Alternative Splicing of Opioid Receptor Genes Shows a Conserved Pattern for 6TM Receptor Variants.

In this study, we have built a comprehensive map of alternative splicing events that produce 6TM receptor variants in all the OPRs and demonstrated their evolutionary conservation. We then obtained evidence for their translation through ribosomal footprint analysis. We discovered that N-terminally truncated 6TM GPCRs are rare in the human genome and OPRs are overrepresented in this group. Finally, we also observed a significant enrichment of 6TM GPCR genes among genes associated with pain, psychiatric disorders, and addiction. Understanding the biology of 6TM receptors and leveraging this knowledge for drug development should pave the way for novel therapies.
PMID: 33010019 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology - October 2, 2020 Category: Cytology Authors: Piltonen M, Krokhotin A, Parisien M, Bérubé P, Djambazian H, Sladek R, Dokholyan NV, Shabalina SA, Diatchenko L Tags: Cell Mol Neurobiol Source Type: research