Bhandawat Vikas, Reisert Johannes, Yau King-Wai
Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Science. 2005 Jun 24;308(5730):1931-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1109886.
Signaling by heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins (G proteins) drives numerous cellular processes. The number of G protein molecules activated by a single membrane receptor is a determinant of signal amplification, although in most cases this parameter remains unknown. In retinal rod photoreceptors, a long-lived photoisomerized rhodopsin molecule activates many G protein molecules (transducins), yielding substantial amplification and a large elementary (single-photon) response, before rhodopsin activity is terminated. Here we report that the elementary response in olfactory transduction is extremely small. A ligand-bound odorant receptor has a low probability of activating even one G protein molecule because the odorant dwell-time is very brief. Thus, signal amplification in olfactory transduction appears fundamentally different from that of phototransduction.
异三聚体GTP结合蛋白(G蛋白)信号传导驱动众多细胞过程。单个膜受体激活的G蛋白分子数量是信号放大的一个决定因素,尽管在大多数情况下这个参数仍然未知。在视网膜视杆光感受器中,一个寿命较长的光异构化视紫红质分子在视紫红质活性终止之前会激活许多G蛋白分子(转导素),产生大量放大和大的初级(单光子)反应。在这里我们报告嗅觉转导中的初级反应极小。一个与配体结合的气味受体激活哪怕一个G蛋白分子的概率都很低,因为气味停留时间非常短暂。因此,嗅觉转导中的信号放大似乎与光转导有根本不同。