Evolutionary-guided advanced deep-learning architecture powers mammalian GPCRome agonist predictions

G-protein-coupled receptors constitute a highly conserved superfamily that orchestrates essential signaling processes across species. Contemporary computational approaches for predicting ligand-receptor interactions are hindered by restricted receptor coverage, limited incorporation of odorant receptors, and datasets that insufficiently capture cross-species diversity. Here, we present EvOlf, an evolutionary-guided deep-learning framework that integrates odorant and non-odorant receptors through an expansive dataset comprising 105,235 experimentally validated interactions across 24 mammalian species. EvOlf leverages hierarchical self-attention, multi-resolution feature encoding, and a fusion transformer to construct biologically grounded representations of ligand-receptor interactions, achieving state-of-the-art performance. EvOlf substantially outperformed existing prediction methods across an independent test dataset. Experimental validation identified three structurally diverse allosteric co-activators of the β1‑adrenergic receptor that significantly potentiated agonist-evoked signaling in human and rat cardiomyocytes. EvOlf provides a robust and scalable platform for receptor deorphanization and ligand discovery.

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Publication Details

Journal
Cell Reports
Published
2026-02-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117003
Primary Topic
Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling
Type
article
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article

Evolutionary-guided advanced deep-learning architecture powers mammalian GPCRome agonist predictions

Nikhil Katyayan, Aakash Gaur, Sanjay Kumar Mohanty, Saveena Solanki et al.
Cell Reports
Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling
article

Evolutionary-guided advanced deep-learning architecture powers mammalian GPCRome agonist predictions

Nikhil Katyayan, Aakash Gaur, Sanjay Kumar Mohanty, Saveena Solanki, Mudit Gupta, Aayushi Mittal, Gaurav Ahuja, Shiva Satija, Adnan Raza, Suvendu Kumar, Dilraj Kaur, Syed Yasser Ali, Anmol Kumar Sharma, Kunal Tiwari
article en

Abstract

G-protein-coupled receptors constitute a highly conserved superfamily that orchestrates essential signaling processes across species. Contemporary computational approaches for predicting ligand-receptor interactions are hindered by restricted receptor coverage, limited incorporation of odorant receptors, and datasets that insufficiently capture cross-species diversity. Here, we present EvOlf, an evolutionary-guided deep-learning framework that integrates odorant and non-odorant receptors through an expansive dataset comprising 105,235 experimentally validated interactions across 24 mammalian species. EvOlf leverages hierarchical self-attention, multi-resolution feature encoding, and a fusion transformer to construct biologically grounded representations of ligand-receptor interactions, achieving state-of-the-art performance. EvOlf substantially outperformed existing prediction methods across an independent test dataset. Experimental validation identified three structurally diverse allosteric co-activators of the β1‑adrenergic receptor that significantly potentiated agonist-evoked signaling in human and rat cardiomyocytes. EvOlf provides a robust and scalable platform for receptor deorphanization and ligand discovery.

Cell ReportsVol. 45(3)
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IN), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IN), Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (IN)
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 52%
Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling
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Evolutionary-guided advanced deep-learning architecture powers mammalian GPCRome agonist predictions — Nikhil Katyayan, Aakash Gaur, et al. · Cell Reports (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS