Mammalian calcitonin receptor-like receptor/receptor activity modifying protein complexes define calcitonin gene-related peptide and adrenomedullin receptors in Drosophila Schneider 2 cells.

Differential glycosylation of human and rat (r) calcitonin (CT) receptor-like receptors (CRLR) as a result of interactions with accessory receptor activity-modifying proteins (RAMP)1 or -2 was considered to define CT gene-related peptide (CGRP) or adrenomedullin (ADM) receptors in mammalian cells. Here, Drosophila Schneider (S2) cells stably co-expressed rCRLR and RAMP1 or -2 as functional CGRP or ADM receptors. Different from mammalian cells, rCRLR expressed in S2 cells are uniformly glycosylated proteins independent of RAMP1 or RAMP2. Bis(sulfosuccinimidyl)suberate cross-linking revealed receptor components with the size of rCRLR, increased by the molecular weights of the corresponding RAMPs and [(125)I]CGRP or [(125)I]ADM. In conclusion, [(125)I]CGRP/rCRLR/RAMP1 and [(125)I]ADM/rCRLR/RAMP2 complexes have been recognized in Drosophila S2 cells.