Canonical G-protein coupled receptors of vascular plants

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are 7 transmembrane proteins that translate environmental signals into cellular signals. Over 40,000 GPCR orthologs have been discovered in the supergroup Amorphea, including approximately 800 GPCR-encoding genes in the human genome alone. In contrast to this diversity, only a handful of GPCR candidates have been reported in vascular plants, a major lineage of land plants. To advance our understanding of plant GPCRs and their potential roles in plant cellular signaling, here we performed a comprehensive bioinformatic analysis encompassing clustering strategies, phylogenetic reconstructions, and in silico structural predictions. Altogether, our work indicates that, by structural criteria, GCR1 is likely the sole canonical GPCR retained in model vascular plants.