The Discovery of G Proteins

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1994

	Martin Rodbell and his collaborators found that a transducer provided the link between the hormone receptor (the discriminator) and the amplifier. Alfred G. Gilman and his co-workers used genetic and biochemical techniques to identify and purify the G protein. They used lymphoma cells that normally can be activated by a receptor to form cyclic AMP.
Normal Lymphoma Cell
	A mutated lymphoma cell was found to contain a normal receptor and a normal cyclic AMP-generating enzyme but was yet unable to respond because it lacked the transducer. This was a good system to assay purified G proteins.
Mutated Lymphoma Cell

A G protein could be isolated from normal brain tissue and inserted in the mutated cell, thereby restoring its function.

Contents:
Introduction » The Discovery of G Proteins » Signal Transduction in Cells » Activation and Inactivation of the G Protein » G Proteins and the Body » Cholera and G Proteins »
These pages are based on material from the 1994 Physiology or Medicine Nobel Poster. Credits and references for the poster »