Structure Shows How -- and How Well -- Zinc Binds NMDA (IMAGE)

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Structure Shows How -- and How Well -- Zinc Binds NMDA

Caption

Zinc is an important inhibitory regulator of NMDA activity. It binds more readily and more robustly to the NMDA variant subdomain at left (the GluN2A subunit) than at the same position in the very similar GluN2B subunit. Four amino acids cup the zinc molecule (blue) like four hands in GluN2A vs. two amino acids, or two hands, bonding with it (grey) in GluN2B.

Credit

Furukawa Lab, CSHL

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