Conditional mutagenesis of G-protein coupled receptors and G-proteins

The G-protein-coupled receptor signaling system, consisting of a huge variety of receptors as well as of many G-proteins and effectors, operates in every cell and is involved in many physiological and pathological processes. The versatility of this system and the involvement of specific components makes G-protein-coupled receptors and their signaling pathways ideal targets for pharmacological interventions. Classical mouse knockout models have often provided important preliminary insights into the biological roles of individual receptors and signaling pathways and they are routinely used in the process of target validation. The recent development of efficient conditional mutagenesis techniques now allows a much more detailed analysis of G-protein-mediated signaling transduction processes. This review summarizes some of the areas in which progress has recently been made by applying conditional mutagenesis of genes coding for G-proteins and G-protein-coupled receptors.