Journal
BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY TRANSACTIONS
Volume 40, Issue -, Pages 383-388Publisher
PORTLAND PRESS LTD
DOI: 10.1042/BST20120001
Keywords
adenosine receptor; adrenergic receptor; G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR); metarhodopsin-II; retinal; rhodopsin
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Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) [31003A_132815]
- ETH Zurich
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [31003A_132815] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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GPCRs (G-protein-coupled receptors) are seven-transmembrane helix proteins that transduce exogenous and endogenous signals to modulate the activity of downstream effectors inside the cell. Despite the relevance of these proteins in human physiology and pharmaceutical research, we only recently started to understand the structural basis of their activation mechanism. In the period 2008-2011, nine active-like structures of GPCRs were solved. Among them, we have determined the structure of light-activated rhodopsin with all the features of the active metarhodopsin-II, which represents so far the most native-like model of an active GPCR. This structure, together with the structures of other inactive, intermediate and active states of rhodopsin constitutes a unique structural framework on which to understand the conserved aspects of the activation mechanism of GPCRs. This mechanism can be summarized as follows: retinal isomerization triggers a series of local structural changes in the binding site that are amplified into three intramolecular activation pathways through TM (transmembrane helix) 5/TM3, TM6 and TM7/TM2. Sequence analysis strongly suggests that these pathways are conserved in other GPCRs. Differential activation of these pathways by ligands could be translated into the stabilization of different active states of the receptor with specific signalling properties.
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