@article{BlankenburgBalfanzHayashietal.2015, author = {Blankenburg, Stefanie and Balfanz, Sabine and Hayashi, Y. and Shigenobu, S. and Miura, T. and Baumann, Otto and Baumann, Arnd and Blenau, Wolfgang}, title = {Cockroach GABA(B) receptor subtypes: Molecular characterization, pharmacological properties and tissue distribution}, series = {Neuropharmacology}, volume = {88}, journal = {Neuropharmacology}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0028-3908}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuropharm.2014.08.022}, pages = {134 -- 144}, year = {2015}, abstract = {gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the predominant inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS). Its effects are mediated by either ionotropic GABA(A) receptors or metabotropic GABA(B) receptors. GABA(B) receptors regulate, via Gi/o, G-proteins, ion channels, and adenylyl cyclases. In humans, GABA(B) receptor subtypes are involved in the etiology of neurologic and psychiatric disorders. In arthropods, however, these members of the G-protein-coupled receptor family are only inadequately characterized. Interestingly, physiological data have revealed important functions of GABA(B) receptors in the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana. We have cloned cDNAs coding for putative GABA(B) receptor subtypes 1 and 2 of P. americana (PeaGB1 and PeaGB2). When both receptor proteins are co-expressed in mammalian cells, activation of the receptor heteromer with GABA leads to a dose-dependent decrease in cAMP production. The pharmacological profile differs from that of mammalian and Drosophila GABA(B) receptors. Western blot analyses with polyclonal antibodies have revealed the expression of PeaGB1 and PeaGB2 in the CNS of the American cockroach. In addition to the widespread distribution in the brain, PeaGB1 is expressed in salivary glands and male accessory glands. Notably, PeaGB1-like immunoreactivity has been detected in the GABAergic salivary neuron 2, suggesting that GABA(B) receptors act as autoreceptors in this neuron.}, language = {en} } @article{Blenau2005, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang}, title = {Cellular actions of biogenic amines}, year = {2005}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Blenau2006, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang}, title = {Aminerge Signaltransduktion bei Insekten}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-7568}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, year = {2006}, abstract = {Biogene Amine sind kleine organische Verbindungen, die sowohl bei Wirbeltieren als auch bei Wirbellosen als Neurotransmitter, Neuromodulatoren und/oder Neurohormone wirken k{\"o}nnen. Sie bilden eine bedeutende Gruppe von Botenstoffen und entfalten ihre Wirkungen {\"u}ber die Bindung an eine bestimmte Klasse von Rezeptorproteinen, die als G-Protein-gekoppelte Rezeptoren bezeichnet werden. Bei Insekten geh{\"o}ren zur Substanzklasse der biogenen Amine die Botenstoffe Dopamin, Tyramin, Octopamin, Serotonin und Histamin. Neben vielen anderen Wirkung ist z.B. gezeigt worden, daß einige dieser biogenen Amine bei der Honigbiene (Apis mellifera) die Geschmacksempfindlichkeit f{\"u}r Zuckerwasser-Reize modulieren k{\"o}nnen. Ich habe verschiedene Aspekte der aminergen Signaltransduktion an den „Modellorganismen" Honigbiene und Amerikanische Großschabe (Periplaneta americana) untersucht. Aus der Honigbiene, einem „Modellorganismus" f{\"u}r das Studium von Lern- und Ged{\"a}chtnisvorg{\"a}ngen, wurden zwei Dopamin-Rezeptoren, ein Tyramin-Rezeptor, ein Octopamin-Rezeptor und ein Serotonin-Rezeptor charakterisiert. Die Rezeptoren wurden in kultivierten S{\"a}ugerzellen exprimiert, um ihre pharmakologischen und funktionellen Eigenschaften (Kopplung an intrazellul{\"a}re Botenstoffwege) zu analysieren. Weiterhin wurde mit Hilfe verschiedener Techniken (RT-PCR, Northern-Blotting, in situ-Hybridisierung) untersucht, wo und wann w{\"a}hrend der Entwicklung die entsprechenden Rezeptor-mRNAs im Gehirn der Honigbiene exprimiert werden. Als Modellobjekt zur Untersuchung der zellul{\"a}ren Wirkungen biogener Amine wurden die Speicheldr{\"u}sen der Amerikanischen Großschabe genutzt. An isolierten Speicheldr{\"u}sen l{\"a}ßt sich sowohl mit Dopamin als auch mit Serotonin Speichelproduktion ausl{\"o}sen, wobei Speichelarten unterschiedlicher Zusammensetzung gebildet werden. Dopamin induziert die Bildung eines v{\"o}llig proteinfreien, w{\"a}ßrigen Speichels. Serotonin bewirkt die Sekretion eines proteinhaltigen Speichels. Die Serotonin-induzierte Proteinsekretion wird durch eine Erh{\"o}hung der Konzentration des intrazellul{\"a}ren Botenstoffs cAMP vermittelt. Es wurden die pharmakologischen Eigenschaften der Dopamin-Rezeptoren der Schaben-Speicheldr{\"u}sen untersucht sowie mit der molekularen Charakterisierung putativer aminerger Rezeptoren der Schabe begonnen. Weiterhin habe ich das ebony-Gen der Schabe charakterisiert. Dieses Gen kodiert f{\"u}r ein Enzym, das wahrscheinlich bei der Schabe (wie bei anderen Insekten) an der Inaktivierung biogener Amine beteiligt ist und im Gehirn und in den Speicheldr{\"u}sen der Schabe exprimiert wird.