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Optical functionalization of human Class A orphan G-protein-coupled receptors.

ABSTRACT: G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) form the largest receptor family, relay environmental stimuli to changes in cell behavior and represent prime drug targets. Many GPCRs are classified as orphan receptors because of the limited knowledge on their ligands and coupling to cellular signaling machineries. Here, we engineer a library of 63 chimeric receptors that contain the signaling domains of human orphan and understudied GPCRs functionally linked to the light-sensing domain of rhodopsin. Upon stimulation with visible light, we identify activation of canonical cell signaling pathways, including cAMP-, Ca2+-, MAPK/ERK-, and Rho-dependent pathways, downstream of the engineered receptors. For the human pseudogene GPR33, we resurrect a signaling function that supports its hypothesized role as a pathogen entry site. These results demonstrate that substituting unknown chemical activators with a light switch can reveal information about protein function and provide an optically controlled protein library for exploring the physiology and therapeutic potential of understudied GPCRs.

SUBMITTER: Morri M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5956105 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Optical functionalization of human Class A orphan G-protein-coupled receptors.

Morri Maurizio M Sanchez-Romero Inmaculada I Tichy Alexandra-Madelaine AM Kainrath Stephanie S Gerrard Elliot J EJ Hirschfeld Priscila P PP Schwarz Jan J Janovjak Harald H

Nature communications 20180516 1

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) form the largest receptor family, relay environmental stimuli to changes in cell behavior and represent prime drug targets. Many GPCRs are classified as orphan receptors because of the limited knowledge on their ligands and coupling to cellular signaling machineries. Here, we engineer a library of 63 chimeric receptors that contain the signaling domains of human orphan and understudied GPCRs functionally linked to the light-sensing domain of rhodopsin. Upon st ...[more]

PMID: 29769519

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Project description:BackgroundThe cell-membrane G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are one of the largest known superfamilies and are the main focus of intense pharmaceutical research due to their key role in cell physiology and disease. A large number of putative GPCRs are 'orphans' with no identified natural ligands. The first step in understanding the function of orphan GPCRs is to identify their ligands. Phylogenetic clustering methods were used to elucidate the chemical nature of receptor ligands, which led to the identification of natural ligands for many orphan receptors. We have clustered human and Drosophila receptors with known ligands and orphans through cross genome phylogenetic analysis and hypothesized higher relationship of co-clustered members that would ease ligand identification, as related receptors share ligands with similar structure or class.ResultsCross-genome phylogenetic analyses were performed to identify eight major groups of GPCRs dividing them into 32 clusters of 371 human and 113 Drosophila proteins (excluding olfactory, taste and gustatory receptors) and reveal unexpected levels of evolutionary conservation across human and Drosophila GPCRs. We also observe that members of human chemokine receptors, involved in immune response, and most of nucleotide-lipid receptors (except opsins) do not have counterparts in Drosophila. Similarly, a group of Drosophila GPCRs (methuselah receptors), associated in aging, is not present in humans.ConclusionOur analysis suggests ligand class association to 52 unknown Drosophila receptors and 95 unknown human GPCRs. A higher level of phylogenetic organization was revealed in which clusters with common domain architecture or cellular localization or ligand structure or chemistry or a shared function are evident across human and Drosophila genomes. Such analyses will prove valuable for identifying the natural ligands of Drosophila and human orphan receptors that can lead to a better understanding of physiological and pathological roles of these receptors.

Project description:G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are established drug targets. Despite their considerable appeal as targets for next-generation anthelmintics, poor understanding of their diversity and function in parasitic helminths has thwarted progress towards GPCR-targeted anti-parasite drugs. This study facilitates GPCR research in the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, by generating the first profile of GPCRs from the F. hepatica genome. Our dataset describes 147 high confidence GPCRs, representing the largest cohort of GPCRs, and the largest set of in silico ligand-receptor predictions, yet reported in any parasitic helminth. All GPCRs fall within the established GRAFS nomenclature; comprising three glutamate, 135 rhodopsin, two adhesion, five frizzled, one smoothened, and one secretin GPCR. Stringent annotation pipelines identified 18 highly diverged rhodopsins in F. hepatica that maintained core rhodopsin signatures, but lacked significant similarity with non-flatworm sequences, providing a new sub-group of potential flukicide targets. These facilitated identification of a larger cohort of 76 related sequences from available flatworm genomes, representing new members of existing groups (PROF1/Srfb, Rho-L, Rho-R, Srfa, Srfc) of flatworm-specific rhodopsins. These receptors imply flatworm specific GPCR functions, and/or co-evolution with unique flatworm ligands, and could facilitate the development of exquisitely selective anthelmintics. Ligand binding domain sequence conservation relative to deorphanised rhodopsins enabled high confidence ligand-receptor matching of seventeen receptors activated by acetylcholine, neuropeptide F/Y, octopamine or serotonin. RNA-Seq analyses showed expression of 101 GPCRs across various developmental stages, with the majority expressed most highly in the pathogenic intra-mammalian juvenile parasites. These data identify a broad complement of GPCRs in F. hepatica, including rhodopsins likely to have key functions in neuromuscular control and sensory perception, as well as frizzled and adhesion/secretin families implicated, in other species, in growth, development and reproduction. This catalogue of liver fluke GPCRs provides a platform for new avenues into our understanding of flatworm biology and anthelmintic discovery.

Dataset Information

Optical functionalization of human Class A orphan G-protein-coupled receptors.

Publications

Optical functionalization of human Class A orphan G-protein-coupled receptors.

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