Issue 3, 2009

Proteinallostery, signal transmission and dynamics: a classification scheme of allosteric mechanisms

Abstract

Allostery has come of age; the number, breadth and functional roles of documented proteinallostery cases are rising quickly. Since all dynamic proteins are potentially allosteric and allostery plays crucial roles in all cellular pathways, sorting and classifying allosteric mechanisms in proteins should be extremely useful in understanding and predicting how the signals are regulated and transmitted through the dynamic multi-molecular cellular organizations. Classification organizes the complex information thereby unraveling relationships and patterns in molecular activation and repression. In signaling, current classification schemes consider classes of molecules according to their functions; for example, epinephrine and norepinephrine secreted by the central nervous system are classified as neurotransmitters. Other schemes would account for epinephrine when secreted by the adrenal medulla to be hormone-like. Yet, such classifications account for the global function of the molecule; not for the molecular mechanism of how the signal transmission initiates and how it is transmitted. Here we provide a unified view of allostery and the first classification framework. We expect that a classification scheme would assist in comprehension of allosteric mechanisms, in prediction of signaling on the molecular level, in better comprehension of pathways and regulation of the complex signals, in translating them to the cascading events, and in allosteric drug design. We further provide a range of examples illustrating mechanisms in proteinallostery and their classification from the cellular functional standpoint.

Graphical abstract: Protein allostery, signal transmission and dynamics: a classification scheme of allosteric mechanisms

Article information

Article type
Opinion
First published
06 Jan 2009
This article is Open Access

Mol. BioSyst., 2009,5, 207-216

Protein allostery, signal transmission and dynamics: a classification scheme of allosteric mechanisms

C. Tsai, A. del Sol and R. Nussinov, Mol. BioSyst., 2009, 5, 207 DOI: 10.1039/B819720B

This is an Open Access article. The full version of this article can be posted on a website/blog, posted on an intranet, photocopied, emailed, distributed in a course pack or distributed in Continuing Medical Education (CME) materials provided that it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements