Intracellular Calcium Levels Determine Differential Modulation of Allosteric Interactions within G Protein-Coupled Receptor Heteromers

Allosteric modulation of a chemogenetically modified G protein-coupled receptor.

Designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) are chemogenetically modified muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) that have minimal responsiveness to acetylcholine (ACh) but are potently and efficaciously activated by an otherwise inert synthetic ligand, clozapine-N-oxide (CNO). DREADDs have been used as tools for selectively modulating signal transduction pathways ...

G-protein Coupled Receptor Dimerization

A growing body of evidence suggests that GPCRs exist and function as dimers or higher oligomers. The evidence for GPCR dimerization comes from biochemical, biophysical and functional studies. In addition, researchers have shown the occurrence of heterodimerization between different members of the GPCR family. Two receptors can interact with each other to make a dimer through their extracellular...

On the G-Protein-Coupled Receptor Heteromers and Their Allosteric Receptor-Receptor Interactions in the Central Nervous System: Focus on Their Role in Pain Modulation

The modulatory role of allosteric receptor-receptor interactions in the pain pathways of the Central Nervous System and the peripheral nociceptors has become of increasing interest. As integrators of nociceptive and antinociceptive wiring and volume transmission signals, with a major role for the opioid receptor heteromers, they likely have an important role in the pain circuits and may be invo...

Understanding the Added Value of G-Protein-Coupled Receptor Heteromers

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute the most populated family of proteins within the human genome. Since the early sixties work on GPCRs and on GPCR-mediated signaling has led to a number of awards, the most recent being the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2012. The future of GPCRs research is surely based on their capacity for heteromerization. Receptor heteromers offer a series of cha...

G protein-coupled receptor heteromerization: A role in allosteric modulation of ligand-mediated receptor binding