Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka of the United States won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry on Wednesday for identifying a class of cell receptor, yielding vital insights into how the body works at the molecular level.

The big beneficiary of this fundamental work is medicine, the Nobel committee declared.

The pair were honoured for discovering a key component of cells called G-protein-coupled receptors and mapping how they work.

The receptors stud the surface of cells, sensitising them to light, flavour, smells and body chemicals such as adrenaline and enabling cells to communicate with each other.

About a thousand of these kinds of receptor are known to exist throughout the body. They are essential not just for physiological processes but also for response to drugs.

"About half of all medications achieve their effect through G-protein-coupled receptors," the Nobel jury said.

Understanding the receptors provides the tools for "better drugs with fewer side effects," Nobel committee member Sven Lidin said.

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are known to influence everything from sight, smell and taste to blood pressure, pain tolerance and metabolism.

They tell the inside of cells about conditions on the outside of their protective plasma membranes, to which the cells can form a response -- communicating with each other and with the surrounding environment.

This explains how cardiac cells know to raise the heart rate when we are startled, for example.

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US pair share chemistry Nobel for cell receptors