1 The receptor showed a remarkable homology to the seven-transmembrane receptor rhodopsin, involved in nighttime light perception, and the only receptor known at the time to act through a G protein. The new beta 2AR genomic sequence suggested that a new family of receptors might exist, and they all might share a common structure.
Though it was early in his career, Civelli, then at the Vollum Institute at the Oregon Health & Science University, gambled that he could use the sequence of the beta 2AR gene as a screen for similar receptor genes. In the same year that the Duke group published, Civelli recloned beta 2AR and used it as a probe to screen a rat genomic library. At the time, many researchers told him that the approach was a long shot and that his team wouldn't touch a new receptor with a "10-foot pole." Other researchers ...
