Angiotensin and biased analogs induce structurally distinct active conformations within a GPCR
Choosing the drug to fit the protein
Many approved drugs bind to G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs). A challenge in targeting GPCRs is that different ligands preferentially activate different signaling pathways. Two papers show how biased signaling arises for the angiotensin II type 1 receptor that couples to two signaling partners (G proteins and arrestins). Suomivuori et al. used large-scale atomistic simulations to show that coupling to the two pathways is through two distinct GPCR conformations and that extracellular ligands favor one or the other conformation. Wingler et al. present crystal structures of the same receptor bound to ligands with different bias profiles. These structures show conformational changes in and around the binding pocket that match those observed in simulations. This work could provide a framework for the rational design of drugs that are more effective and have fewer side effects.
Abstract
Biased agonists of G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) preferentially activate a subset of downstream signaling pathways. In this work, we present crystal structures of angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) (2.7 to 2.9 angstroms) bound to three ligands with divergent bias profiles: the balanced endogenous agonist angiotensin II (AngII) and two strongly β-arrestin–biased analogs. Compared with other ligands, AngII promotes more-substantial rearrangements not only at the bottom of the ligand-binding pocket but also in a key polar network in the receptor core, which forms a sodium-binding site in most GPCRs. Divergences from the family consensus in this region, which appears to act as a biased signaling switch, may predispose the AT1R and certain other GPCRs (such as chemokine receptors) to adopt conformations that are capable of activating β-arrestin but not heterotrimeric Gq protein signaling.
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Supplementary Material
Summary
Materials and Methods
Figs. S1 to S7
Tables S1 to S5
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References and Notes
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Information & Authors
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Published In

Science
Volume 367 | Issue 6480
21 February 2020
21 February 2020
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
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Submission history
Received: 2 August 2019
Accepted: 23 January 2020
Published in print: 21 February 2020
Acknowledgments
We thank V. Brennand, Q. Lennon, and J. Taylor for administrative assistance. We thank the staff at Advanced Photon Source GM/CA beamlines for technical assistance and support of data collection. GM/[email protected] is supported by the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (AGM-12006) and the National Cancer Institute (ACB-12002). Funding: Funding was provided by the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation (C.-M.S.); the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (LT000916/2018-L) (C.-M.S.); the Mandel Center for Hypertension and Atherosclerosis at Duke (R.J.L.); the Vallee Foundation (A.C.K.); the Smith Family Foundation (A.C.K.); and NIH grants R01GM127359 (R.O.D.), R01HL16037 (R.J.L.), and DP5OD021345 (A.C.K.). A.L.W.K. is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Medical Research Fellow. R.J.L. is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Author contributions: L.M.W., D.P.S., and A.L.W.K. performed signaling and functional characterization experiments. L.M.W. crystallized the complexes. L.M.W., C.M., and A.C.K. collected x-ray diffraction data. M.A.S., C.M., and A.C.K. performed x-ray data processing and refinement. C.-M.S., N.R.L., and R.O.D. proposed experiments on the basis of structural analysis. All authors interpreted data. R.J.L. and A.C.K. supervised the project. All authors wrote the manuscript. Competing interests: R.J.L. is a founder and stockholder of Trevena and is a director of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. A.C.K. is an advisor for the Institute for Protein Innovation, a nonprofit research institute. Data and materials availability: Coordinates and structure factors for the AT1R-AT110i1 complexes with AngII, TRV023, and TRV026 ligands are deposited in the Protein Data Bank under accession codes 6OS0, 6OS1, and 6OS2, respectively.
Authors
Funding Information
National Institutes of Health: R01GM127359
National Institutes of Health: R01HL16037
National Institutes of Health: DP5OD021345
Mandel Center for Hypertension and Atherosclerosis at Duke
Sigrid Jusélius Foundation
International Human Frontier Science Program Organization: LT000916/2018-L
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