Proteins that smell: Pheromone recognition and signal transduction

✍ Scribed by Glenn D. Prestwich

• Book ID: 103992265
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 932 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0968-0896
• DOI: 10.1016/0968-0896(96)00033-8

✦ Synopsis

Pheromone perception in Lepidoptera requires initial recognition and transport of the pheromone molecule by ligand-specific pheromone binding proteins (PBPs) in the moth antennae, followed by recognition of the ligand or PBP-ligand complex by a transmembrane G-protein-coupled odorant receptor protein. This signal is transduced by activation of a specific phospholipase C, intracellular release of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) and IP3-gated opening of an ion channel. Individual pheromone-specific PBPs provide the initial ligand recognition event and encode ligand specificity. We have used photoaffinity labeling, cDNA library screening and cloning, protein expression, a novel binding assay and site-directed mutagenesis to define the ligand specificity of PBPs.