Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2022 Mar;18(3):242-243.
doi: 10.1038/s41589-021-00959-4.

Scratching the itch with cryo-EM

Jagannath Maharana  1 , Parishmita Sarma  1 , Arun K Shukla  2
Affiliations
Comment

Scratching the itch with cryo-EM

Jagannath Maharana et al. Nat Chem Biol. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Cryo-EM structures of Mas-related G-protein-coupled receptors (MRGPRs) that are involved in the allergic reaction and itch response reveal structural insights into their activation mechanism, and offer the potential to discover new therapeutic agents for pain and hypersensitivity reactions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. The structure and function of MRGPRX2.
a, Schematic representation of MRGPRX2-mediated mast cell degranulation and itch response. Created using BioRender.com. b, Structural snapshot of cortistatin-14-bound MRGPRX2 in complex with heterotrimeric Gαi proteins determined using cryo-EM. ScFv, single-chain variable fragment. The structural snapshot was designed in ChimeraX using Protein Data Bank ID 7S8M.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Structure, function and pharmacology of human itch GPCRs.
    Cao C, Kang HJ, Singh I, Chen H, Zhang C, Ye W, Hayes BW, Liu J, Gumpper RH, Bender BJ, Slocum ST, Krumm BE, Lansu K, McCorvy JD, Kroeze WK, English JG, DiBerto JF, Olsen RHJ, Huang XP, Zhang S, Liu Y, Kim K, Karpiak J, Jan LY, Abraham SN, Jin J, Shoichet BK, Fay JF, Roth BL. Cao C, et al. Nature. 2021 Dec;600(7887):170-175. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04126-6. Epub 2021 Nov 17. Nature. 2021. PMID: 34789874 Free PMC article.
  • Structure, function and pharmacology of human itch receptor complexes.
    Yang F, Guo L, Li Y, Wang G, Wang J, Zhang C, Fang GX, Chen X, Liu L, Yan X, Liu Q, Qu C, Xu Y, Xiao P, Zhu Z, Li Z, Zhou J, Yu X, Gao N, Sun JP. Yang F, et al. Nature. 2021 Dec;600(7887):164-169. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04077-y. Epub 2021 Nov 17. Nature. 2021. PMID: 34789875

References

    1. Ikoma A, et al. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2006;7:535–547. - PubMed
    1. Bader M, et al. Pharmacol Rev. 2014;66:1080–105. - PubMed
    1. Liu Q, et al. Cell. 2009;139:1353–1365. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yu H, et al. eLife. 2019;8:e48431. - PubMed
    1. Cao C, et al. Nature. 2021;600:170–175. - PMC - PubMed