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operationarclightII t1_jbucuu4 wrote

Reply to comment by -Metacelsus- in What exactly is going on when a protein (or other molecule) binds with a receptor? by Eat-A-Torus

There have been updated models of receptor and ligand interaction. A big one that pharmacologists would point to is conformational selection, in which the receptor is constantly flipping between active, intermediate, and inactive states, even without a ligand. The presence of a ligand stabilizes the receptor into the active state until the ligand and receptor disassociate. There's a lot of cool quantum effects and such if you really get into the weeds with some of the PPI theories.

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akwakeboarder t1_jbvgofi wrote

This makes a great deal of sense given that everything at that size/scale is moving and vibrating. Do you have a source for that model? I’d like to share with my students.

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hotlikewater t1_jbw003b wrote

Its the Cubic Ternary Complex model, you should be able to find some papers on GPCR activation for it that have SBML files you can download and play with

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brothersand t1_jbvy9za wrote

There's a book called Life on the Edge, by Johnjoe McFadden, that's about quantum biology. In one part he talks about evidence that the sodium pumps in neurons are so incredibly efficient because they somehow induce the sodium atoms to travel as waves rather than particles through their structure. It's incredible stuff.

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