the AMBER 7.0 force field. Six relaxed receptor-AVP-Gα models were obtained. The residues responsible for AVP binding to vasopressin receptors have been identified and a different mechanism of AVP binding to V2R than to V1aR has been proposed. Copyright © 2005 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.