Membrane guanylate cyclase signal transduction system.

The suspect role of the receptor-mediated cyclic GMP signaling pathway was dispelled by the discovery of a membrane guanylate cyclase that was also an atrial natriuretic factor receptor. It is now established that the membrane guanylate cyclase transduction system is linked to the signaling of natriuretic factors, guanylin/enterotoxin, and emerging evidence suggests that a new neural tissue-specific subfamily of membrane guanylate cyclases exists whose mechanism of signal transduction is different from those of the other membrane cyclases. This review will briefly discuss the fascinating, albeit turbulent, history of this signal transduction field, which will be followed by its current status and finally the direction it is heading.