Structural mass spectrometry captures residue-resolved comprehensive conformational rearrangements of a G protein-coupled receptor

ABSTRACT: GPCR structural studies with in-solution spectroscopic approaches have offered distinctive insights into GPCR activation and signaling that highly complement those yielded from structural snapshots by crystallography or cryo-EM. While most current spectroscopic approaches excel at probing structural changes at selected residues or loop regions, they are not suitable for capturing a holistic view of GPCR conformational rearrangements across multiple domains. Herein, we develop an approach based on limited proteolysis mass spectrometry (LiP-MS) to simultaneously monitor conformational alterations of a large number of residues spanning both flexible loops and structured transmembrane domains for a given GPCR. To benchmark LiP-MS for GPCR conformational profiling, we studied adenosine 2A receptor (A2AR) in response to different ligand binding (agonist/antagonist/allosteric modulators) and G protein coupling. Systematic and residue-resolved profiling of A2AR conformational rearrangements by LiP-MS precisely captures structural mechanisms in multiple domains underlying ligand engagement, receptor activation and allostery, and may also reflect local conformational flexibility. Furthermore, these residue-resolution structural fingerprints of A2AR protein allow us to readily classify ligands of different pharmacology and distinguish the G protein-coupled state. Thus, we establish a new structural MS approach that would help address ligand or transducer-induced conformational transition and plasticity, a long-standing challenge for GPCR biology and rational drug design.

ORGANISM(S): Homo Sapiens

SUBMITTER: Wenqing Shui  

PROVIDER: PXD048942 | iProX | Fri Apr 26 00:00:00 BST 2024

REPOSITORIES: iProX