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A new family of insect muscarinic acetylcholine receptors
Author(s) -
Xia R.Y.,
Li M.Q.,
Wu Y.S.,
Qi Y.X.,
Ye G.Y.,
Huang J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
insect molecular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.955
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2583
pISSN - 0962-1075
DOI - 10.1111/imb.12229
Subject(s) - muscarinic acetylcholine receptor , biology , oxotremorine , acetylcholine , muscarinic acetylcholine receptor m2 , drosophila melanogaster , acetylcholine receptor , muscarinic acetylcholine receptor m5 , muscarinic acetylcholine receptor m4 , muscarinic acetylcholine receptor m3 , receptor , pharmacology , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , gene
Most currently used insecticides are neurotoxic chemicals that target a limited number of sites and insect cholinergic neurotransmission is the major target. A potential target for insecticide development is the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR), which is a metabotropic G‐protein‐coupled receptor. Insects have A‐ and B‐type mAChRs and the five mammalian mAChRs are close to the A‐type. We isolated a cDNA ( CG12796 ) from the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster . After heterologous expression in Chinese hamster ovary K1 cells, CG12796 could be activated by acetylcholine [EC 50 (half maximal effective concentration), 73 nM] and the mAChR agonist oxotremorine M (EC 50 , 48.2 nM) to increase intracellular Ca 2+ levels. Thus, the new mAChR is coupled to G q/11 but not G s and G i/o . The classical mAChR antagonists atropine and scopolamine N‐butylbromide at 100 μM completely blocked the acetylcholine‐induced responses. The orthologues of CG12796 can also be found in the genomes of other insects, but not in the genomes of the honeybee or parasitoid wasps. Knockdown of CG12796 in the central nervous system had no effect on male courtship behaviours. We suggest that CG12796 represents the first recognized member of a novel mAChR class.