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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 7, 4109-4116, February 17, 2006
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¶


¶1
From the
Molecular Oncology Research Institute,
Division of Hematology and Oncology, Tufts-New England Medical Center, and ¶Department of Biochemistry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111
Received for publication, August 30, 2005 , and in revised form, November 28, 2005.
| ABSTRACT |
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-aneurysm with a downwards-directed alanine residue markedly interfered with signal transference to Gq. The 8th helix-anchoring cysteine palmitoylation sites were important for the affinity of ligand-dependent G protein coupling but did not affect the maximal signal. A network of H-bond and ionic interactions was found to connect the N-terminal portion of the 8th helix to the nearby NPXXY motif on transmembrane helix 7 and also to the adjacent intracellular loop-1. Disruption of these pairwise interactions caused additive defects in coupling to G protein, indicating that the transmembrane 78th helix-i1 loop may move in a coordinated manner to transfer the signal from PAR1 to G protein. This "7-8-1" interaction network was found to be prevalent in G protein-coupled receptors involved in endothelial signaling and angiogenesis. | INTRODUCTION |
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Following intra- or intermolecular liganding, the transmembrane domains of the PARs undergo a conformational change that is transmitted to the intracellular loops (i1i3) and C-terminal i4 domain. It is these intracellular loops and domains that communicate with the plasma membrane-associated heterotrimeric G proteins. PAR1 can interact with three of the four classes of G
subunits, Gq/16,G12/13, and Gi, making it one of the most promiscuous members of the GPCR family (1419).
Presently, there is limited information regarding the molecular determinants of PAR1-G protein interactions. In a previous study using chimeric G
subunits, we found that the N-terminal
N helix of the G
subunit interacts with both PAR1 and the G
subunit and actively participates in transferring the signal between the agonist-activated receptor and G protein (19). Mutagenesis of the receptor indicated that both the PAR1 i2 loop (20) and C-terminal portion of the i3 loop are important for coupling to Gq and Gi (21). However, by far the largest component of the intracellular portion of PAR1 is the C-terminal i4 domain, which comprises >55% of the mass of i1i4. The involvement of the PAR1 i4 domain in ligand-dependent phosphorylation and internalization has been well documented (2227), but its contribution to signaling to G proteins is essentially unexplored.
The new high resolution x-ray structure of bovine rhodopsin revealed an unanticipated 8th helix (H8) in the i4 domain anchored by the 7th transmembrane helix (TM7) and dual palmitoylation sites at Cys322 and Cys323 (28). This region is highly conserved in rhodopsin, PAR1, and nearly all of the Class A GPCRs. TM7 is critical for receptor activation and contains the essential NPXXY motif (29, 30). TM7 is also the site of attachment of the retinylidene ligand in rhodopsin and forms extensive interactions with TM1, TM2, TM3, TM6, and the 8th helix. Upon receptor activation, the 8th helix moves significantly outward from the adjacent TM2 and i1 loop (31, 32). Studies with rhodopsin and other GPCRs have shown that the 8th helix makes direct contact with the membrane-associated regions of the G protein
and
subunits (3335) and controls the coupling and affinity of the receptors to G proteins (3638).
To determine the potential involvement of the PAR1 8th helix and i4 domain in coupling to G protein upon stimulation by the extracellular tethered ligand (thrombin-generated) versus the intermolecular peptide ligand (SFLLRN), we constructed a model of PAR1 using the refined 2.8 Å x-ray structure of rhodopsin. The structural model was tested by extensive mutagenesis analyses, including point mutations, insertions, and deletions. We discovered a new structural signaling motif involving a network of H-bonding and ionic interactions that connects the 8th helix to the peptide backbone of TM7 and to the highly basic i1 loop. Our data are consistent with a mechanism whereby the 8th helix moves in a coordinated motion with TM7 and the i1 loop during signal transference from PAR1 to Gq.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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-thrombin (3433 NIH units/mg) was obtained from Hematologic Technologies (Essex Junction, VT). Restriction enzymes and polymerases were purchased from New England Biolabs. SFLLRN, P1pal-H8 (pal-ASSESQRYVYSIL) and P1pal-H8-Ala (pal-ASSAESQRYVYSIL) were synthesized with a C-terminal amide at the Tufts Medical School Peptide Core Facility and purified by reverse phase-high pressure liquid chromatography. All other chemicals were obtained from Sigma.
