Recently, the research team led by Prof. Zhang Lei from the XJTU School of Physics cooperated with researchers from Sichuan University, Shandong University, the National Center for Protein Science in Shanghai, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and achieved breakthroughs in research on the regulatory mechanisms of dopamine receptors via cryo-EM.

Researchers identified the structure of the DRD1-G protein complex with the help of single-particle cryo-EM, thus elucidating the mechanisms including ligand recognition, allosteric regulation, and G protein coupling of DRD1 at the atomic level. Their findings may shed light on drug development and treatment for high blood pressure, Parkinson's disease, and kidney damage.

Their findings titled Ligand recognition and allosteric regulation of DRD1-Gs signaling complexes were published in Cell online on February 10, 2021, as the cover paper. XJTU's doctorate candidate, Gou Lu, from the research team led by Prof. Zhang Lei, was the first co-author. Prof. Zhang was the co-corresponding author.

Read the article: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00071-4