B-factor and Light-induced Allostery in NMDA Receptors

Abstract

Light-sensitive protein with the light-induced allostery has great applications in bio-medical researches, which can be obtained by introducing the mutation at certain site in the protein. In the present work, we investigate the experimental data on NMDA receptors with light-sensitive mutations, and propose empirical formulas to connect the structural factors to the observable electric current change, which is the signature of the light-induced allosteric effect. We found our formulas present reasonable agreement with experimental data using the full-length structure of NMDA receptor 4tll. It can be used to predict the light-sensitive phenomena of this protein with other types of mutation. Present method can be directly extended to other proteins beyond the current 4tll.