A Humanized CB1R Yeast Biosensor Enables Facile Screening of Cannabinoid Compounds.

Yeast expression of human G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) can be used as a biosensor platform for the detection of pharmaceuticals. Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1R) is of particular interest, given the cornucopia of natural and synthetic cannabinoids being explored as therapeutics. We show for the first time that engineering the N-terminus of CB1R allows for efficient signal transduction in yeast, and that engineering the sterol composition of the yeast membrane modulates its performance.

Functional expression of opioid receptors and other human GPCRs in yeast engineered to produce human sterols.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is powerful for studying human G protein-coupled receptors as they can be coupled to its mating pathway. However, some receptors, including the mu opioid receptor, are non-functional, which may be due to the presence of the fungal sterol ergosterol instead of cholesterol. Here we engineer yeast to produce cholesterol and introduce diverse mu, delta, and kappa opioid receptors to create sensitive opioid biosensors that recapitulate agonist binding profiles and antagonist inhibition.

Synthetic GPCRs and signal transduction cascades.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a large and diverse group of membrane proteins that constitute over 30% of FDA approved drug targets. Despite their importance, much remains unknown about GPCR signaling at a system's level. Efforts to engineer receptors with orthogonal components have attempted to provide tools to parse signaling and resultant phenotypes.