Primary Citation of Related Structures:   7DFL
PubMed Abstract: 
Histamine receptors play important roles in various pathophysiological conditions and are effective targets for anti-allergy treatment, however the mechanism of receptor activation remain elusive. Here, we present the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the human H 1 R in complex with a G q protein in an active conformation via a NanoBiT tethering strategy ...
Histamine receptors play important roles in various pathophysiological conditions and are effective targets for anti-allergy treatment, however the mechanism of receptor activation remain elusive. Here, we present the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the human H 1 R in complex with a G q protein in an active conformation via a NanoBiT tethering strategy. The structure reveals that histamine activates receptor via interacting with the key residues of both transmembrane domain 3 (TM3) and TM6 to squash the binding pocket on the extracellular side and to open the cavity on the intracellular side for G q engagement in a model of "squash to activate and expand to deactivate". The structure also reveals features for G q coupling, including the interaction between intracellular loop 2 (ICL2) and the αN-β junction of G q/11 protein. The detailed analysis of our structure will provide a framework for understanding G-protein coupling selectivity and clues for designing novel antihistamines.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Laboratory of Receptor Structure and Signaling, The HIT Center for Life Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China. ajian.he@hit.edu.cn.