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The mating pheromones and receptors of C. cinereus; a model system for studying G-protein-coupled receptors

ReferenceP12736
Principal Investigator / Supervisor Dr L Casselton
Co-Investigators /
Co-Supervisors
Institution University of Oxford
DepartmentPlant Sciences
Funding typeResearch
Value (£) 168,044
StatusCompleted
TypeResearch Grant
Start date 03/07/2000
End date 02/07/2003
Duration36 months

Abstract

Sexual development in C. cinereus is regulated by a large family of functionally redundant pheromones and G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) encoded by the B mating type genes. We wish to exploit the natural variability of this family of wild type signalling molecules to learn more about the biology of a ubiquitous class of proteins. Sequence alignments can identify conserved regions that permit us to predict structure-function relationships. By expressing pheromones and receptors in yeast, we show that pheromones may act as agonists and inverse agonists and we can distinguish between different causes of constitutive signalling. We plan to optimise our functional assays to better study these phenomena. We also plan to localise the receptors in C. cinereus cells since signalling appears to be confined within the fungal hyphae.

Summary

unavailable
Committee Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research TopicsX – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research PriorityX – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative X - not in an Initiative
Funding SchemeX – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme
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