Expression of PAR1 in COS7 FibroblastsPAR1 and mutated variants were transiently expressed from an EF1
promoter in plasmids pCDEF3 (12, 39) and pHEF. Plasmid pHEF was made by replacing the cytomegalovirus promoter of pCDNA3.1Hygro with the EF1
promoter from pCDEF3, a pCDNA3-derived plasmid. Mutations were introduced into PAR1 by PCR site-directed mutagenesis. PAR1 mutations and sequence fidelity were verified by the Tufts Medical School DNA sequencing core facility. COS7 cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin and streptomycin in 5% CO2 at 37 °C. The cells were transfected with DEAE-dextran using 5 µg of CsCl-prepared plasmid/10-cm dish of 60% confluent COS7 cells.
Phosphoinositide Production AssayCOS7 fibroblasts expressing PAR1 were split into 12-well plates at 250,000 cells/well. 3H-labeled myoinositol (2 mCi/ml; Amersham Biosciences) was added to the cells 24 h prior to the experiment. Phospholipase C-
(PLC-
)-dependent accumulation of [3H]inositol phosphates was measured in the presence of LiCl. Wells were rinsed twice with 2 ml of Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium containing 10 mM HEPES buffer, pH 7.3, then twice with 2 ml of phosphate-buffered saline containing 20 mM LiCl. The cells were stimulated with agonist (in triplicate) for 30 min and then extracted with cold methanol and chloroform. The extracts were loaded onto columns containing 1 ml of anion exchange resin AG1X8, formate form, 100200 mesh size (Bio-Rad). After loading, the columns were washed twice with 10 ml of H2O and twice with 10 ml of 60 mM ammonium formate/5 mM Borax. Column fractions were eluted with 4 ml of 2 M ammonium formate/0.1 M formic acid into vials containing 7.5 ml of scintillation mixture and then counted. The mean of 35 determinations was expressed as the fold stimulation above vehicle-treated cells.
Flow CytometryThe rabbit polyclonal antibody (SFLLR-Ab) directed against the PAR1 ligand region was generated as previously described (12). PAR1-transfected COS7 cells (5 x 105) were probed with 2.5 µg/ml anti-SFLLR-Ab followed by incubation with fluorescein isothiocyanate-goat anti-rabbit IgG (6 mg/ml; Zymed Laboratories Inc.). The cells were analyzed for fluorescence with a FACScan flow cytometer (BD Biosciences). COS7 cells transfected with empty vector were probed with both primary and secondary antibodies to determine background fluorescence.
| RESULTS |
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Four key structural features are highlighted in Fig. 1, A and B, namely the TM7 helix (purple), the cytoplasmic 8th helix (red), the i1 intracellular loop (green), and the tethered ligand (yellow) on the extracellular side. The TM7 helix is critical for receptor activation and contains the essential NPXXY motif and is bent at hinge residues Ser363-Cys364. The 8th helix of the C-terminal i4 domain is anchored to TM7 by a short Ala374-Ser375 linker and to the plasma membrane at its C terminus by dual palmitoylation sites at Cys387 and Cys388.
The 8th Helix of PAR1 Is Essential for Receptor Gq CouplingExtensive deletion, substitution, and insertion mutations were made to determine the role of the i4 domain and its proximal 8th helix region in PAR1-dependent activation of G proteins by both intramolecular (thrombin-generated) and intermolecular peptide ligand SFLLRN. The effects of mutation of the intracellular residues of PAR1 on coupling to G protein were assessed using a well characterized PLC-
-dependent inositol phosphate (InsP) assay (13). PLC-
is directly activated by Gq
-subunits and/or by 
-subunits from Gi to generate InsP. To determine the contribution of Gi(
) to the InsP signal we added the Gi inhibitor pertussis toxin to COS7 fibroblasts transiently expressing PAR1. Pertussis toxin had no effect on the InsP signal generated by thrombin-stimulated wild type (WT) PAR1 (supplemental Fig. 1) nor on the PAR1
396 mutant (data not shown). Therefore, the InsP signal in the COS7 fibroblasts is derived from PAR1 activation of Gq and not from Gi(
).
