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Molecular Cloning of a Lobster Gα q Protein Expressed in Neurons of Olfactory Organ and Brain
Author(s) -
McClintock Timothy S.,
Xu Fuqiang,
Quintero Jorge,
Gress Anne M.,
Landers Teresa M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1046/j.1471-4159.1997.68062248.x
Subject(s) - biology , olfactory system , olfactory receptor , messenger rna , eyestalk , olfactory mucosa , olfactory receptor cell , homarus , cdna library , microbiology and biotechnology , neuroscience , gene , endocrinology , genetics , zoology , crustacean , hormone
We have isolated from an American lobster ( Homarus americanus ) olfactory organ cDNA library a clone, hGα q , with >80% identity to mammalian and arthropod 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, pereiopod, 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.