}, subject = {Neurotransmitter-Rezeptor}, language = {de} } @article{BlenauBaumann2005, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang and Baumann, Arnd}, title = {Molecular characterization of the ebony gene from the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana}, year = {2005}, abstract = {Biogenic amines are an important class of primary messengers in the central (CNS) and peripheral nervous systems and in peripheral organs. These substances regulate and modulate many physiological and behavioral processes. Various inactivation mechanisms for these substances exist to terminate biogenic amine-mediated signal transduction. In vertebrates, the enzymes monoamine oxidase and/or catechol-O-methyl-transferase are involved in these processes. In insects, however, in which both enzymes are low in abundance or absent, biogenic amines are inactivated mainly by N- acetylation or O-sulphation. In Droso-philo, beta-alanyl conjugation mediated by the Ebony protein has recently been shown to be a novel and alternative pathway for biogenic amine inactivation. Here, we report the cloning of ebony cDNA (Peaebony) from a brain-specific cDNA library of the cockroach Periplaneta americana. The open reading frame encodes a protein of 860 amino acid residues (PeaEbony). The PeaEbony polypeptide shares homology to Ebony sequences from Anopheles gambiae, Apis mellifera, and Drosophila melonogaster. In addition, PeaEbony exhibits sequence similarity to a family of microbial non-ribosomal peptide synthetases. The mRNA encoding PeaEbony is highly expressed in the cockroach brain and to a lesser extent in the salivary glands. PeaEbony is, therefore, probably involved in the inactivation of various biogenic amines through beta-alanyl conjugation in the cockroach CNS. Since the salivary glands in Periplaneta are innervated by dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons, PeaEbony probably also biochemically modifies dopamine and serotonin in these acinar glands. Arch. Insect Biochem. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc}, language = {en} } @article{BlenauBaumann2001, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang and Baumann, Arnd}, title = {Molecular and pharmacological properties of insect biogenic amine receptors : lessons from Drosophila melanogaster and Apis mellifera}, issn = {0739-4462}, year = {2001}, language = {en} } @misc{BlenauBaumann2003, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang and Baumann, Arnd}, title = {Aminergic signal transduction in invertebrates : focus on tyramine and octopamine receptors}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-44271}, year = {2003}, abstract = {Electro-chemical signal transduction is the basis of communication between n eurons and their target cells. An important group of neuroactive substances that are released by action potentials from neurons are the biogenic amines. These a re small organic molecules that bind to specific receptors located in the target cell membrane. Once activated these receptors cause changes in the intracellula r concentration of second messengers, i.e. cyclic nucleotides, phosphoinositides , or Ca2+, leading to slow but long-lasting cellular responses. Biochemical, pha rmacological, physiological, and molecular biological approaches have unequivoca lly shown that biogenic amines are important regulators of cellular function in both vertebrates and invertebrates. In this review, we will concentrate on the p roperties of two biogenic amines and their receptors that were originally identi fied in invertebrates: tyramine and octopamine. }, language = {en} } @misc{BlenauGrohmannErberetal.2003, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang and Grohmann, Lore and Erber, Joachim and Ebert, Paul R. and Str{\"u}nker, Timo and Baumann, Arnd}, title = {Molecular and functional characterization of an octopamine receptor from honeybee (Apis mellifera) brain}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-44293}, year = {2003}, abstract = {Biogenic amines and their receptors regulate and modulate many physiological and behavioural processes in animals. In vertebrates, octopamine is only found in trace amounts and its function as a true neurotransmitter is unclear. In protostomes, however, octopamine can act as neurotransmitter, neuromodulator and neurohormone. In the honeybee, octopamine acts as a neuromodulator and is involved in learning and memory formation. The identification of potential octopamine receptors is decisive for an understanding of the cellular pathways involved in mediating the effects of octopamine. Here we report the cloning and functional characterization of the first octopamine receptor from the honeybee, Apis mellifera . The gene was isolated from a brain-specific cDNA library. It encodes a protein most closely related to octopamine receptors from Drosophila melanogaster and Lymnea stagnalis . Signalling properties of the cloned receptor were studied in transiently transfected human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells. Nanomolar to micromolar concentrations of octopamine induced oscillatory increases in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration. In contrast to octopamine, tyramine only elicited Ca2+ responses at micromolar concentrations. The gene is abundantly expressed in many somata of the honeybee brain, suggesting that this octopamine receptor is involved in the processing of sensory inputs, antennal motor outputs and higher-order brain functions.}, language = {en} } @misc{BlenauHauserCazzamalietal.2006, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang and Hauser, Frank and Cazzamali, Giuseppe and Williamson, Michael and Grimmelikhuijzen, Cornelis J. P.