14 DAY TRIAL // An avalanche of studies recently published in two of the world's foremost journals, Science and Nature, finally begin to shed some light on the nature of a medically-important class of molecules, called G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). These proteins managed to keep their structure a secret for decades.
They can be found inside cellular membranes, where they play a significant role in sensing molecules that are located outside the cells. Such chemicals include odors, hormones, and neurotransmitters. Some GPCR even detect light, e! Science News reports.
Currently, numerous drugs and therapies target this class of proteins, even if researchers did not really know much about their structure and their function when the chemicals were developed. The aforementioned drugs are used to treat heart conditions, allergy and even Parkinson's disease.
An interesting side-effect of the GPCR research's progress is that it also led to improvements in technologies such as X-ray light generation, at advanced beamline facilities. The technologies got better in order to conduct X-ray crystallography studies of the target molecules.