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Conformational plasticity of ligand-bound and ternary GPCR complexes studied by 19F NMR of the β1-adrenergic receptor.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Frei, J Niclas 
Broadhurst, Richard W  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0264-4593
Solt, Andras 
Jones, Andrew JY 

Abstract

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are allosteric signaling proteins that transmit an extracellular stimulus across the cell membrane. Using 19F NMR and site-specific labelling, we investigate the response of the cytoplasmic region of transmembrane helices 6 and 7 of the β1-adrenergic receptor to agonist stimulation and coupling to a Gs-protein-mimetic nanobody. Agonist binding shows the receptor in equilibrium between two inactive states and a pre-active form, increasingly populated with higher ligand efficacy. Nanobody coupling leads to a fully active ternary receptor complex present in amounts correlating directly with agonist efficacy, consistent with partial agonism. While for different agonists the helix 6 environment in the active-state ternary complexes resides in a well-defined conformation, showing little conformational mobility, the environment of the highly conserved NPxxY motif on helix 7 remains dynamic adopting diverse, agonist-specific conformations, implying a further role of this region in receptor function. An inactive nanobody-coupled ternary receptor form is also observed.

Description

Keywords

Amino Acid Sequence, Cell Membrane, Fluorine-19 Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Humans, Ligands, Membrane Proteins, Models, Molecular, Protein Conformation, Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-1, Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled

Journal Title

Nat Commun

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723
2041-1723

Volume Title

11

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/K01983X/1)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/S015892/1)
BBSRC (BB/K01983 X/1)