Application of Molecular Modelling Techniques to Pheromones of the Marine Brown Algae Cutleria multifida and Ectocarpus siliculosus (Phaeophyceae). Metalloproteins as Chemoreceptors?

The conformation of the two algal pheromones ectocarpene (1) and multifidene (2) was studied by the active analogue approach using molecular mechanics calculations within the software package SYBYL. A common conformation for both pheromones and all active analogues was filtered out by superposition- and energy minimizing procedures starting from crystallographic data of the Cambridge Structural Data Base (CSD). The interaction of the algal receptor systems with their olefinic pheromones and heteroanalogues is in excellent agreement with the assumption of a receptor-bound metal cation acting as the binding side.