title: In silico studies on DARC.
abstract: The Duffy Antigen/Receptor for Chemokine (DARC) is a seven segment transmembrane protein. It was firstly discovered as a blood group antigen and was the first specific gene locus assigned to a specific autosome in man. It became more famous as an erythrocyte receptor for malaria parasites (Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium knowlesi), and finally for chemokines. DARC is an unorthodox chemokine receptor as (i) it binds chemokines of both CC and CXC classes and (ii) it lacks the Asp-Arg-Tyr consensus motif in its second cytoplasmic loop hence cannot couple to G proteins and activate their signaling pathways. DARC had also been associated to cancer progression, numerous inflammatory diseases, and possibly to AIDS. In this review, we will summarize important biological data on DARC. Then we shall focus on recent development of the elaboration and analyzes of structural models of DARC. We underline the difficulty to propose pertinent structural models of transmembrane protein using comparative modeling process, and other dedicated approaches as the Protein Blocks. The chosen structural models encompass most of the biochemical data known to date. Finally, we present recent development of protein-protein docking between DARC structural models and CXCL-8 structures. We propose a hierarchical search based on separated rigid and flexible docking.
authors.affiliation: INSERM UMR-S 665, Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, Institut National de la Transfusion Sanguine, 6, rue Alexandre Cabanel, 75739 Paris 15, France. alexandre.debrevern@univ-paris-diderot.fr
authors.forename: Alexandre G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: de Brevern
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Autin
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Colin
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Etchebest
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004375:Duffy Blood-Group System / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C473745:ACKR1 protein, human; D004375:Duffy Blood-Group System; D016209:Interleukin-8; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine