Unraveling allostery within the angiotensin II type 1 receptor for Gα _q and β-arrestin coupling

Abstract

G protein-coupled receptors engage both G proteins and β-arrestins, and their coupling can be biased by ligands and mutations. Here, to resolve structural elements and mechanisms underlying effector coupling to the angiotensin II (AngII) type 1 receptor (AT1R), we combined alanine scanning mutagenesis of the entire sequence of the receptor with pharmacological profiling of Gα_q and β-arrestin engagement to mutant receptors and molecular dynamics simulations. We showed that Gα_q coupling to AT1R involved a large number of residues spread across the receptor, whereas fewer structural regions of the receptor contributed to β-arrestin coupling regulation. Residue stretches in transmembrane domain 4 conferred β-arrestin bias and represented an important structural element in AT1R for functional selectivity. Furthermore, we identified allosteric small-molecule binding sites that were enclosed by communities of residues that produced biased signaling when mutated. Last, we showed that allosteric communication within AT1R emanating from the Gα_q coupling site spread beyond the orthosteric AngII-binding site and across different regions of the receptor, including currently unresolved structural regions. Our findings reveal structural elements and mechanisms within AT1R that bias Gα_q and β-arrestin coupling and that could be harnessed to design biased receptors for research purposes and to develop allosteric modulators.