}, title = {A review of neurohormone GPCRs present in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster and the honey bee Apis mellifera}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-44326}, year = {2006}, abstract = {G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) genes are large gene families in every animal, sometimes making up to 1-2\% of the animal's genome. Of all insect GPCRs, the neurohormone (neuropeptide, protein hormone, biogenic amine) GPCRs are especially important, because they, together with their ligands, occupy a high hierarchic position in the physiology of insects and steer crucial processes such as development, reproduction, and behavior. In this paper, we give a review of our current knowledge on Drosophila melanogaster GPCRs and use this information to annotate the neurohormone GPCR genes present in the recently sequenced genome from the honey bee Apis mellifera. We found 35 neuropeptide receptor genes in the honey bee (44 in Drosophila) and two genes, coding for leucine-rich repeats-containing protein hormone GPCRs (4 in Drosophila). In addition, the honey bee has 19 biogenic amine receptor genes (21 in Drosophila). The larger numbers of neurohormone receptors in Drosophila are probably due to gene duplications that occurred during recent evolution of the fly. Our analyses also yielded the likely ligands for 40 of the 56 honey bee neurohormone GPCRs identified in this study. In addition, we made some interesting observations on neurohormone GPCR evolution and the evolution and co-evolution of their ligands. For neuropeptide and protein hormone GPCRs, there appears to be a general co-evolution between receptors and their ligands. This is in contrast to biogenic amine GPCRs, where evolutionarily unrelated GPCRs often bind to the same biogenic amine, suggesting frequent ligand exchanges ("ligand hops") during GPCR evolution. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @misc{BlenauMustardHamiltonetal.2003, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang and Mustard, Julie A. and Hamilton, Ingrid S. and Ward, Vernon K. and Ebert, Paul R. and Mercer, Alison R.}, title = {Analysis of two D1-like dopamine receptors from the honey bee Apis mellifera reveals agonist-independent activity}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-44378}, year = {2003}, abstract = {Dopamine is found in many invertebrate organisms, including insects, however, the mechanisms through which this amine operates remain unclear. We have expressed two dopamine receptors cloned from honey bee (AmDOP1 and AmDOP2) in insect cells (Spodoptera frugiperda), and compared their pharmacology directly using production of cAMP as a functional assay. In each assay, AmDOP1 receptors required lower concentrations of dopamine and 6,7-ADTN for maximal activation than AmDOP2 receptors. Conversely, butaclamol and cis(Z)-flupentixol were more potent at blocking the cAMP response mediated through AmDOP2 than AmDOP1 receptors. Expression of AmDOP1, but not AmDOP2, receptors significantly increased levels of cAMP even in the absence of ligand. This constitutive activity was blocked by cis(Z)-flupentixol. This work provides the first evidence of a constitutively activated dopamine receptor in invertebrates and suggests that although AmDOP1 and AmDOP2 share much less homology than their vertebrate counterparts, they display a number of functional parallels with the mammalian D1-like dopamine receptors.}, language = {en} } @misc{BlenauRotteKrachetal.2009, author = {Blenau, Wolfgang and Rotte, Cathleen and Krach, Christian and Balfanz, Sabine and Baumann, Arnd and Walz, Bernd}, title = {Molecular characterization and localization of the first tyramine receptor of the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-44335}, year = {2009}, abstract = {The phenolamines octopamine and tyramine control, regulate, and modulate many physiological and behavioral processes in invertebrates. Vertebrates possess only small amounts of both substances, and thus, octopamine and tyramine, together with other biogenic amines, are referred to as "trace amines." Biogenic amines evoke cellular responses by activating G-protein-coupled receptors. We have isolated a complementary DNA (cDNA) that encodes a biogenic amine receptor from the American cockroach Periplaneta americana, viz., Peatyr1, which shares high sequence similarity to members of the invertebrate tyramine-receptor family. The PeaTYR1 receptor was stably expressed in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells, and its ligand response has been examined. Receptor activation with tyramine reduces adenylyl cyclase activity in a dose-dependent manner (EC50 350 nM). The inhibitory effect of tyramine is abolished by co-incubation with either yohimbine or chlorpromazine. Receptor expression has been investigated by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunocytochemistry. The mRNA is present in various tissues including brain, salivary glands, midgut, Malpighian tubules, and leg muscles. The effect of tyramine on salivary gland acinar cells has been investigated by intracellular recordings, which have revealed excitatory presynaptic actions of tyramine. This study marks the first comprehensive molecular, pharmacological, and functional characterization of a tyramine receptor in the cockroach.}, language = {en} }