The VPAC1 receptor is a common receptor for vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) 1 and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide or PACAP (1). It mediates the actions of the two neuropeptides in a large variety of tissues through coupling to G s proteins (2) and subsequent activation of adenylyl cyclase (3). Together with the VPAC2 receptor subtype, they mediate a large array of VIP or PACAP actions on exocrine secretions, release of hormones, relaxation of muscles, metabolism, immune functions, growth control of fetuses and tumor cells, and embryonic brain development (1-5). The VPAC1 receptor belongs to the class II subfamily of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), which includes receptors for peptides structurally related to VIP, receptors for other peptides such as the PTH, calcitonin, or CRF (6, 7), and the so-called EGF-TM7 (8) or LNB-TM7 (9) receptors bearing unusually large and complex N-terminal extracellular domains. The VPAC1 receptor, a prototypical class II receptor, has been extensively studied by site-directed mutagenesis and molecular chimerism with respect to determination of VIP binding domains (1-3) and agonist selectivity (10, 11). These studies showed that the N-terminal extracellular domain of hVPAC1 receptor plays a crucial, although not exclusive, role in VIP binding (12). Moreover, microdomains consisting of small clusters of amino acids located in the N-terminal ectodomain (11) or at the junction of extraloop 1 and TM3 (10) were characterized as selectivity filters restricting access of VIP-related peptides to the hVPAC1 receptor. A three-dimensional model of the N-terminal ectodomain of hVPAC1 receptor has been recently developed (12). In sharp contrast, nothing is known regarding the regions of the intracellular domain of the hVPAC1 receptor involved in signal transduction e.g. adenylyl cyclase activation. More generally, the current knowledge of the coupling mechanism of class II GPCRs to signal transduction is limited as compared with that of class I GPCRs including the prototypical rhodopsin and -adrenergic receptors (13). Since class II peptide receptors have low overall sequence identity with class I GPCRs and even lack the rigorously conserved residues found in the core of class I receptors including the (D/E)RY sequence, the determination of the class II receptor intracellular domains involved in coupling to signal transduction cannot be simply extrapolated from our current knowledge regarding class I GPCRs.In this context, the present study explores the structurefunction relationship of the hVPAC1 receptor for VIP-induced