Single-Cell Biophysics: Measurement, Modulation, and Modeling

Single-Cell Biophysics: Measurement, Modulation, and Modeling

Poster Abstracts

54-POS Board 27 A Robust and Sensitive Method to Quantify Receptor Responses in the Nano Range Shin-Shiou Lin , Huai-hu Chuang. Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. In the brain, many hormones and neurotransmitters activate cellular signal transduction pathways via G-protein coupled receptors. G alpha proteins are speedily activated subsequent to the formation of a ternary complex from the direct interaction of receptors with their cognate ligands. Among a host of PLC-coupled pathways, despite all signaling through the canonical Gαq as well as downstream effectors thereof, each receptor is still capable of eliciting events of a distinct, or even more so, unique spatiotemporal profile. To elucidate the mechanism with which the complexity arises, we performed single cell analysis to monitor GPCR activation in real time. The GPCR of interest was made a channel fusion to facilitate receptor counting, with the ligand- induced response tracked simultaneously. By this method, we quantitatively compared the receptors for acetylcholine (muscarinic type) with those for angiotensin. Our results underpin the robustness of GPCR signaling, which might explain the prevalence of such transduction network in Nature.

125