Background Bark beetles are major pests of conifer forests, and their behavior is primarily mediated via olfaction. Targeting the odorant receptors (ORs) may thus provide avenues towards improved pest control. Such an approach requires information on the function of ORs and their interactions with ligands, which is also essential for understanding the functional evolution of these receptors. Hence, we aimed to identify a high-quality complement of ORs from the destructive spruce bark beetle Ips typographus (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae) and analyze their antennal expression and phylogenetic relationships with ORs from other beetles. Using 68 biologically relevant test compounds, we next aimed to functionally characterize ecologically important ORs, using two systems for heterologous expression. Our final aim was to gain insight into the ligand-OR interaction of the functionally characterized ORs, using a combination of computational and experimental methods. Results We annotated 73 ORs from an antennal transcriptome of I. typographus and report the functional characterization of two ORs (ItypOR46 and ItypOR49), which are responsive to single enantiomers of the common bark beetle pheromone compounds ipsenol and ipsdienol, respectively. Their responses and antennal expression correlate with the specificities, localizations, and/or abundances of olfactory sensory neurons detecting these enantiomers. We use homology modeling and molecular docking to predict their binding sites. Our models reveal a likely binding cleft lined with residues that previously have been shown to affect the responses of insect ORs. Within this cleft, the active ligands are predicted to specifically interact with residues Tyr84 and Thr205 in ItypOR46. The suggested importance of these residues in the activation by ipsenol is experimentally supported through site-directed mutagenesis and functional testing, and hydrogen bonding appears key in pheromone binding. Conclusions The emerging insight into ligand binding in the two characterized ItypORs has a general importance for our understanding of the molecular and functional evolution of the insect OR gene family. Due to the ecological importance of the characterized receptors and widespread use of ipsenol and ipsdienol in bark beetle chemical communication, these ORs should be evaluated for their potential use in pest control and biosensors to detect bark beetle infestations.

The structural elucidation of membrane proteins continues to gather pace, but we know little about their molecular interactions with the lipid environment or how they interact with the surrounding bilayer. Here, with the aid of low-resolution X-ray crystallography, we present direct structural information on membrane interfaces as delineated by lipid phosphate groups surrounding the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca 2 + -ATPase (sERCA) in its phosphorylated and dephosphorylated Ca 2 + -free forms. The protein-lipid interactions are further analysed using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that sERCA adapts to membranes of different hydrophobic thicknesses by inducing local deformations in the lipid bilayers and by undergoing small rearrangements of the amino-acid side chains and helix tilts. These mutually adaptive interactions allow smooth transitions through large conformational changes associated with the transport cycle of sERCA, a strategy that may be of general nature for many membrane proteins.

Thapsigargin (Tg), a specific inhibitor of sarco/endoplasmic Ca 2؉ -ATPases (SERCA), binds with high affinity to the E2 conformation of these ATPases. SERCA inhibition leads to elevated calcium levels in the cytoplasm, which in turn induces apoptosis. We present x-ray crystallographic and intrinsic fluorescence data to show how Tg and chemical analogs of the compound with modified or removed side chains bind to isolated SERCA 1a membranes. This occurs by uptake via the membrane lipid followed by insertion into a resident intramembranous binding site with few adaptative changes. Our binding data indicate that a balanced hydrophobicity and accurate positioning of the side chains, provided by the central guaianolide ring structure, defines a pharmacophore of Tg that governs both high affinity and access to the protein-binding site. Tg analogs substituted with long linkers at O-8 extend from the binding site between transmembrane segments to the putative N-terminal Ca 2؉ entry pathway. The long chain analogs provide a rational basis for the localization of the linker, the presence of which is necessary for enabling prostate-specific antigen to cleave peptide-conjugated prodrugs targeting SERCA of cancer cells (Denmeade, S. R., Jakobsen, C. M., Janssen, S., Khan, S. R., Garrett, E. S., Lilja, H., Christensen, S. B., and Isaacs, J. T. (2003) J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 95, 990 -1000). Our study demonstrates the usefulness of a simple in vitro system to test and direct development toward the formulation of new Tg derivatives with improved properties for SERCA targeting. Finally, we propose that the Tg binding pocket may be a regulatory site that, for example, is sensitive to cholesterol.Understanding protein-membrane interaction and the activity of lipophilic drugs and specific lipids like sterols attracts increasing attention and represents a challenge to our current models of protein-solvent interactions and protein dynamics. Sarco/endoplasmic Ca 2ϩ -ATPase (SERCA) 6 offers an attractive model for the analysis of such interactions due to favorable biochemical properties with sensitive assays of function, a large resource of inhibitors, and a wealth of crystal structures related to the functional cycle. In conjunction with plasma membrane Ca 2ϩ -ATPases and Ca 2ϩ channel proteins, SERCA orchestrates spatiotemporal changes in the concentration of Ca 2ϩ inside the cell, providing the background essential for the function of Ca 2ϩ as a second messenger in the regulation of numerous cellular processes (1-3). At the same time, high cytosolic (Ͼ1 M) concentrations of Ca 2ϩ , induced by depletion of the endoplasmic Ca 2ϩ stores and uptake of extracellular Ca 2ϩ by the endoplasmic store-regulated mechanism (4), are involved as essential factors in the induction of apoptotic processes, leading to mitochondrial disruption with release of cytochrome c, activation of intracellular caspases, and cell death (5). As a consequence, interference of cellular function by inhibition of SERCA may lead to apoptotic cell death irrespective of the...