Molecular cloning of a lobster Gα(q) protein expressed in neurons of olfactory organ and brain

Timothy S. McClintock, Fuqiang Xu, Jorge Quintero, Anne M. Gress, Teresa M. Landers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have isolated from an American lobster (Homarus americanus) olfactory organ cDNA library a clone, hGα(q), with >80% identity to mammalian and arthrupod Gα(q) sequences. In brain and olfactory organ, hGα(q) mRNA was expressed predominantly in neurons, including virtually all the neuronal cell body clusters of the brain. Gα(q) protein was also expressed broadly, appearing on western blots as a single band of 46 kDa in brain, eyestalk, perelopod, dactyl, tail muscle, olfactory organ, and aesthetasc hairs. These results suggest that hGα(q) plays a role in a wide variety of signal transduction events. Its presence in the olfactory aesthetasc hairs, which are almost pure preparations of the outer dendrites of the olfactory receptor neurons, the expression of a single hGα(q) mRNA species (6 kb) in the olfactory organ, and the localization of hGα(q) mRNA predominantly in the olfactory receptor neurons of the olfactory organ strongly suggest that one function of hGα(q) is to mediate olfactory transduction.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2248-2254
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Neurochemistry
Volume68
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1997

Keywords

  • Crustaceans
  • G protein
  • Lobster
  • Olfaction
  • Signal transduction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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