e martë, shkurt 22, 2005

Mining the Receptorome

The prosperity of an organism relies on its ability to respond to its ever changing environment. The mechanism for this adaptive response is simple in theory; external stimuli are received and integrated, thereby eliciting a concerted and appropriate response. This cellular communication depends largely on the transmission of signal couriers (i.e. "ligands") from one cell, which are then received via cell surface and intracellular recognition molecules (i.e. "receptors") on the recipient cell (1). The interaction of an activating ligand (i.e. "agonist") with the receptor ultimately results in transduction of the signal via a complex web of biochemical interactions to produce the required response.

The diversity of physiological responses that occur in multicellular organisms includes the modulation of the central and peripheral nervous system and cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, metabolic, reproductive, genitourinary, and immunological functions and reflects the number of ligand and receptor molecules that elicit them. These ligands can include environmental stimulants such as photons, odorants, tastants, pheromones, and viruses as well as native molecules, including various small molecule neurotransmitters, amino acids, polypeptides, hormones, nucleotides, ions, and lipids. To accommodate the selective recognition of these diverse ligands a number of large receptor superfamilies encompassing both membrane receptors (e.g. G protein-coupled receptors, receptor tyrosine kinases, ligand-gated ion channels, and integrins) and intracellular nuclear receptors have evolved (2). Taken in its entirety, that portion of the proteome dedicated to ligand reception has been described as the "receptorome" (3) and encompasses more than 5% of the human genome (2).

posted by Selfmaderadio @ 4:52 e pasdites