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Project

The deorphanization of neuropeptide GPCRs in invertebrates and vertebrates using cellular screening assays.

Neuropeptides play an important role in many physiological processes like reproduction, energy metabolism, memory, the biological clock and learning. The majority of these peptides exert their function by binding and subsequent activation of G-protein coupled receptors. These GPCRs are very frequently used in medicine as targets for the treatment of symptoms caused by diseases related with these processes. In the future, we would like to focus on the deorphanization of invertebrate receptors that could be involved in the regulation of the biological clock, memory and learning. These processes are known to be connected, but the receptors for the key molecules, such as amnesiac in Drosophila, are to date unknown. For the deorphanization of invertebrate receptors we use the reverse pharmacology approach. This means that we pick up the predicted receptor sequences using PCR methods from cDNA derived from mRNA from flies, bees or nematodes. The cloned receptor is then used as a hook to fish out the ligands from a library of synthetic peptides or from a biological extract. The assay that is used depends on the selected receptor.
Date:1 Jan 2009 →  31 Dec 2009
Keywords:Cellular screening assays
Disciplines:Animal biology, General biology