Volume 52, Issue 42 pp. 11021-11024
Communication

Opsin, a Structural Model for Olfactory Receptors?

Prof. Dr. Jung Hee Park

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Jung Hee Park

Division of Biotechnology, Advanced Institute of Environment and Bioscience, College of Environmental & Bioresources Sciences, Chonbuk National University, 570-752 Iksan (Republic of Korea)

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Jung Hee Park, Division of Biotechnology, Advanced Institute of Environment and Bioscience, College of Environmental & Bioresources Sciences, Chonbuk National University, 570-752 Iksan (Republic of Korea)

Oliver P. Ernst, Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 (Canada)

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Dr. Takefumi Morizumi

Dr. Takefumi Morizumi

Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 (Canada)

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Yafang Li

Yafang Li

Institut für Medizinische Physik und Biophysik (CC2), Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Germany)

Present address: IMS Health, Chao Yang District, Beijing (China)

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Joo Eun Hong

Joo Eun Hong

Division of Biotechnology, Advanced Institute of Environment and Bioscience, College of Environmental & Bioresources Sciences, Chonbuk National University, 570-752 Iksan (Republic of Korea)

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Prof. Dr. Emil F. Pai

Prof. Dr. Emil F. Pai

Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 (Canada)

Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 (Canada)

Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto (Canada)

Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Campbell Family Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto (Canada)

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Prof. Dr. Klaus Peter Hofmann

Prof. Dr. Klaus Peter Hofmann

Institut für Medizinische Physik und Biophysik (CC2), Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Germany)

Zentrum für Biophysik und Bioinformatik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany)

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Prof. Dr. Hui-Woog Choe

Prof. Dr. Hui-Woog Choe

Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Science, Chonbuk National University, Chonju (Republic of Korea)

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Prof. Dr. Oliver P. Ernst

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Oliver P. Ernst

Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 (Canada)

Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 (Canada)

Jung Hee Park, Division of Biotechnology, Advanced Institute of Environment and Bioscience, College of Environmental & Bioresources Sciences, Chonbuk National University, 570-752 Iksan (Republic of Korea)

Oliver P. Ernst, Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 (Canada)

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First published: 26 August 2013
Citations: 60

We thank the staff at the beamline BL14.2 at BESSY-MX/Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin for materials and energy, Yong Ju Kim for help with data collection, and Patrick Scheerer for help in early stages of the project. J.H.P. thanks Prof. Kui-Jea Lee for support. This work was supported in part by research funds of Chonbuk National University and a grant from Yu-dang, Ji Sung Yang Memorial Fund in 2011/2012 (to J.H.P.), by a grant from the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2010-0002738 to H.-W.C.), a European Research Council Advanced Grant (to K.P.H.), a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB449 to O.P.E.), the Canada Research Chair program (to E.F.P.), and the Canada Excellence Research Chair program (to O.P.E.). O.P.E. holds the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Chair in Neuroscience at the University of Toronto. Coordinates and structure factors of the opsin structure have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank with accession code 4J4Q.

Graphical Abstract

Receptor–ligand interaction: Olfactory receptors (ORs) are G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which detect signaling molecules such as hormones and odorants. The structure of opsin, the GPCR employed in vision, with a detergent molecule bound deep in its orthosteric ligand-binding pocket provides a template for OR homology modeling, thus enabling investigation of the structural basis of the mechanism of odorant–receptor recognition.

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