Structures of the human dopamine D3 receptor-G i complexes.
Xu, P., Huang, S., Mao, C., Krumm, B.E., Zhou, X.E., Tan, Y., Huang, X.P., Liu, Y., Shen, D.D., Jiang, Y., Yu, X., Jiang, H., Melcher, K., Roth, B.L., Cheng, X., Zhang, Y., Xu, H.E.(2021) Mol Cell 81: 1147
- PubMed: 33548201 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2021.01.003
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
7CMU, 7CMV - PubMed Abstract: 
The dopamine system, including five dopamine receptors (D1R-D5R), plays essential roles in the central nervous system (CNS), and ligands that activate dopamine receptors have been used to treat many neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we report two cryo-EM structures of human D3R in complex with an inhibitory G protein and bound to the D3R-selective agonists PD128907 and pramipexole, the latter of which is used to treat patients with Parkinson's disease. The structures reveal agonist binding modes distinct from the antagonist-bound D3R structure and conformational signatures for ligand-induced receptor activation. Mutagenesis and homology modeling illuminate determinants of ligand specificity across dopamine receptors and the mechanisms for G i protein coupling. Collectively our work reveals the basis of agonist binding and ligand-induced receptor activation and provides structural templates for designing specific ligands to treat CNS diseases targeting the dopaminergic system.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Biophysics and Department of Pathology of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China; The CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.