Crystal structures of active SRC kinase domain complexes

c-Src was the first proto-oncoprotein to be identified, and has become the focus of many drug discovery programs. Src structures of a major inactive form have shown how the protein kinase is rigidified by several interdomain interactions; active configurations of Src are generated by release from this “assembled” or “bundled” form. Despite the importance of Src as a drug target, there is relatively little structural information available regarding the presumably more flexible active forms. Here we report three crystal structures of a dimeric active c-Src kinase domain, in an apo and two ligand complexed forms, with resolutions ranging from 2.9 A to 1.95 A. The structures show how the kinase domain, in the absence of the rigidifying interdomain interactions of the inactivation state, adopts a more open and flexible conformation. The ATP site inhibitor CGP77675 binds to the protein kinase with canonical hinge hydrogen bonds and also to the c-Src specific threonine 340. In contrast to purvalanol B binding in CDK2, purvalanol A binds in c-Src with a conformational change in a more open ATP pocket.