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Connelly SM, Sridharan R, Naider F, Dumont ME. Oligomerization of yeast α-factor receptor detected by fluorescent energy transfer between ligands. Biophys J 2021; 120:5090-5106. [PMID: 34627767 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Revised: 08/26/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) comprise a large superfamily of transmembrane receptors responsible for transducing responses to the binding of a wide variety of hormones, neurotransmitters, ions, and other small molecules. There is extensive evidence that GPCRs exist as homo-and hetero-oligomeric complexes; however, in many cases, the role of oligomerization and the extent to which it occurs at low physiological levels of receptor expression in cells remain unclear. We report here the use of flow cytometry to detect receptor-receptor interactions based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer between fluorescently labeled cell-impermeant ligands bound to yeast α-mating pheromone receptors that are members of the GPCR superfamily. A novel, to our knowledge, procedure was used to analyze energy transfer as a function of receptor occupancy by donor and acceptor ligands. Measurements of loss of donor fluorescence due to energy transfer in cells expressing high levels of receptors were used to calibrate measurements of enhanced acceptor emission due to energy transfer in cells expressing low levels of receptors. The procedure allows determination of energy transfer efficiencies over a 50-fold range of expression of full-length receptors at the surface of living cells without the need to create fluorescent or bioluminescent fusion proteins. Energy transfer efficiencies for fluorescently labeled derivatives of the receptor agonist α-factor do not depend on receptor expression level and are unaffected by C-terminal truncation of receptors. Fluorescently labeled derivatives of α-factor that act as receptor antagonists exhibit higher transfer efficiencies than those for labeled agonists. Although the approach cannot determine the number of receptors per oligomer, these results demonstrate that ligand-bound, native α-factor receptors exist as stable oligomers in the cell membranes of intact yeast cells at normal physiological expression levels and that the extent of oligomer formation is not dependent on the concentration of receptors in the membrane.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara M Connelly
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York
| | - Rajashri Sridharan
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York
| | - Fred Naider
- Department of Chemistry and Macromolecular Assembly Institute, College of Staten Island of the City University of New York, Staten Island, New York; PhD Programs in Biochemistry and Chemistry, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, New York
| | - Mark E Dumont
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
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2
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Shivnaraine RV, Kelly B, Elmslie G, Huang XP, Dong YJ, Seidenberg M, Wells JW, Ellis J. Allostery of atypical modulators at oligomeric G protein-coupled receptors. Sci Rep 2021; 11:9265. [PMID: 33927236 PMCID: PMC8085029 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-88399-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Many G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are therapeutic targets, with most drugs acting at the orthosteric site. Some GPCRs also possess allosteric sites, which have become a focus of drug discovery. In the M2 muscarinic receptor, allosteric modulators regulate the binding and functional effects of orthosteric ligands through a mix of conformational changes, steric hindrance and electrostatic repulsion transmitted within and between the constituent protomers of an oligomer. Tacrine has been called an atypical modulator because it exhibits positive cooperativity, as revealed by Hill coefficients greater than 1 in its negative allosteric effect on binding and response. Radioligand binding and molecular dynamics simulations were used to probe the mechanism of that modulation in monomers and oligomers of wild-type and mutant M2 receptors. Tacrine is not atypical at monomers, which indicates that its atypical effects are a property of the receptor in its oligomeric state. These results illustrate that oligomerization of the M2 receptor has functional consequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rabindra V Shivnaraine
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada.
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, B163 Beckman Center, 279 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
| | - Brendan Kelly
- Departments of Computer Science, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Structural Biology, and Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Gwendolynne Elmslie
- Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA
| | - Xi-Ping Huang
- Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, The National Institute of Mental Health Psychoactive Drug Screening Program (NIMH PDSP), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Yue John Dong
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada
| | - Margaret Seidenberg
- Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA
| | - James W Wells
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 144 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada.
| | - John Ellis
- Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry H073, Penn State University College of Medicine, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA.
