GPCR signal transduction

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are membrane proteins in humans and one of the most important targets in drug discovery. Approximately 35% of launched drugs are targeted GPCRs, making them a crucial class of targets in drug discovery.

The orthosteric site of a GPCR is its endogenous ligand’s (such as neurotransmitters or hormones) binding site. This site plays a central role in signal transduction. Small molecules binding to this site typically contain a protonatable amino group, enabling the formation of salt bridges or hydrogen bonds with acidic residues in the binding pocket. In contrast, the allosteric site does not directly initiate signaling but modulates the signal intensity of the GPCR by altering or stabilizing the conformation of the orthosteric site. Small molecules binding to the allosteric site often contain multiple aromatic rings to occupy hydrophobic pockets and achieve their functional effects.

MCE has collected over 7,106 reported bioactive molecules targeting GPCRs, covering Class A, B, and C GPCRs. These small molecules were subjected to AI representation to extract 2D and 3D features. Subsequently, we do screening by AI score based on similarity to identify molecules in diversity library highly similar to the reported bioactive molecules in both 2D and 3D, with a threshold greater than 0.7. Further screening based on cLogP was applied to select molecules with good lipophilicity, which facilitates the binding of small molecules to GPCRs. This diversity library can be widely applied to the discovery of compounds targeting GPCR proteins.