Serotonin (5-HT) is a major neurotransmitter that influences various behaviors, neuronal plasticity, learning, and memory in molluscs. Although the physiology of 5-HT transmission in molluscs is well studied, little is known about the pharmacology and diversity of the 5-HT receptor system. Based on the high homology of genes coding for guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptors, we have cloned a gene for the Lymnaea stagnalis 5-HT (5HTlym) receptor. The putative receptor protein, 509 amino acids long, has highest homology with the Drosophila 5-HT receptors and mammalian 5HT1 receptors. As revealed by RNA blot-hybridization analysis, two mRNA species of 2.3 and 3.2 kb are detected in the central nervous system of Lymnaea. Transient expression of 5HTlym in COS-7 cells showed saturable [3H]lyseric acid diethylamide binding with an estimated dissociation constant of 0.9 nM. The 5HTlym receptor exhibited a mixed 5HT-like pharmacology that cannot be precisely categorized with existing mammalian classification nomenclature. However, the 5HTlym receptor does display some characteristics that have been attributed to the putative mammalian vascular 5HT1-like receptor.Serotonin (5-HT), a neurotransmitter that mediates a number of effects through several different receptors, is present in both vertebrate and invertebrate species (1, 2). In mammals several 5-HT receptors and receptor subtypes have been identified based on pharmacological and biochemical criteria (3)(4)(5)(6). Presently, seven distinct mammalian 5-HT receptors have been cloned. These include the SHT1A (7,8), SHT1B (9), 5HT1c (10, 11), 5HT1Da (12), 5HT1Dp (13,14), SHT2 (11,15,16), and the pharmacologically uncharacterized human 5-HT receptor, S31 (17), all of which mediate their effects through coupling to guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory proteins (G proteins). In addition, three 5-HT receptors in Drosophila melanogaster-the 5HTdro1 receptor (18), which stimulates adenylate cyclase, and the 5HTdro2A and 5HTdro2B receptors (19), which inhibit adenylate cyclase-have recently been cloned. These receptors in Drosophila are most homologous in primary sequence to the human SHT1A receptor; however, the partial pharmacological characterization of these receptors suggests that they are not identical to the 5HT1A receptor.The molluscan nervous system contains large amounts of 5-HT, and several 5-HT-containing neurons have been identified therein (20,21). The effect of 5-HT on various ionic currents and on the cell membrane potential has been studied extensively in molluscs, and on the basis of these experiments the existence of several 5-HT receptors has been postulated (22, 23). 5-HT also has been implicated in many behavioral or physiological processes in molluscs such as learning, circadian rhythms, feeding, development, and neuronal regeneration (24-32). The 5-HT receptors that mediate the behavioral and/or electrophysiological effects are structurally and pharmacologically not well characterized, and none of these receptors has be...