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Burger WAC, Sexton PM, Christopoulos A, Thal DM. Toward an understanding of the structural basis of allostery in muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. J Gen Physiol 2018; 150:1360-1372. [PMID: 30190312 PMCID: PMC6168235 DOI: 10.1085/jgp.201711979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2018] [Accepted: 08/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Burger et al. summarize our mechanistic understanding of allostery in the prototypical GPCR, the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. Recent breakthroughs and developments in structural biology have led to a spate of crystal structures for G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs). This is the case for the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) where inactive-state structures for four of the five subtypes and two active-state structures for one subtype are available. These mAChR crystal structures have provided new insights into receptor mechanisms, dynamics, and allosteric modulation. This is highly relevant to the mAChRs given that these receptors are an exemplar model system for the study of GPCR allostery. Allosteric mechanisms of the mAChRs are predominantly consistent with a two-state model, albeit with some notable recent exceptions. Herein, we discuss the mechanisms for positive and negative allosteric modulation at the mAChRs and compare and contrast these to evidence offered by pharmacological, biochemical, and computational approaches. This analysis provides insight into the fundamental pharmacological properties exhibited by GPCR allosteric modulators, such as enhanced subtype selectivity, probe dependence, and biased modulation while highlighting the current challenges that remain. Though complex, enhanced molecular understanding of allosteric mechanisms will have considerable influence on our understanding of GPCR activation and signaling and development of therapeutic interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wessel A C Burger
- Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Patrick M Sexton
- Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Arthur Christopoulos
- Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - David M Thal
- Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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Li Y, Shivnaraine RV, Huang F, Wells JW, Gradinaru CC. Ligand-Induced Coupling between Oligomers of the M 2 Receptor and the G i1 Protein in Live Cells. Biophys J 2018; 115:881-895. [PMID: 30131171 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2018.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2018] [Revised: 07/23/2018] [Accepted: 08/02/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Uncertainty over the mechanism of signaling via G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) relates in part to questions regarding their supramolecular structure. GPCRs and heterotrimeric G proteins are known to couple as monomers under various conditions. Many GPCRs form oligomers under many of the same conditions, however, and the biological role of those complexes is unclear. We have used dual-color fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to identify oligomers of the M2 muscarinic receptor and of Gi1 in purified preparations and live Chinese hamster ovary cells. Measurements on differently tagged receptors (i.e., eGFP-M2 and mCherry-M2) and G proteins (i.e., eGFP-Gαi1β1γ2 and mCherry-Gαi1β1γ2) detected significant cross-correlations between the two fluorophores in each case, both in detergent micelles and in live cells, indicating that both the receptor and Gi1 can exist as homo-oligomers. Oligomerization of differently tagged Gi1 decreased upon the activation of co-expressed wild-type M2 receptor by an agonist. Measurements on a tagged M2 receptor (M2-mCherry) and eGFP-Gαi1β1γ2 co-expressed in live cells detected cross-correlations only in the presence of an agonist, which therefore promoted coupling of the receptor and the G protein. The effect of the agonist was retained when a fluorophore-tagged receptor lacking the orthosteric site (i.e., M2(D103A)-mCherry) was co-expressed with the wild-type receptor and eGFP-Gαi1β1γ2, indicating that the ligand acted via an oligomeric receptor. Our results point to a model in which an agonist promotes transient coupling of otherwise independent oligomers of the M2 receptor on the one hand and of Gi1 on the other and that an activated complex leads to a reduction in the oligomeric size of the G protein. They suggest that GPCR-mediated signaling proceeds, at least in part, via oligomers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuchong Li
- Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Chemical & Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
| | - Rabindra V Shivnaraine
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Fei Huang
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - James W Wells
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Claudiu C Gradinaru
- Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Chemical & Physical Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