Deletion of the entire C-terminal i4 domain (
377) resulted in a large loss of apparent affinity and coupling efficacy to Gq by PAR1, activated by either the peptide agonist SFLLRN or by thrombin (Fig. 1C) as reported earlier (21). By comparison, deletion of the residues to the C-terminal side of the Cys-palmitoylation sites (
396) gave a 410 right shift in EC50 for G protein coupling but little or no effect on efficacy (maximal InsP production), suggesting that additional binding determinants for Gq may be present in the last 29 residues of the C-tail of PAR1. Deletion of only the 8th helix region (
H8) caused major defects in Gq coupling (60% loss of maximal InsP) in response to thrombin (9-fold EC50 shift) and SFLLRN (60-fold EC50 shift), similar to deletion of the entire i4 domain (Fig. 1C).
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Ala gave a 40% decrease in the maximal InsP signal and a 4-fold shift in the EC50 value for thrombin and SFLLRN (Fig. 3, Table 1). Together, these data indicate that residues in the N-terminal half of the 8th helix are critical for signal transference between PAR1 and G protein.
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-amino moiety of Lys135 from the i1 loop (Fig. 4A). To test the potential importance of this 8th helix i1 loop interaction, we mutated these residues to alanine. The E377A and K135A mutants exhibited similar reductions in G protein coupling for both thrombin and SFLLRN (Fig. 4, B and C). Combining the two mutations within the same receptor (K135A,E377A) resulted in partially additive losses in EC50 value and coupling efficacy (Table 1), suggesting that Lys135 and Glu377 are cooperatively interacting residues facilitating the same step in PAR1 coupling to Gq (44). Notably, the K135A,E377A double mutant had a coupling efficacy of only 3040% (Table 1), equivalent to the effect of deletion of the entire 8th helix (Fig. 1C,
H8). As mentioned above, the model predicts an interaction between TM7 (Tyr372) and the Gln379-Arg380 dyad on the 8th helix. Creating a PAR1 mutant that combines defects in 8th helix-TM7 and 8th helix-i1 loop interactions should have an additive effect on signaling if the Gln379-Arg380 and Lys135 residues are non-interacting residues facilitating the same step (44). Indeed, this is observed for the K135A,Q379A,R380A triple mutant. Whereas the K135A and the Q379A,R380A mutations both give 2025% reductions in the efficacy (maximal), the combined K135A,Q379A,R380A mutant has a 4050% reduction in efficacy (Fig. 4, D and E; Table 1). Likewise, the EC50 value shifts of the triple mutant reflect additivity of effects of the individual EC50 value shifts, suggesting that the 8th helix may move in a coordinated motion with TM7 and the i1 loop during signal transference from PAR1 to G protein.
