Sugar-regulated cation channel formed by an insect gustatory receptor.

ABSTRACT: Insects sense the taste of foods and toxic compounds in their environment through the gustatory system. Genetic studies using fruit flies have suggested that putative seven-transmembrane gustatory receptors (Grs) expressed in gustatory sensory neurons are required for responses to specific tastants. We reconstituted sugar responses of Bombyx mori Gr-9 (BmGr-9), a silkworm Gr, in two heterologous expression systems. Xenopus oocytes or HEK293T cells expressing BmGr-9 selectively responded to D-fructose with an influx of extracellular Ca(2+) and a nonselective cation current conductance in a G protein-independent manner. Outside-out patch-clamp recording of BmGr-9-expressing cell membranes provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that BmGr-9 constitutes a ligand-gated ion channel. The fruc

SUBMITTER: Sato K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3136286 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature