Structural studies on extracellular adhesion GPCR signaling

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Adhesion-G-Protein-coupled Receptors (aGPCR) are a large receptorfamily which has been only partially investigated so far concerning itsbiochemical, structural and functional properties. The aim of theproject is to characterise the spatial structures of the receptors andtheir interactions with binding partners by X-ray structure analysis.Such studies are the basis to understand the molecular function of thereceptors and for a structure-based development of potential drugsacting on these receptors. To this end, the receptors and singledomains are expressed in three different expression systems: E. coli,HEK cells and insect cells. For structural and biophysicalinvestigations milligram quantities of highly pure protein need to beprepared. The following processes in the mode of action of thereceptors will be primarily studied: The binding of ligands to theextracellular binding domains and the conformational changes in theinteraction of the binding domains and the GAIN domains inducedthereby and, furthermore, the interaction between the GAIN domainand the transmembrane part, which is probably conserved in allaGPCR.