Dataset Information

Energy Landscapes Reveal Agonist Control of G Protein-Coupled Receptor Activation via Microswitches.

ABSTRACT: Agonist binding to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) leads to conformational changes in the transmembrane region that activate cytosolic signaling pathways. Although high-resolution structures of different receptor states are available, atomistic details of allosteric signaling across the membrane remain elusive. We calculated free energy landscapes of ?2 adrenergic receptor activation using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations in an optimized string of swarms framework, which shed new light on how microswitches govern the equilibrium between conformational states. Contraction of the extracellular binding site in the presence of the agonist BI-167107 is obligatorily coupled to conformational changes in a connector motif located in the core of the transmembrane region. The connector is probabilistically coupled to the conformation of the intracellular region. An active connector promotes desolvation of a buried cavity, a twist of the conserved NPxxY motif, and an interaction between two conserved tyrosines in transmembrane helices 5 and 7 (Y-Y motif), which lead to a larger population of active-like states at the G protein binding site. This coupling is augmented by protonation of the strongly conserved Asp792.50. The agonist binding site hence communicates with the intracellular region via a cascade of locally connected microswitches. Characterization of these can be used to understand how ligands stabilize distinct receptor states and contribute to development drugs with specific signaling properties. The developed simulation protocol can likely be transferred to other class A GPCRs.

SUBMITTER: Fleetwood O

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7307880 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Energy Landscapes Reveal Agonist Control of G Protein-Coupled Receptor Activation via Microswitches.

Fleetwood Oliver O Matricon Pierre P Carlsson Jens J Delemotte Lucie L

Biochemistry 20200207 7

Agonist binding to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) leads to conformational changes in the transmembrane region that activate cytosolic signaling pathways. Although high-resolution structures of different receptor states are available, atomistic details of allosteric signaling across the membrane remain elusive. We calculated free energy landscapes of β<sub>2</sub> adrenergic receptor activation using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations in an optimized string of swarms framework, which s ...[more]

PMID: 31999436

Similar Datasets

Project description:G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) modulate many physiological processes by transducing a variety of extracellular cues into intracellular responses. Ligand binding to an extracellular orthosteric pocket propagates conformational change to the receptor cytosolic region to promote binding and activation of downstream signalling effectors such as G proteins and ?-arrestins. It is well known that different agonists can share the same binding pocket but evoke unique receptor conformations leading to a wide range of downstream responses (‘efficacy’). Furthermore, increasing biophysical evidence, primarily using the ?2-adrenergic receptor (?2AR) as a model system, supports the existence of multiple active and inactive conformational states. However, how agonists with varying efficacy modulate these receptor states to initiate cellular responses is not well understood. Here we report stabilization of two distinct ?2AR conformations using single domain camelid antibodies (nanobodies)—a previously described positive allosteric nanobody (Nb80) and a newly identified negative allosteric nanobody (Nb60). We show that Nb60 stabilizes a previously unappreciated low-affinity receptor state which corresponds to one of two inactive receptor conformations as delineated by X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy. We find that the agonist isoprenaline has a 15,000-fold higher affinity for ?2AR in the presence of Nb80 compared to the affinity of isoprenaline for ?2AR in the presence of Nb60, highlighting the full allosteric range of a GPCR. Assessing the binding of 17 ligands of varying efficacy to the ?2AR in the absence and presence of Nb60 or Nb80 reveals large ligand-specific effects that can only be explained using an allosteric model which assumes equilibrium amongst at least three receptor states. Agonists generally exert efficacy by stabilizing the active Nb80-stabilized receptor state (R80). In contrast, for a number of partial agonists, both stabilization of R80 and destabilization of the inactive, Nb60-bound state (R60) contribute to their ability to modulate receptor activation. These data demonstrate that ligands can initiate a wide range of cellular responses by differentially stabilizing multiple receptor states.

Dataset Information

Energy Landscapes Reveal Agonist Control of G Protein-Coupled Receptor Activation via Microswitches.

Publications

Energy Landscapes Reveal Agonist Control of G Protein-Coupled Receptor Activation via Microswitches.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets