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Scientific article
Open access
English

High capacity in G protein-coupled receptor signaling

Published inNature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1, 876
Publication date2018
Abstract

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute a large family of receptors that activate intracellular signaling pathways upon detecting specific extracellular ligands. While many aspects of GPCR signaling have been uncovered through decades of studies, some fundamental properties, like its channel capacity-a measure of how much information a given transmission system can reliably transduce-are still debated. Previous studies concluded that GPCRs in individual cells could transmit around one bit of information about the concentration of the ligands, allowing only for a reliable on or off response. Using muscarinic receptor-induced calcium response measured in individual cells upon repeated stimulation, we show that GPCR signaling systems possess a significantly higher capacity. We estimate the channel capacity of this system to be above two, implying that at least four concentration levels of the agonist can be distinguished reliably. These findings shed light on the basic principles of GPCR signaling.

Keywords
  • Acetylcholine/pharmacology
  • Calcium/metabolism
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Membrane/metabolism
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Humans
  • Muscarinic Agonists/pharmacology
  • Receptor
  • Muscarinic M3/metabolism
  • Receptors
  • G-Protein-Coupled/agonists/metabolism
  • Signal Transduction/physiology
Affiliation Not a UNIGE publication
Citation (ISO format)
KESHELAVA, Amiran et al. High capacity in G protein-coupled receptor signaling. In: Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, n° 1, p. 876. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02868-y
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal2041-1723
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