ABSTRACT
Frizzleds (FZDs) are a group of seven transmembrane-spanning (7TM) receptors that belong to class F of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily. FZDs bind WNT proteins to stimulate diverse signaling cascades involved in embryonic development, stem cell regulation, and adult tissue homeostasis. Frizzled 5 (FZD5) is one of the most studied class F GPCRs that promote the functional inactivation of the ß-catenin destruction complex in response to WNTs. However, whether FZDs function as prototypical GPCRs has been heavily debated and, in particular, FZD5 has not been shown to activate heterotrimeric G proteins. Here, we show that FZD5 exhibited a conformational change after the addition of WNT-5A, which is reminiscent of class A and class B GPCR activation. In addition, we performed several live-cell imaging and spectrometric-based approaches, such as dual-color fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (dcFRAP) and resonance energy transfer (RET)-based assays that demonstrated that FZD5 activated Gαq and its downstream effectors upon stimulation with WNT-5A. Together, these findings suggest that FZD5 is a 7TM receptor with a bona fide GPCR activation profile and suggest novel targets for drug discovery in WNT-FZD signaling.
Subject(s)
Cell Proliferation , Frizzled Receptors/metabolism , Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology , Wnt-5a Protein/metabolism , Calcium/metabolism , Diglycerides/metabolism , Frizzled Receptors/chemistry , HEK293 Cells , Humans , Pancreatic Neoplasms/metabolism , Protein Conformation , Protein Kinase C/metabolism , Signal Transduction , Tumor Cells, Cultured , Wnt-5a Protein/chemistryABSTRACT
Melatonin is produced during the night and regulates sleep and circadian rhythms. Loss-of-function variants in MTNR1B, which encodes the melatonin receptor MT2, a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). To identify specific T2D-associated signaling pathway(s), we profiled the signaling output of 40 MT2 variants by monitoring spontaneous (ligand-independent) and melatonin-induced activation of multiple signaling effectors. Genetic association analysis showed that defects in the melatonin-induced activation of Gαi1 and Gαz proteins and in spontaneous ß-arrestin2 recruitment to MT2 were the most statistically significantly associated with an increased T2D risk. Computational variant impact prediction by in silico evolutionary lineage analysis strongly correlated with the measured phenotypic effect of each variant, providing a predictive tool for future studies on GPCR variants. Together, this large-scale functional study provides an operational framework for the postgenomic analysis of the multiple GPCR variants present in the human population. The association of T2D risk with signaling pathway-specific defects opens avenues for pathway-specific personalized therapeutic intervention and reveals the potential relevance of MT2 function during the day, when melatonin is undetectable, but spontaneous activity of the receptor occurs.