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Shivnaraine RV, Kelly B, Sankar KS, Redka DS, Han YR, Huang F, Elmslie G, Pinto D, Li Y, Rocheleau JV, Gradinaru CC, Ellis J, Wells JW. Allosteric modulation in monomers and oligomers of a G protein-coupled receptor. eLife 2016; 5. [PMID: 27151542 PMCID: PMC4900804 DOI: 10.7554/elife.11685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2015] [Accepted: 04/30/2016] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The M2 muscarinic receptor is the prototypic model of allostery in GPCRs, yet the molecular and the supramolecular determinants of such effects are unknown. Monomers and oligomers of the M2 muscarinic receptor therefore have been compared to identify those allosteric properties that are gained in oligomers. Allosteric interactions were monitored by means of a FRET-based sensor of conformation at the allosteric site and in pharmacological assays involving mutants engineered to preclude intramolecular effects. Electrostatic, steric, and conformational determinants of allostery at the atomic level were examined in molecular dynamics simulations. Allosteric effects in monomers were exclusively negative and derived primarily from intramolecular electrostatic repulsion between the allosteric and orthosteric ligands. Allosteric effects in oligomers could be positive or negative, depending upon the allosteric-orthosteric pair, and they arose from interactions within and between the constituent protomers. The complex behavior of oligomers is characteristic of muscarinic receptors in myocardial preparations. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.11685.001 Proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are found on the surface of cells throughout the body. Hormones or other signal molecules – collectively known as ligands – from outside the cell can bind to the receptors to activate them. This causes a change in the structure of the receptor, which triggers a signal inside the cell to alter the cell’s behavior. GPCRs are known to form clusters of two or more receptor units, but it is not known if these clusters have unique properties or what role they play in cells. Many drugs can bind to GPCRs and most of them block the activity of the receptors by taking the place of the natural ligand. Another way to alter the activity of a GPCR is with so-called 'allosteric' drugs. These bind to different sites on the receptor than the natural ligands do and can inhibit or enhance binding of the ligands by altering the shape of the receptor. Shivnaraine et al. investigated how a type of GPCR called muscarinic cholinergic receptors interact within clusters. This involved developing a method to track the receptor in mammalian cells using a fluorescent sensor that detects changes in the allosteric site. The experiments show that two or more GPCRs need to interact for the receptors to respond to allosteric drugs in a manner that reflects the normal effect of the drugs on the body. This result is unexpected in light of the assumption that individual receptor molecules act independently. Shivnaraine et al.’s findings indicate that the clusters may play a role in the normal behavior of GPCRs in cells. A future challenge is to understand exactly how the GPCRs interact with each other. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.11685.002
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Affiliation(s)
- Rabindra V Shivnaraine
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Brendan Kelly
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | | | - Dar'ya S Redka
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Yi Rang Han
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Fei Huang
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Gwendolynne Elmslie
- Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, United States
| | - Daniel Pinto
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Yuchong Li
- Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | | | | | - John Ellis
- Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, United States
| | - James W Wells
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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6
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Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors: novel opportunities for drug development. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2014; 13:549-60. [PMID: 24903776 DOI: 10.1038/nrd4295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 300] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are a subfamily of G protein-coupled receptors that regulate numerous fundamental functions of the central and peripheral nervous system. The past few years have witnessed unprecedented new insights into muscarinic receptor physiology, pharmacology and structure. These advances include the first structural views of muscarinic receptors in both inactive and active conformations, as well as a better understanding of the molecular underpinnings of muscarinic receptor regulation by allosteric modulators. These recent findings should facilitate the development of new muscarinic receptor subtype-selective ligands that could prove to be useful for the treatment of many severe pathophysiological conditions.
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7
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Redka DS, Heerklotz H, Wells JW. Efficacy as an Intrinsic Property of the M2 Muscarinic Receptor in Its Tetrameric State. Biochemistry 2013; 52:7405-27. [DOI: 10.1021/bi4003869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Dar’ya S. Redka
- Department of Pharmaceutical
Sciences,
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3M2
| | - Heiko Heerklotz
- Department of Pharmaceutical
Sciences,
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3M2
| | - James W. Wells
- Department of Pharmaceutical
Sciences,
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3M2
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