[Advances in the investigation of structure and function of G protein-coupled receptors (by awarding the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2012 to Robert Lefkowitz and Bryan Kobilka)].

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2012 was awarded to Robert Lefkowitz and Bryan Kobilka "for studies in G-protein-coupled receptors" (GPCR). In this review the most important discoveries of these Nobel Prize winners dealing with investigation of the structure and functions of GPCR were discussed and analyzed. In the 1980s, they were the first in the world to clone GPCR--the 32-adrenergic receptor. After 20 years, the team led by B. Kobilka for the first time prepared this receptor in the crystalline form and established its three-dimensional structure. In these studies, unique approaches for purification and crystallization of other receptors were developed. In 1980s, R. Lefkowitz and his colleagues discovered beta-arrestins that regulate signal transduction occurring via GPCR. Later they revealed that beta-arrestins were the most important members of signal transduction and were responsible for the signal transduction from the hormone-activated receptor to intracellular signaling cascades independently of heterotrimeric G-proteins. These and other outstanding discoveries of R. Lefkowitz and B. Kobilka have become the basis for the novel area of molecular biology and pharmacology--the molecular endocrinology of GPCR.