An
-Aneurysm in the 8th Helix Disrupts Receptor-Gq CouplingPrevious studies have shown that the N terminus of the 8th helical region of rhodopsin makes direct contact with the membrane-associated regions of the G protein
and
subunits (3335). Therefore, the N-terminal region of the 8th helix could also directly participate in PAR1-G protein coupling. To disrupt this putative 8th helix-G protein interaction, we inserted an alanine between Ser376 and Glu377 to create a helical bulge or
-aneurysm (4547). Using the x-ray structure of a well defined
-aneurysm found in a mutant staphylococcal nuclease (45), we built a new PAR1 model that incorporated the alanine insertion and adjusted the coordinates so as to minimize the energy of this model using CNS. In this model, as in the
-aneurysm-containing crystal structure, the
-helix is almost completely unperturbed, except for the two amino acids on either side of the insertion. As shown in Fig. 5A, the inserted alanine side chain protrudes directly downwards in the direction of the associated G protein without breaking the Glu377-Lys135 and Gln379-Tyr372 contacts. We found that the alanine
-aneurysm mutant gave a 60% loss in maximal efficacy of coupling but more strikingly gave a 42-fold right shift in EC50 value for thrombin-dependent stimulation of the Gq-PLC-
signal (Fig. 5B, Table 1). The EC50 value for SFLLRN activation of the Ser376-Glu377 alanine insertion mutant was right-shifted by only 4-fold but lowered the slope (Hill coefficient) (Fig. 5C), suggesting that Gq can discriminate between the structures of tethered ligand-activated versus peptide-activated receptors as previously reported (48, 49). In addition, we disrupted the Ala374-Ser375 linker that may serve as a hinge for rigid body movements between TM7 and the 8th helix (31). The Ser375-Ser376 alanine insertion mutant exhibited a similar 60% loss in maximal coupling efficacy as the Ser376-Glu377 alanine insertion mutant but gave only a 6-fold right shift in EC50 value for thrombin activation. An alanine was also inserted into the C-terminal region of the 8th helix between residues Tyr383 and Ser384. In comparison to the N-terminal Ser376-Glu377 alanine insertion, the Tyr383-Ser384 alanine insertion had no effect on maximal coupling efficacy to Gq and only slight shifts in the EC50 value for thrombin and SFLLRN (Fig. 5). These data provide further evidence that coupling determinants for Gq are highly localized to the N-terminal region of the 8th helix of PAR1.
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-aneurysm alanine insertion mutant, respectively. As shown in supplemental Fig. 2, the P1pal-H8 pepducin inhibited up to 60% of the PAR1-Gq-PLC-
signal, whereas the 8th helix pepducin with the
-aneurysm had no effect on PAR1 signaling in transfected COS7 fibroblasts. These peptide interference data provide corroborating evidence that the 8th helix region of PAR1 is directly involved in signal transference to G protein. Moreover, these results are consistent with the inhibition of Gt coupling that occurs with analogous peptides from the rhodopsin 8th helix region (33, 34).
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| DISCUSSION |
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, serotonin, and endothelin-A all have the requisite amino acids in the 8th helix and i1 loops to make 7-8-1 connections (Fig. 6). It remains to be determined whether these putative 7-8-1 GPCRs share signaling, trafficking, or other biological functions that could be attributed to this common signaling motif.
Hydrophilic Residues in the 8th Helix Control PAR1-Gq Coupling Only a select few hydrophilic residues, such as Glu377 and Gln379-Arg380, located at the N-terminal end of the 8th helix, were found to be important for coupling to internally located Gq. The finding that the N-terminal residues of the 8th helix are important for receptor G protein signaling is in general similar to that observed for rhodopsin, which couples to transducin (Gt), a member of the Gi family (36). However, there were striking differences in the location and identity of the individual 8th helix residues that were important for PAR1-Gq coupling versus rhodopsin-Gt coupling, suggesting that determinants of G
specificity could reside in the 8th helix of GPCRs. For instance, alanine substitution of rhodopsin residues Gln312 and Arg314-Asn315, located at the analogous sites as PAR1 residues Glu377 and Gln379-Arg380 (Fig. 6), respectively, had no effect on activation of Gt (36). Conversely, mutation of the hydrophobic residues Phe313 and Met317 in rhodopsin reduced activation of Gt by 7590% (36, 38), whereas mutation of the analogous residues in PAR1, Cys378 and Val382, did not adversely affect coupling to Gq.
