The Stimulatory Gαs Protein Is Involved in Olfactory Signal Transduction in Drosophila

Seven-transmembrane receptors typically mediate olfactory signal transduction by coupling to G-proteins. Although insect odorant receptors have seven transmembrane domains like G-protein coupled receptors, they have an inverted membrane topology, constituting a key difference between the olfactory s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2011-04, Vol.6 (4), p.e18605
Main Authors: Deng, Ying, Zhang, Weiyi, Farhat, Katja, Oberland, Sonja, Gisselmann, Günter, Neuhaus, Eva M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anopheles gambiae
Biology
Carbon dioxide
Cyclic AMP
Cyclic nucleotides
Drosophila
Drosophila melanogaster
Heat shock proteins
Immunization
Insects
Life sciences
Neurons
Neurosciences
Nucleotides
Odorant receptors
Odors
Olfactory receptor neurons
Physiology
Polyclonal antibodies
Proteins
Receptors
Senses
Sensory evaluation
Sensory neurons
Signal transduction
Signaling
Smell
Topology
Transduction
Transmembrane domains
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Summary:Seven-transmembrane receptors typically mediate olfactory signal transduction by coupling to G-proteins. Although insect odorant receptors have seven transmembrane domains like G-protein coupled receptors, they have an inverted membrane topology, constituting a key difference between the olfactory systems of insects and other animals. While heteromeric insect ORs form ligand-activated non-selective cation channels in recombinant expression systems, the evidence for an involvement of cyclic nucleotides and G-proteins in odor reception is inconsistent. We addressed this question in vivo by analyzing the role of G-proteins in olfactory signaling using electrophysiological recordings. We found that Gαs plays a crucial role for odorant induced signal transduction in OR83b expressing olfactory sensory neurons, but not in neurons expressing CO2 responsive proteins GR21a/GR63a. Moreover, signaling of Drosophila ORs involved Gαs also in a heterologous expression system. In agreement with these observations was the finding that elevated levels of cAMP result in increased firing rates, demonstrating the existence of a cAMP dependent excitatory signaling pathway in the sensory neurons. Together, we provide evidence that Gαs plays a role in the OR mediated signaling cascade in Drosophila.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0018605