The calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is formed through the association of the calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CLR) and one of three receptor activity-modifying proteins (RAMPs). Binding of one of the three peptide ligands, CGRP, adrenomedullin (AM), and intermedin/adrenomedullin 2 (AM2), is well known to result in a Gαs-mediated increase in cAMP. Here we used modified yeast strains that couple receptor activation to cell growth, via chimeric yeast/Gα subunits, and HEK-293 cells to characterize the effect of different RAMP and ligand combinations on this pathway. We not only demonstrate functional couplings to both Gαs and Gαq but also identify a Gαi component to CLR signaling in both yeast and HEK-293 cells, which is absent in HEK-293S cells. We show that the CGRP family of receptors displays both ligand- and RAMP-dependent signaling bias among the Gαs, Gαi, and Gαq/11 pathways. The results are discussed in the context of RAMP interactions probed through molecular modeling and molecular dynamics simulations of the RAMP-GPCR-G protein complexes. This study further highlights the importance of RAMPs to CLR pharmacology and to bias in general, as well as identifying the importance of choosing an appropriate model system for the study of GPCR pharmacology.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are transmembrane proteins that modulate physiology across diverse tissues in response to extracellular signals. GPCR signalling can differ due to variation in the sequence (e.g. polymorphisms) or in the expression of receptors in different tissues. The resulting differences in response are an important source of physiological signalling bias. An underexplored source of such bias is the generation of functionally diverse GPCR isoforms that can have distinct patterns of expression in human tissues. Here, we report the findings from a comprehensive study, integrating data from human tissue-level transcriptomes, GPCR sequences and structures, functional annotations, proteomics, single-cell RNA sequencing, population-wide genetic association studies, and pharmacological experiments. Our results show how a single GPCR gene can diversify into multiple isoforms with distinct structural and signalling properties, and how unique combinations of these isoforms can be expressed in different human tissues, contributing to differences in physiological signalling. Based on their structural changes and expression patterns, some of the detected isoforms may also influence drug response and represent new drug targets with improved tissue selectivity. Our findings highlight the need to move from a canonical to a context-specific view of GPCR signalling, in which one considers how the combinatorial expression of receptor isoforms in a specific system (i.e. a particular cell type, tissue, or organism) collectively impacts receptor signalling. These observations pave the way for understanding the impact of isoform variation on GPCR signalling response and have implications for exploiting such variation as a source of GPCR selectivity in drug development.

Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are a family of plant extracellular proteoglycans involved in many physiological events. AGPs are often anchored to the extracellular side of the plasma membrane and are highly glycosylated with arabinogalactan (AG) polysaccharides, but the molecular function of this glycosylation remains largely unknown. The blinked glucuronic acid (GlcA) residues in AG polysaccharides have been shown in vitro to bind to calcium in a pH-dependent manner. Here, we used Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants in four AG b-glucuronyltransferases (GlcAT14A,-B,-D, and-E) to understand the role of glucuronidation of AG. AG isolated from glcat14 triple mutants had a strong reduction in glucuronidation. AG from a glcat14a/b/d triple mutant had lower calcium binding capacity in vitro than AG from wild-type plants. Some mutants had multiple developmental defects such as reduced trichome branching. glcat14a/b/e triple mutant plants had severely limited seedling growth and were sterile, and the propagation of calcium waves was perturbed in roots. Several of the developmental phenotypes were suppressed by increasing the calcium concentration in the growth medium. Our results show that AG glucuronidation is crucial for multiple developmental processes in plants and suggest that a function of AGPs might be to bind and release cell-surface apoplastic calcium.

Receptor-activity–modifying proteins (RAMPs) are single transmembrane-spanning proteins which serve as molecular chaperones and allosteric modulators of G-protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) and their signaling pathways. Although RAMPs have been previously studied in the context of their effects on Family B GPCRs, the coevolution of RAMPs with many GPCR families suggests an expanded repertoire of potential interactions. Using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer-based and cell-surface expression approaches, we comprehensively screen for RAMP interactions within the chemokine receptor family and identify robust interactions between RAMPs and nearly all chemokine receptors. Most notably, we identify robust RAMP interaction with atypical chemokine receptors (ACKRs), which function to establish chemotactic gradients for directed cell migration. Specifically, RAMP3 association with atypical chemokine receptor 3 (ACKR3) diminishes adrenomedullin (AM) ligand availability without changing G-protein coupling. Instead, RAMP3 is required for the rapid recycling of ACKR3 to the plasma membrane through Rab4-positive vesicles following either AM or SDF-1/CXCL12 binding, thereby enabling formation of dynamic spatiotemporal chemotactic gradients. Consequently, genetic deletion of either ACKR3 or RAMP3 in mice abolishes directed cell migration of retinal angiogenesis. Thus, RAMP association with chemokine receptor family members represents a molecular interaction to control receptor signaling and trafficking properties.

Agonist bias occurs when different ligands produce distinct signalling outputs when acting at the same receptor. However, its physiological relevance is not always clear. Using primary human cells and gene editing techniques, we demonstrate endogenous agonist bias with physiological consequences for the calcitonin receptor-like receptor, CLR. By switching the receptor-activity modifying protein (RAMP) associated with CLR we can “re-route” the physiological pathways activated by endogenous agonists calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), adrenomedullin (AM) and adrenomedullin 2 (AM2). AM2 promotes calcium-mediated nitric oxide signalling whereas CGRP and AM show pro-proliferative effects in cardiovascular cells, thus providing a rationale for the expression of the three peptides. CLR-based agonist bias occurs naturally in human cells and has a fundamental purpose for its existence. We anticipate this will be a starting point for more studies into RAMP function in native environments and their importance in endogenous GPCR signalling.