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  • Historical Perspective
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The superfamily of heptahelical receptors

Nature Cell Biology volume 2, pages E133–E136 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Despite a growing appreciation of functional analogies between visual and hormonal signalling systems in the early 1980s, the discovery of the close structural relationship between rhodopsin and the β2-adrenergic receptor, and of the existence of a larger ‘superfamily’ of such receptors, came as a total surprise. Here I provide a personal perspective on events leading up to and flowing from this exciting discovery that opened up a vast field of research.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health Grant HL 16037.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Departments of Medicine (Cardiology) and Biochemistry, Duke University Medical centre, Durham, 27710, North Carolina, USA

    Robert J. Lefkowitz

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  1. Robert J. Lefkowitz
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Correspondence to Robert J. Lefkowitz.

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Lefkowitz, R. The superfamily of heptahelical receptors . Nat Cell Biol 2, E133–E136 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35017152

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