Allosteric Modulation of the CB1 Cannabinoid Receptor by Cannabidiol—A Molecular Modeling Study of the N-Terminal Domain and the Allosteric-Orthosteric Coupling

oleh: Jakub Jakowiecki, Renata Abel, Urszula Orzeł, Paweł Pasznik, Robert Preissner, Sławomir Filipek

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-04-01

Deskripsi

The CB<sub>1</sub> cannabinoid receptor (CB<sub>1</sub>R) contains one of the longest N termini among class A G protein-coupled receptors. Mutagenesis studies suggest that the allosteric binding site of cannabidiol (CBD) involves residues from the N terminal domain. In order to study the allosteric binding of CBD to CB<sub>1</sub>R we modeled the whole N-terminus of this receptor using the replica exchange molecular dynamics with solute tempering (REST2) approach. Then, the obtained structures of CB<sub>1</sub>R with the N terminus were used for ligand docking. A natural cannabinoid receptor agonist, Δ<sup>9</sup>-THC, was docked to the orthosteric site and a negative allosteric modulator, CBD, to the allosteric site positioned between extracellular ends of helices TM1 and TM2. The molecular dynamics simulations were then performed for CB<sub>1</sub>R with ligands: (i) CBD together with THC, and (ii) THC-only. Analyses of the differences in the residue-residue interaction patterns between those two cases allowed us to elucidate the allosteric network responsible for the modulation of the CB<sub>1</sub>R by CBD. In addition, we identified the changes in the orthosteric binding mode of Δ<sup>9</sup>-THC, as well as the changes in its binding energy, caused by the CBD allosteric binding. We have also found that the presence of a complete N-terminal domain is essential for a stable binding of CBD in the allosteric site of CB<sub>1</sub>R as well as for the allosteric-orthosteric coupling mechanism.