Cyclosporin A-cyclophilin complex formation. A model based on X-ray and NMR data

The previously determined 3D NMR solution structure of cyclophilin-bound cyclosporin A (CsA) was docked onto the X-ray crystal structure of cyclophilin. Intermolecular nuclear Overhauser effects (NOE) between CsA and cyclophilin were used as constraints in a restrained energy minimization to generate a model of the complex which satisfied all the NOE distance constraints. The model shows that the residues 9 to 11 and 1 to 5 of the cyclic CsA molecule are in contact with cyclophilin. Comparing the model of the CsA-cyclophilin complex to the X-ray crystal structure of a complex of cyclophilin with a substrate for peptidyl-proline cis-trans isomerase activity, i.e. the linear tetrapeptide substrate ac-Ala-Ala-Pro-Ala-amc (ac, acetyl; amc, amidomethylcoumarin), one notices that the contacting peptide segments in the two ligands are oriented in opposite directions, and that the side chain of MeVal-11 of CsA superposes rather precisely with the position of the prolyl residue in ac-Ala-Ala-Pro-Ala-amc.