Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel orphan receptor (P2P) expressed in human pancreas that shows high structural homology to the P2U purinoceptor.

Here we report the cloning of a gene encoding a new member of the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors. The gene encodes a protein of 365 amino acids closely resembling two recently cloned nucleotide binding receptors, called P2U and P2Y purinoceptors (71% and 49% sequence identity within the transmembrane domains, respectively). Our studies show that this new putative purinoceptor (designated P2P) is encoded by an intronless single copy gene that is exclusively expressed in pancreas, in contrast to the P2U and the P2Y purinoceptors which are widely distributed throughout the periphery. The identification of a pancreas-specific human putative P2 purinoceptor makes it attractive to speculate that the reported actions of ADP/ATP analogues in pancreas on insulin secretion are mediated through this receptor.