A new model for 20-hydroxyecdysone and dibenzoylhydrazine binding: a homology modeling and docking approach

The ecdysone receptor (ECR), a nuclear transcription factor controlling insect development, is a novel target for insecticides such as dibenzoylhydrazines with low environmental and toxicological impacts. To understand the high selectivity of such synthetic molecules toward ECR, two homology models of the Chironomus tentans ECR ligand-binding domain (LDB) have been constructed by taking as templates the known LBD crystal structures of the retinoic acid and vitamin D receptors. Docking of 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and dibenzoylhydrazines to the receptor suggests a novel superposition of the natural and synthetic molecules; the N-tert-butyl substituent of the dibenzoylhydrazines extends significantly beyond the 20E volume. Our ECR-LBD protein models rationalize how 20E and dibenzoylhydrazines interact with the ligand-binding pocket. The homology model complexes provide new insights that can be exploited in the rational design of new environmentally safe insecticides.