cells, HEK293 cells stably expressing a tTA-dependent luciferase reporter,
and a β-arrestin-TEV protease fusion gene (kindly provided by
Brian Roth) were maintained in DMEM (Sigma-Aldrich, D6492), supplemented
with 10% FBS (Sigma-Aldrich, F9665), 2 μg mL–1 puromycin (58-58-2, ≥98%, Invitrogen), and 100 μg mL–1 hygromycin (31282-04-9, ≥98%, Invitrogen).
Cells were split 1:5 when confluency reached 70% and discarded after
passage 10. All GPCR plasmids originated from a Roth lab PRESTO-Tango
kit (Addgene, Kit #1000000068) as E. coli glycerol stocks. Each stock was individually cultured, and plasmids
were isolated via minipreps (Promega, A1330). Each GPCR plasmid concentration
was quantified (Nanodrop, One/Onec microvolume UV–vis
spectrophotometer, ND-ONE-W, Thermo Scientific) and had a 260/280
ratio of 1.7–1.9, a 260/230 ratio of ≥1.8, and concentrations
of ≥100 ng/μL. Plasmid stocks for each GPCR were then
diluted for a final concentration of 50 ng μL–1.