[The origin and molecular evolution of ionotropic glutamate receptors].

A review of the main approaches to the revealing molecular evolution of glutamate receptors is presented. Large amount of evidences concerning the homology of glutamate-binding proteins forming the membrane channels has been accumulated. However, the knowledge of amino acid sequences of these proteins is the necessary but not sufficient condition for clarification of their origin and the changes in the course of molecular evolution. The natural selection estimated and secured the functional validity ofligand-gated channels. Therefore the functional and molecular approaches should supplement each other. It has been shown by and example of glutamate receptor channels of vertebrate and invertebrate animals that the combined analysis of the structure and function allows to reveal the main routes of molecular evolution of this kind of synaptic receptors.