Exact analysis of ligand-induced dimerization of monomeric receptors.
This paper analyzes the equilibria involved in the dimerization of monomeric receptors with homo-bifunctional ligands. We provide analytical expressions that can be used to estimate the concentration of each species present in a mixture of homo-bifunctional ligand and monomeric proteins, given initial conditions defining the total concentration of bivalent ligand [L2]0, the total concentration of protein [P]0, one dissociation constant Kd, and a parameter to account for cooperativity alpha. We demonstrate that the fraction of protein present in a complex of two proteins and one bivalent ligand (P x L2 x P) is maximized at [L2]0 = Kd/2 + [P]0/2.
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Eric T
ET
Mack
Raquel
R
Perez-Castillejos
Zhigang
Z
Suo
George M
GM
Whitesides
D019281:Dimerization; D008024:Ligands; D008954:Models, Biological; D013816:Thermodynamics
D008024:Ligands