Interplay between the 8th Helix and i1 LoopWe found a novel ionic interaction between Glu377 in the 8th helix and Lys135 from the first intracellular loop (Fig. 4A) buried in an otherwise hydrophobic environment in the core of the intracellular loops, which was important for coupling to Gq. Although this 8-1 interaction is not present in rhodopsin 1, an analysis of other GPCRs indicated that suitable ionic partners could be found with either an Asp or Glu in the 8th helix and a Lys, His, or Arg from the highly basic i1 loop (Fig. 6, supplemental Table 1). For instance, the sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 also has an 8th helix glutamic acid that may interact with an arginine from its i1 loop. In some GPCRs, the residues are reversed; the P2Y4 purinoreceptor has a lysine on the 8th helix and an aspartic acid on the i1 loop, or the 8-1 partners are long side chain H-bond donor acceptors with an 8th helix residues, such as Glu, Gln, Asp, Asn, Lys, or Arg bridging with either a Lys, His, Arg, Asn, or Gln from the i1 loop. Rod pigment rhodopsin 1 lacks an appropriate long chain H-bond donor at the i1 loop (Thr70); however, rhodopsin 2 (Fig. 6, red and green cone pigments) and rhodopsin 3 (blue cone pigment) have i1 His and Gln residues, which could interact with the 8th helix Gln312 (supplemental Table 1). A salt bridge is an intrinsically stronger interaction than a hydrogen bond in a hydrophobic environment and could differentially stabilize either a ground state and/or active conformation, depending on the particular GPCR or coupled G
subunit.
Functional Significance of the Connection Between the 8th Helix Gln-Arg Dyad and Peptide Backbone of TM7The Gln-Arg dyad is a highly conserved motif on the 8th helix and is present in 85% of class A GPCRs (Fig. 6, supplemental Table 1). In both the tetragonal P41 and trigonal P31 rhodopsin 1 crystal structures, the 8th helix Arg314 side chain was found to hydrogen bond to the carbonyl backbone oxygens of Ile307 and Met308, which are adjacent to the NPXXY306 motif on TM7. The carbamate moiety of rhodopsin Asn315 makes an additional H-bond to the Arg314 guanidinium. However, substitution of the Arg314-Asn315 dyad with alanines had no apparent deleterious effect in rhodopsin activation of Gt (36). In contrast, we found that mutation of the analogous Gln379-Arg380 dyad caused signaling defects in PAR1 activation of Gq. This hydrophilic 7th helix-8th helix (78) interaction, although achieved differently, may perform a similar function as that found for the Tyr306-Phe313 connection in rhodopsin. Studies by Fritze et al. (38) demonstrate the importance of the hydrophobic interaction between the Phe313 in the 8th helix with TM7 residue Tyr306 in facilitating formation of the active conformation. The F313A mutation caused an 8090% loss in activation of Gt. The corresponding residue in PAR1 is Cys378; however, the C378A mutation had minimal effects on PAR1-Gq coupling.
Differential Activation of Gq by Thrombin-activated Receptor versus Soluble PeptideTo our surprise, the Y381A,V382A,Y383A 8th helix mutation actually enhanced the EC50 value and efficacy of PAR1 activation of Gq upon stimulation with SFLLRN relative to WT. This rare effect was not detected upon activation with thrombin, demonstrating structural differences in intra-versus intermolecular modes of activation, as previously observed with mutations of the extracellular surface of PAR1 (43) and PAR2 (5355). A recent study (27) shows that the overlapping Y383A,L386A mutant has a 25% defect in extent of internalization. However, despite a slowdown in internalization, thrombin activation of PAR1-PLC-
signaling was not affected in the Y383A,L386A mutant (27) nor in the Y381A,V382A,Y383A mutant (Table 1), indicating that the PLC-
signal may not be sensitive to
25% differences in internalization of PAR1. In many cases, the 8th helix mutations exhibited greater loss of coupling to Gq by SFLLRN peptide as compared with thrombin. This observation is consistent with previous studies that indicate that peptide-activated WT PAR1 shows preferential coupling to Gq, as compared with thrombin-activated receptor (48, 49).
| FOOTNOTES |
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The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Table 1 and Figs. 1 and 2. ![]()
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Tufts-NEMC, Box 7510, 750 Washington St., Boston, MA 02111. Fax: 617-636-7855; E-mail: athan.kuliopulos{at}tufts.edu.
2 The abbreviations used are: PAR, protease-activated receptor; GPCR, G protein-coupled receptor; TM, transmembrane; PLC, phospholipase C; InsP, inositol phosphate; WT, wild type. ![]()
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