The Open University of Israel
Department of Natural Sciences
1 University Road P.O.B. 808 Ra’anana
4353701, ISRAEL
Program
"Voltage dependence of G protein coupled receptors"
G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) mediate the vast majority of signal transduction processes in the body. Although GPCRs span the cell membrane, they traditionally were not considered to be voltage dependent. In recent years, it was found that the affinity and activity of several GPCRs are regulated by membrane potential. The most studied voltage sensitive GPCRs are the muscarinic receptors. We found that the affinity of these receptors toward acetylcholine is voltage sensitive; the affinity is lower at resting potential than under depolarization for the M1R and higher at resting potential than under depolarization for the M2R. We further showed that this voltage sensitivity is an intrinsic property of the receptor as it was shown that depolarization induces charge movements in these receptors. More recent studies from our laboratory, as well as from others, demonstrated that voltage-dependence may be a general property common to many GPCRs. In the talk I will discuss these findings and our efforts to elucidate the molecular mechanism that underlies the voltage dependence of GPCRs.
Host: Walter SANDTNER
Contact for questions: Helmut KUBISTA