What Is the Function of an Insulin Receptor?

The insulin receptor is a tetramer, connected by two alpha subunits and two beta subunits via disulfide bonds. Two alpha subunits are located on the outer side of the plasma membrane of the cell, and have insulin binding sites on them; the two beta subunits are transmembrane proteins that perform signal transduction.

Insulin receptor

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The insulin receptor family belongs to the type subfamily of the receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) family. Its members include the insulin receptor (IR) and insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGFR), insulin receptor-related receptor (IRR). Insulin receptor family members interact with their respective ligands (such as insulin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1 or IGF-2) ) After binding, through a series of structural conformational changes, activate intracellular tyrosine kinase, initiate intracellular signaling, and play important physiological functions in the body. The members of the insulin receptor family are composed of multiple structural subunits The structural research of highly glycosylated transmembrane proteins has not made great breakthroughs in recent years, providing a valuable experimental and theoretical basis for the in-depth study of the function and structural basis of the insulin receptor family. Analysis of the structure and function of the complex formed by the ligand, not only for the comprehensive understanding of the working principle of the insulin receptor family, designing insulin Body family of repression or agonist of great significance, but also to reveal the working mechanism of RTK receptor family have a profound impact. ^[1]

When insulin binds to the subunit of the receptor and changes the configuration of the subunit, the tyrosine protein kinase is activated. After activation, it can catalyze two reactions: Make the subunit specific in the tetramer complex. Phosphorylation of tyrosine residues at this site, this process is called autophosphorylation; phosphorylation of dozens of tyrosine residues on insulin receptor substrates (IRSs), which play an important role Phosphorylated, phosphorylated IRSs are able to bind and activate downstream effectors.