The olfactory G protein G aolf differs from the short splice variant of G sa (G saS ) in 80 amino acids, but little is known about biochemical differences between G aolf and G saS . We addressed this question by analyzing fusion proteins of the b 2 -adrenoceptor (b 2 AR) and G aolf and G saS , respectively, using Sf9 insect cells as expression system. The fusion ensured de®ned receptor/G protein stoichiometry and ef®cient coupling. High-af®nity agonist binding studies showed that G aolf possesses a lower GDP-af®nity than G saS As a result, the agonist-free b 2 AR and the b 2 AR occupied by partial agonists were more ef®cient at promoting GDP-dissociation from G aolf than from G saS a assessed by guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) binding, adenylyl cyclase (AC) activity and GTP hydrolysis. Basal AC activity in the absence of GTP was almost sixfold lower in membranes expressing b 2 AR-G aolf than in membranes expressing b 2 AR-G saS at similar levels, re¯ecting the lower abundance of G aolf-GDP relative to G saS-GDP . The maximum agonist-stimulated AC activity with b 2 AR-G saS was more than twofold higher than with b 2 AR-G aolf , but the relative agonist-stimulation of AC with b 2 AR-G aolf was much greater than with b 2 AR-G saS . The difference in maximum AC activity can be explained by more rapid deactivation of G aolf-GTP by GTP hydrolysis and GTP dissociation relative to G saS-GTP . Taken together, there are biochemical differences between G aolf and G saS , supporting different roles of these G proteins in vivo. Keywords: adenylyl cyclase, G aolf , G sa-short , GDP af®nity, G protein deactivation, receptor/ G a fusion protein.G proteins consist of a a-subunit and a bg-complex and serve as signal transducers between GPCRs and cellular effector systems (Gilman 1987;Birnbaumer et al. 1990). Upon agonist binding, GPCRs isomerize from an inactive (R) state to an active (R*) state in which they promote GDP/ GTP exchange at G a (Lefkowitz et al. 1993;Gether et al. 1995;Leff 1995). R-to R* isomerization can also occur, to some extent, in the absence of agonist and is inhibited by inverse agonists which stabilize the R state. Agonistindependent R-to R* isomerization is referred to as constitutive activity. GDP-dissociation is the rate-limiting step of the G protein cycle. Both GTP-liganded G a and bg can regulate the activity of effector systems. G protein deactivation is accomplished by the GTPase activity of G a (Gilman 1987;Birnbaumer et al. 1990) or by nucleotide dissociation from G a (Cassel and Selinger 1977;Kupprion et al. 1993;Seifert et al. 1999a).The G s protein family has three members, G saL , G saS and G aolf , respectively (Graziano et al. 1989;Jones and Reed 1989). G s proteins mediate coupling of numerous GPCRs These authors contributed equally to this work. Abbreviations used: AC, adenylyl cyclase; b 2 AR, b 2 -adrenoceptor; b 2 AR-G aolf , fusion protein consisting of the b 2 -adrenoceptor and the G protein G aolf ; b 2 AR-G saL , fusion protein consisting of the b 2 -adrenoceptor and th...