Abstract

Background: The lipid bilayer of the plasma membrane is impermeable to ions, yet changes in the flux of ions across the cell membrane are critical regulatory events in cells. Because of their regulatory roles in a range of physiological processes, such as electrical signaling in muscles and neurons, to name a few, these proteins are one of the most important drug targets.

Objective: This review mainly focused on the computational approaches for elucidating proteinprotein interactions in cation channel signaling.

Discussion: Due to continuously advanced facilities and technologies in computer sciences, the physical contacts of macromolecules of channel structures have been virtually visualized. Indeed, techniques like protein-protein docking, homology modeling, and molecular dynamics simulation are valuable tools for predicting the protein complex and refining channels with unreleased structures. Undoubtedly, these approaches will greatly expand the cation channel signaling research, thereby speeding up structure-based drug design and discovery.

Conclusion: We introduced a series of valuable computational tools for elucidating protein-protein interactions in cation channel signaling, including molecular graphics, protein-protein docking, homology modeling, and molecular dynamics simulation.

Keywords: Cation channels, molecular modeling, molecular dynamics simulation, protein-protein docking, lipid bilayer, plasma membrane.

Graphical Abstract