Nagarajan Shanthi, Qian Zu Yuan, Marimuthu Parthiban, Alkayed Nabil J, Kaul Sanjiv, Barnes Anthony P
The Knight Cardiovascular Institute, Oregon Health Science University Portland, Portland, Oregon 97239, United States.
Medicinal Chemistry Core, Oregon Health Science University Portland, Portland, Oregon 97239, United States.
J Chem Inf Model. 2021 Jul 26;61(7):3442-3452. doi: 10.1021/acs.jcim.1c00335. Epub 2021 Jul 9.
G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) sense a wide variety of stimuli, including lipids, and transduce signals to the intracellular environment to exert various physiological responses. However, the structural features of GPCRs responsible for detecting and triggering responses to distinct lipid ligands have only recently begun to be revealed. 14,15-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (14,15-EET) is one such lipid mediator that plays an essential role in the vascular system, displaying both vasodilatory and anti-inflammatory properties. We recently reported multiple low-affinity 14,15-EET-binding GPCRs, but the mechanism by which these receptors sense 14,15-EET remains unclear. Here, we have taken a combined computational and experimental approach to identify and confirm critical residues and properties within the lipid-binding pocket. Furthermore, we generated mutants to engineer selected GPCR-predicted binding sites to either confer or abolish 14,15-EET-induced signaling. Our structure-function analyses indicate that hydrophobic and positively charged residues of the receptor-binding pocket are prerequisites for recognizing lipid ligands such as 14,15-EET and possibly other eicosanoids.
G蛋白偶联受体(GPCRs)能感知包括脂质在内的多种刺激,并将信号转导至细胞内环境以产生各种生理反应。然而,负责检测并触发对不同脂质配体反应的GPCRs的结构特征直到最近才开始被揭示。14,15-环氧二十碳三烯酸(14,15-EET)就是这样一种脂质介质,它在血管系统中发挥着重要作用,具有血管舒张和抗炎特性。我们最近报道了多个低亲和力的14,15-EET结合GPCRs,但这些受体感知14,15-EET的机制仍不清楚。在这里,我们采用了计算和实验相结合的方法来识别和确认脂质结合口袋内的关键残基和特性。此外,我们生成了突变体,对选定的GPCR预测结合位点进行改造,以赋予或消除14,15-EET诱导的信号传导。我们的结构-功能分析表明,受体结合口袋中的疏水和带正电荷的残基是识别脂质配体(如14,15-EET以及可能的其他类花生酸)的先决条件。