Conformational heterogeneity in CCR7 undergoes transitions to specific states upon ligand binding.

Ligand-binding to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) acts as the local driving force that initiates signal transduction through the receptor and mediates its conformational transitions and interactions with various intracellular effectors. In a recent study, We have shown that the binding of ligands CCL19 and CCL21 to CCR7 induces biased triggering of side chain-based molecular switches, which coordinate concerted transmembrane helical domain motions and transitioning of the receptor to distinct conformational states (Gaieb, Z., D.D. Lo, and D. Morikis. 2016. Molecular Mechanism of Biased Ligand Conformational Changes in CC Chemokine Receptor 7. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. 56: 1808-1822, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.6b00367). To complement our previous study, we compare the results of the free (apo) CCR7 microsecond molecular dynamics simulations to those of the ligand-bound CCR7, and show that the apo receptor is found in conformational heterogeneity that only exhibits random fluctuations and lacks the coordinated helical motions seen in ligand-bound receptors. We conclude that ligand binding is responsible for coordinating the stochastic conformational nature of CCR7 into specific conformational states, initiated and propagated by specific physicochemical events.