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Biotechnology Letters, Vol.28, No.11, 767-778, 2006
New tools for G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) drug discovery: combination of baculoviral expression system and solid state NMR
Biotechnology using molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and computational approaches provides an alternative approach for classical pharmacological screening to look at ligand-receptor interactions and receptor specificity, which should support the design of selective drugs based on detailed structural principles. This review addresses specific approaches to study function, structure and relevance of a major pharmaceutical target, namely the G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs). The main aim of this review has been to exploit and combine GPCR over-expression in a baculoviral expression system with solid-state MAS NMR (ssNMR) approaches for the elucidation of electronic structures of the coordinating ligands/drugs and their modes of interactions with the GPCRs. This review summarizes the approaches, possible future experiments and developments using the above combination of tools for GPCR drug discovery.
Keywords:drug discovery;functional reconstitution;GPCRs;histamine H-1 receptors;ligand binding;magic angle spinning over-expression;solid state NMR