Homology modeling and active site analysis of leptin receptor of homo sapiens involved in obesity.

ABSTRACT

The discovery of leptin has initiated a flurry of research into the molecular basis of weight control. In obese people levels of leptin found in the blood are normally very high and more than sufficient to suppress the appetite and increase the metabolism. This however does not happen and it is believed that obesity may be the result of a resistance to leptin. This suggests that the problem in these individuals may be related to a lack of binding of the leptin protein to its receptor. No known structure of leptin receptor is known. Therefore in present the present study we model the 3D structure of leptin receptor using MODELLER. This was done using the template GP130 of H. sapiens (PDB code 1BQU). On the basic of results MODEL 6 was selected as the best model. The observed G-factors for the present model were -0.22 for dihedrals, -0.32 for covalent and overall -0.25. The MODEL 6 contains 88.7% of the residues in the most favored region, 11.3 % in the additional allowed and no single residue in generously allowed regions and disallowed region. The predicted model was further analyzed to locate the residues in the active sites those provide interactions with the ligand.