Two "Nature" on the same day reveal key neurotransmitter receptor structures

Today, the top academic journal "Nature" published two important papers on structural biology back to back, revealing the structure of a key neurotransmitter receptor

These two studies are of great significance for understanding metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGlus)

In the first paper, the scientists pointed out that previous studies have shown that in the homodimer of metabotropic glutamate receptors, only one receptor subunit is responsible for coupling with G protein during receptor activation.

Through structural analysis, the researchers found that the binding site of metabotropic glutamate receptor and G protein is significantly different from the corresponding site where other G protein-coupled receptors bind to G protein

Through functional analysis, the researchers confirmed that this asymmetric dimer phenomenon is essential for receptor activation, and may be the molecular basis for asymmetric signaling of metabotropic glutamate receptors

In the second paper, the researchers pointed out that metabotropic glutamate receptors can exist in the form of homology and heterodimers, and the pharmacological properties and functions of the two may be different

The analysis of these structures found some dimer patterns that depend on the subtypes of metabotropic glutamate receptors, providing more details of the molecular mechanism for the conformational changes within and between subunits

▲Schematic diagram of metabotropic glutamate receptor structure

"Our research mainly focused on mGlu2, 4, and 7, among which we took a lot of'high-definition photos' of mGlu2 in different states, from inactive, active intermediate state, to fully activated state

Taken together, these cryo "HD photos", the researchers found that Class C G-protein coupled receptor class A metabotropic glutamate receptors belonging to class B there is a clear distinction

Note: The original text has been deleted

Reference materials:

[1] Lin, S.

[2] Du, J.

[3] Two articles in the same period "Nature": Another potential target of Alzheimer's disease is seen, Retrieved June 16, 2021, from http://wenhui.