slime mold cyclic AMP receptor, member of the class E family of seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors
This family represents the class E of seven-transmembrane G-protein coupled receptors found in soil-living amoebas, commonly referred to as slime molds. The class E family includes cAMP receptors (cAR1-4) and cAMP receptors-like proteins (CrlA-C) from Dictyostelium discoideum, and their highly homologous cAMP receptors (TasA and TasB) from Polysphondylium pallidum. So far, four subtypes of cAMP receptors (cAR1-4) have been identified that play an essential role in the detection and transmit of the periodic extracellular cAMP waves that regulate chemotactic cell movement during Dictyostelium development, from the unicellular amoeba aggregate into many multicellular slugs and then differentiate into a sporocarp, a fruiting body with cells specialized for different functions. These four subtypes differ in their expression levels and patterns during development. cAR1 is high-affinity receptor that is the first one to be expressed highly during early aggregation and continues to be expressed at low levels during later developmental stages. cAR1 detects extracellular cAMP and is coupled to G-alpha2 protein. Cells lacking cAR1 fail to aggregate, demonstrating that cAR1 is responsible for aggregation. During later aggregation the high-affinity cAR3 receptor is expressed at low levels. Nonetheless, cells lacking cAR3 do not show an obviously altered pattern of development and are still able to aggregate into fruiting bodies. In contrast, cAR2 and cAR4 are low affinity receptors expressed predominantly after aggregation in pre-stalk cells. cAR2 is essential for normal tip formation and deletion of the receptor arrests development at the mound stage. On the other hand, CAR4 regulates axial patterning and cellular differentiation, and deletion of the receptor results in defects during culmination. Furthermore, three cAMP receptor-like proteins (CrlA-C) were identified in Dictyostelium that show limited sequence similarity to the cAMP receptors. Of these CrlA is thought to be required for normal cell growth and tip formation in developing aggregates.
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