Membrane topology of the Drosophila OR83b odorant receptor

FEBS Lett. 2007 Dec 11;581(29):5601-4. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2007.11.007. Epub 2007 Nov 20.

Abstract

By analogy to mammals, odorant receptors (ORs) in insects, such as Drosophila melanogaster, have long been thought to belong to the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily. However, recent work has cast doubt on this assumption and has tentatively suggested an inverted topology compared to the canonical N(out) - C(in) 7 transmembrane (TM) GPCR topology, at least for some Drosophila ORs. Here, we report a detailed topology mapping of the Drosophila OR83b receptor using engineered glycosylation sites as topology markers. Our results are inconsistent with a classical GPCR topology and show that OR83b has an intracellular N-terminus, an extracellular C-terminus, and 7TM helices.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomarkers
  • Cell Membrane / chemistry
  • Cell Membrane / metabolism
  • Drosophila Proteins / chemistry*
  • Drosophila Proteins / metabolism
  • Drosophila melanogaster / metabolism*
  • Glycosylation
  • Microsomes / metabolism
  • Models, Biological
  • Receptors, Odorant / chemistry*
  • Receptors, Odorant / metabolism

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Drosophila Proteins
  • Orco protein, Drosophila
  • Receptors, Odorant