title: Rhodopsin determinants for transducin activation: a gain-of-function approach.
abstract: Three cytoplasmic loops in the G protein-coupled receptor rhodopsin, C2, C3, and C4, have been implicated as key sites for binding and activation of the visual G protein transducin. Non-helical portions of the C2- and C3-loops and the cytoplasmic helix-8 from the C4 loop were targeted for a "gain-of-function" mutagenesis to identify rhodopsin residues critical for transducin activation. Mutant opsins with residues 140-148 (C2-loop), 229-244 (C3-loop), or 310-320 (C4-loop) substituted by poly-Ala sequences of equivalent lengths served as templates for mutagenesis. The template mutants with poly-Ala substitutions in the C2- and C3-loops formed the 500-nm absorbing pigments but failed to activate transducin. Reverse substitutions of the Ala residues by rhodopsin residues have been generated in each of the templates. Significant ( approximately 50%) restoration of the rhodopsin/transducin coupling was achieved with re-introduction of residues Cys140/Lys141 and Arg147/Phe148 into the C2 template. The reverse substitutions of the C3-loop residues Thr229/Val230 and Ser240/Thr242/Thr243/Gln244 produced a pigment with a full capacity for transducin activation. The C4 template mutant was unable to bind 11-cis-retinal, and the presence of Asn310/Lys311 was required for correct folding of the protein. Subsequent mutagenesis of the C4-loop revealed the role of Phe313 and Met317. On the background of Asn310/Lys311, the inclusion of Phe313 and Met317 produced a mutant pigment with the potency of transducin activation equal to that of the wild-type rhodopsin. Overall, our data support the role of the three cytoplasmic loops of rhodopsin and suggest that residues adjacent to the transmembrane helices are most important for transducin activation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Natochin
authors.forename: Karim G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Gasimov
authors.forename: Mustapha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moussaif
authors.forename: Nikolai O
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Artemyev
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D002417:Cattle; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D017510:Protein Folding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012243:Rhodopsin / Q000737:chemistry*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D015293:Transducin / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012243:Rhodopsin; D015293:Transducin