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G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest and most heterogeneous group of cell membrane receptors dictating various physiological processes. GPCRs are the pivotal points for orchestrating almost every cellular response, making them the most sought-after drug targets. Although the GPCRs have extensively been studied, there are still many aspects that are yet to be understood. The GPCR structures have been characterised using various biophysical techniques like x-ray crystallography, cryo-EM and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. While the conventional techniques enabled a gross understanding of the GPCR structures, ligand interaction and conformational dynamics, the recent developments in NMR methods have unlocked new possibilities to better understand receptor bias, ligand-selectivity determination and ligand-binding characterisation in live cells. In this review, we have attempted to highlight how different NMR approaches can be utilised to add more details to the story of GPCRs.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mrc.70028 | DOI Listing |
Chem Sci
August 2025
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo Tokyo 113-0033 Japan.
Residence time, which refers to the average duration a drug remains bound to its receptor, is a crucial parameter in determining its pharmacological effects. However, the mechanisms governing the residence time of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) ligands remain unclear. In this study, we observed NMR signals from the methyl groups of alanine and methionine located at the intersection of the binding cavity and extracellular loops of AAR under conditions where E165Q and T256A mutations led to reduced residence times.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHandb Exp Pharmacol
September 2025
Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Research conducted over the last 15 years indicates that cAMP is generated not just from the plasma membrane but also from intracellular compartments, particularly in endosomes, where receptors are redistributed during the endocytosis process. This review centers on the parathyroid hormone type 1 receptor (PTHR) as a model for a peptide hormone GPCRs that generates cAMP from various locations with distinct duration and pharmacological effectiveness. We discuss how structural dynamics simulations aid in designing ligands that induce cAMP location bias, ultimately answering how the spatiotemporal generation of cAMP affects pharmacological responses mediated by the PTHR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHandb Exp Pharmacol
September 2025
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
The μ-opioid receptor (μOR) is the primary drug target of opioid analgesics such as morphine and fentanyl. Activation of μORs in the central nervous system inhibits ascending pain signaling to the cortex, thereby producing analgesic effects. However, the clinical use of opioid analgesics is severely limited by adverse side effects, including respiratory depression, constipation, addiction, and the development of tolerance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Chem Biol
September 2025
iHuman Institute, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China; School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China; Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, Scripps Research, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Institute of Molecular Biology and Bio
Balanced or biased G protein and arrestin transmembrane signaling by the adenosine 2A receptor (AAR) is related to ligand-induced allosterically triggered variation of structural dynamics in the intracellular half of the transmembrane domain (TMD). F-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of a network of genetically introduced meta-trifluoromethyl-L-phenylalanine (mtfF) probes in the core of the TMD revealed signaling-related structure rearrangements leading from the extracellular orthosteric drug-binding site to the G protein and arrestin contacts on the intracellular surface. The key element in this structural basis of signal transfer is dynamic loss of structural order in the intracellular half of the TMD, as manifested by local polymorphisms and associated rate processes within the molecular architecture determined previously by X-ray crystallography.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
September 2025
Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016, India.
Agonist-induced interaction of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) with β-arrestins (βarrs) is a critical mechanism that regulates the spatiotemporal pattern of receptor localization and signaling. While the underlying mechanism governing GPCR-βarr interaction is primarily conserved and involves receptor activation and phosphorylation, there are several examples of receptor-specific fine-tuning of βarr-mediated functional outcomes. Considering the key contribution of conformational plasticity of βarrs in driving receptor-specific functional responses, it is important to develop novel sensors capable of reporting distinct βarr conformations in cellular context.
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