During the past decade, fluorescence methods have become valuable tools for characterizing ligand binding to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). However, only a few of the assays enable studying wild-type receptors and monitor the ligand binding in real time. One of the approaches that is inherently suitable for this purpose is the fluorescence anisotropy (FA) assay. In the FA assay, the change of ligand's rotational freedom connected with its binding to the receptor can be monitored with a conventional fluorescence plate reader equipped with suitable optical filters. To achieve the high receptor concentration required for the assay and the low autofluorescence levels essential for reliable results, budded baculoviruses that display GPCRs on their surfaces can be used. The monitoring process generates a substantial amount of kinetic data, which is usually stored as a proprietary file format limiting the flexibility of data analysis. To solve this problem, we propose the use of the data curation software Aparecium ( http://gpcr.ut.ee/aparecium.html ), which integrates experimental data with metadata in a Minimum Information for Data Analysis in Systems Biology (MIDAS) format. Aparecium enables data export to different software packages for fitting to suitable kinetic or equilibrium models. A combination of the FA assay with the novel data analysis strategy is suitable for screening new active compounds, but also for modeling complex systems of ligand binding to GPCRs. We present the proposed approach using different fluorescent probes and assay types to characterize ligand binding to melanocortin 4 (MC4) receptor.
Keywords: Binding kinetics; Budded baculoviruses; Fluorescence anisotropy; Global analysis; Melanocortin 4 receptor.