Direct mapping of the interface between parathyroid hormone (PTH) and its receptor (hPTH1-Rc
Parathyroid hormone (PTH)1 is the major regulator of calcium levels in blood and plays a role in the regulation of bone remodeling (1). Given intermittently, PTH displays anabolic activity in bone and, therefore, has considerable therapeutic potential (2). PTH and PTH-related protein exert their actions via a seven-transmembrane (TM) domain-containing receptor (PTH1-Rc) (3) belonging to a subfamily of related G proteincoupled receptors (4 -11). The PTH1-Rc is coupled to both adenylyl cyclase/cyclic AMP and phospholipase C/inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate/cytosolic calcium intracellular signaling pathways (12)(13)(14)(15).Understanding the molecular mechanism of ligand recognition and signal transduction by the PTH1-Rc may identify new directions for the design of novel hormone analogs for the treatment of diseases such as osteoporosis, hypercalcemia of malignancy and hyperparathyroidism (16). In order to directly identify the structural elements involved in PTH-PTH1-Rc interactions, we employed a photoaffinity scanning approach (17). The generation of covalently linked ligand-receptor conjugates and the identification of the cross-linked domains allows mapping of the interface between hormone and receptor. Photoaffinity cross-linking has been successfully applied in defining interactions between small peptides, such as substance P (18 -20), cholecystokinin (21), and vasopressin (22), and their receptors. Recently, we used this general approach to identify directly the interaction between position 13 of PTH and a 17-amino acid domain (residues 173-189) of the hPTH1-Rc (17).We now report the evaluation of a series of photoreactive analogs obtained by a "p-benzoylphenylalanine (Bpa) scan" of the principal receptor activation domain (residues 1-6) of 34)), maintained full potency and led to the identification of a second "contact domain" between PTH and hPTH1-Rc. This information allows us to create, for the first time, a model describing interactions of hPTH-(1-34) with its receptor based on direct identification of the interacting regions.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURESMaterials-Boc-protected amino acids, N-hydroxybenzotriazole, N,NЈ-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, and p-methylbenzydrylamine resin were purchased from Applied Biosystems (Foster City, CA). Boc-(3-iodo)tyrosine ] was from Peninsula Laboratories (Belmont, CA). B&J brand dichloromethane, N-methylpyrrolidone, and acetonitrile were obtained from Baxter (McGraw Park, IL). IODOGEN ® and 2-(2Ј-nitrophenylsulfenyl)-3-methyl-3-bromoindolenine (BNPS-skatole) were purchased from Pierce. Cyanogen bromide was from Aldrich. Na