Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) protein structures provide helpful insights into the molecularassociation of a gene, its purpose also allow efficient drug designing experiments, such as the structure-based design of specific inhibitors. Recently, it has been shown that protein (cereblon) is involved in various tissues and brain and is revealed to be related with mental retardation. After this first report of cereblon (CRBN) involvement, it was necessary to further study this protein. Therefore a 3D structure of cereblon was developed using comparative modeling approach. By comparing the templates-target sequence, a model was created using MODELLER, a program for homology modeling. The accuracy of the predicted structure was checked using Ramachandran plot which showed that the residue falling in the favoured region was 88.4%. Thepredicted cereblon model can be used to understand the pathogenesis of mutations in cereblon that causes adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP)-dependent degradation of proteins in memory and learning.

Key words: CRBN, 3D structure, 1M4Y, MODELLER, comparative homology modeling.