title: Spatial and Temporal Aspects of Signaling by G-Protein-Coupled Receptors.
abstract: Signaling by G-protein-coupled receptors is often considered a uniform process, whereby a homogeneously activated proportion of randomly distributed receptors are activated under equilibrium conditions and produce homogeneous, steady-state intracellular signals. While this may be the case in some biologic systems, the example of rhodopsin with its strictly local single-quantum mode of function shows that homogeneity in space and time cannot be a general property of G-protein-coupled systems. Recent work has now revealed many other systems where such simplicity does not prevail. Instead, a plethora of mechanisms allows much more complex patterns of receptor activation and signaling: different mechanisms of protein-protein interaction; temporal changes under nonequilibrium conditions; localized receptor activation; and localized second messenger generation and degradation-all of which shape receptor-generated signals and permit the creation of multiple signal types. Here, we review the evidence for such pleiotropic receptor signaling in space and time.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Rudolf Virchow Center, and Comprehensive Heart Failure Center, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany (M.J.L.); Institut für Medizinische Physik und Biophysik (CC2), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany (K.P.H.); and Zentrum für Biophysik und Bioinformatik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany (K.P.H.) lohse@toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lohse
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Rudolf Virchow Center, and Comprehensive Heart Failure Center, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany (M.J.L.); Institut für Medizinische Physik und Biophysik (CC2), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany (K.P.H.); and Zentrum für Biophysik und Bioinformatik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany (K.P.H.).
authors.forename: Klaus Peter
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Hofmann
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D021381:Protein Transport; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled