Concentrationresponse curves of the two active substances that revealed that 1 mM TMA is sufficient to induce significant signals above detection threshold (p,0.05). Adding of 1 mM TMA to the extracellular media led to the induction of a strong luciferase activity that was even higher than the signal induced by the adenylate cyclase activator forskolin (10 mM) as positive control. TMA is the most potent hTAAR5 ligand with an EC50 value of 116 mM (n = 2?3), followed by DMEA EC50 = 169 mM, n = 2?) (Fig. 4). DMEA activates hTAAR5 with a lower efficacy and is therefore a partial agonist. To compare the receptor affinities we additionally expressed mTAAR5 in HANA3A cells and measured receptor activity in the Cre-luciferase assay (Figure S2). The 
murine TAAR5 is more sensitive than the human ortholog. Calculated EC50 value is 940 nM (n = 2?).Human TAAR5 Expression in Xenopus laevis OocytesDue to the fact that co-expression of different proteins like RTP1S (Materials and methods) can alter the surface receptor expression and sensitivity of the used reporter system, EC50 values measured by only one expression system have limited reliabilities for statements about general receptor sensitivity. We used a different recombinant expression system to validate our data regarding the hTAAR5 sensitivity for the activating tertiary buy 298690-60-5 amines TMA and DMEA obtained by CRE-luciferase assay. We heterologously expressed hTAAR5 using Xenopus laevis oocytes, and screened hTAAR5 with various amines, focusing on DMEA and TMA. This system was used for h/mTAAR1 [1,15] and mammalian odorant receptors and employs CFTR as a reporter channel [16,17], necessary for the induction of currents (Materials and 
methods). As a control for CFTR expression level, each oocyte was tested for its sensitivity to the phosphodiesterase inhibitorFigure 1. Detection of the hTAAR5 receptor protein. Expression of the rhodopsin-tagged hTAAR5 receptor in transfected, fixed HANA3A cells was detected by the anti-rhodopsin antibody 4D2 and a secondary antibody labeled with the fluorescent dye Alexa Fluor 488 (green). Cell nuclei were stained by DAPI (blue). Left: Cells transfected with hTAAR5, right: mock-transfected control cells. Scaling bar: 20 mm. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054950.gHuman TAAR5 Is Activated by TrimethylamineFigure 2. Chemical structure of various tested TMA analogs. Only tertiary amines (1) trimethylamine and (2) dimethylethylamine can activate hTAAR5. (3) triethylamine, (4) diethylmethylamine, (5) dimethylamine, (6) methylamine, (7) trimethylphosphine, (8) cyclohexylamine, (9) Nmethylpiperidine, (10) pyridine, (11) b-phenylethylamine, (12) skatole, (13) ethanolamine, (14) putrescine, (15) isobutylamine, (16) dimethylbutylamine. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054950.gisobutylmethylxantine (IBMX, 1 mM), which induces a rise in intracellular cAMP and subsequently CFTR mediated inward currents. Human TAAR5 was tested for a total of 10 different amines: b-phenylethylamine, tyramine, serotonin, isobutylamine, TMA, DMEA, 86168-78-7 site N-methylpiperidine, putrescine, cyclohexylamine and ethanolamine, all applied at a concentration of 100 mM. TMA and DMEA induced inward currents on oocytes injected with hTAAR5 but failed to induce any currents in oocytes expressing the reporter channel only (Fig. 5A,B). Mean currents were higher for TMA (7346221 nA, n = 11) than for DMEA (136656 nA, n = 6), both significantly smaller than the mean currents induced by IBMX (1625619 nA, p,0.05, n = 15). The threshold of T.Concentrationresponse curves of the two active substances that revealed that 1 mM TMA is sufficient to induce significant signals above detection threshold (p,0.05). Adding of 1 mM TMA to the extracellular media led to the induction of a strong luciferase activity that was even higher than the signal induced by the adenylate cyclase activator forskolin (10 mM) as positive control. TMA is the most potent hTAAR5 ligand with an EC50 value of 116 mM (n = 2?3), followed by DMEA EC50 = 169 mM, n = 2?) (Fig. 4). DMEA activates hTAAR5 with a lower efficacy and is therefore a partial agonist. To compare the receptor affinities we additionally expressed mTAAR5 in HANA3A cells and measured receptor activity in the Cre-luciferase assay (Figure S2). The murine TAAR5 is more sensitive than the human ortholog. Calculated EC50 value is 940 nM (n = 2?).Human TAAR5 Expression in Xenopus laevis OocytesDue to the fact that co-expression of different proteins like RTP1S (Materials and methods) can alter the surface receptor expression and sensitivity of the used reporter system, EC50 values measured by only one expression system have limited reliabilities for statements about general receptor sensitivity. We used a different recombinant expression system to validate our data regarding the hTAAR5 sensitivity for the activating tertiary amines TMA and DMEA obtained by CRE-luciferase assay. We heterologously expressed hTAAR5 using Xenopus laevis oocytes, and screened hTAAR5 with various amines, focusing on DMEA and TMA. This system was used for h/mTAAR1 [1,15] and mammalian odorant receptors and employs CFTR as a reporter channel [16,17], necessary for the induction of currents (Materials and methods). As a control for CFTR expression level, each oocyte was tested for its sensitivity to the phosphodiesterase inhibitorFigure 1. Detection of the hTAAR5 receptor protein. Expression of the rhodopsin-tagged hTAAR5 receptor in transfected, fixed HANA3A cells was detected by the anti-rhodopsin antibody 4D2 and a secondary antibody labeled with the fluorescent dye Alexa Fluor 488 (green). Cell nuclei were stained by DAPI (blue). Left: Cells transfected with hTAAR5, right: mock-transfected control cells. Scaling bar: 20 mm. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054950.gHuman TAAR5 Is Activated by TrimethylamineFigure 2. Chemical structure of various tested TMA analogs. Only tertiary amines (1) trimethylamine and (2) dimethylethylamine can activate hTAAR5. (3) triethylamine, (4) diethylmethylamine, (5) dimethylamine, (6) methylamine, (7) trimethylphosphine, (8) cyclohexylamine, (9) Nmethylpiperidine, (10) pyridine, (11) b-phenylethylamine, (12) skatole, (13) ethanolamine, (14) putrescine, (15) isobutylamine, (16) dimethylbutylamine. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054950.gisobutylmethylxantine (IBMX, 1 mM), which induces a rise in intracellular cAMP and subsequently CFTR mediated inward currents. Human TAAR5 was tested for a total of 10 different amines: b-phenylethylamine, tyramine, serotonin, isobutylamine, TMA, DMEA, N-methylpiperidine, putrescine, cyclohexylamine and ethanolamine, all applied at a concentration of 100 mM. TMA and DMEA induced inward currents on oocytes injected with hTAAR5 but failed to induce any currents in oocytes expressing the reporter channel only (Fig. 5A,B). Mean currents were higher for TMA (7346221 nA, n = 11) than for DMEA (136656 nA, n = 6), both significantly smaller than the mean currents induced by IBMX (1625619 nA, p,0.05, n = 15). The threshold of T.
