Complementary DNAs for three different muscarinic acetylcholine receptors were isolated from a rat cerebral cortex library, and the cloned receptors were expressed in mammalian cells. Analysis of human and rat genomic clones indicates that there are at least four functional muscarinic receptor genes and that these genes lack introns in the coding sequence. This gene family provides a new basis for evaluating the diversity of muscarinic mechanisms in the nervous system.

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Identification of a family of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor genes

Extracellular ATP, at micromolar concentrations, induces significant functional changes in a wide variety of cells and tissues. ATP can be released from the cytosol of damaged cells or from exocytotic vesicles and/or granules contained in many types of secretory cells. There are also efficient extracellular mechanisms for the rapid metabolism of released nucleotides by ecto-ATPases and 5'-nucleotidases. The diverse biological responses to ATP are mediated by a variety of cell surface receptors that are activated when ATP or other nucleotides are bound. The functionally identified nucleotide or P2-purinergic receptors include 1) ATP receptors that stimulate G protein-coupled effector enzymes and signaling cascades, including inositol phospholipid hydrolysis and the mobilization of intracellular Ca2+ stores; 2) ATP receptors that directly activate ligand-gated cation channels in the plasma membranes of many excitable cell types; 3) ATP receptors that, via the rapid induction of surface membrane channels and/or pores permeable to ions and endogenous metabolites, produce cytotoxic or activation responses in macrophages and other immune effector cells; and 4) ADP receptors that trigger rapid ion fluxes and aggregation responses in platelets. Current research in this area is directed toward the identification and structural characterization of these receptors by biochemical and molecular biological approaches.

https://www.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/ajpcell.1993.265.3.C577

Signal transduction via P2-purinergic receptors for extracellular ATP and other nucleotides

The hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) by phospholipase C yields the second messengers inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3) and 1,2-diacylglycerol. This activity is regulated by a variety of hormones through G protein pathways. However, the specific G protein or proteins involved has not been identified. The alpha subunit of a newly discovered pertussis toxin-insensitive G protein (Gq) has recently been isolated and is now shown to stimulate the activity of polyphosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) from bovine brain. Both the maximal activity and the affinity of PI-PLC for calcium ion were affected. These results identify Gq as a G protein that regulates PI-PLC.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/251/4995/804.full.pdf

Regulation of polyphosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C activity by purified Gq

Cdc42p is an essential GTPase that belongs to the Rho/Rac subfamily of Ras-like GTPases. These proteins act as molecular switches by responding to exogenous and/or endogenous signals and relaying those signals to activate downstream components of a biological pathway. The 11 current members ofthe Cdc42p family display between 75 and 100% amino acid identity and are functional as well as structural homologs. Cdc42p transduces signals to the actin cytoskeleton to initiate and maintain polarized gorwth and to mitogen-activated protein morphogenesis. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Cdc42p plays an important role in multiple actin-dependent morphogenetic events such as bud emergence, mating-projection formation, and pseudohyphal growth. In mammalian cells, Cdc42p regulates a variety of actin-dependent events and induces the JNK/SAPK protein kinase cascade, which leads to the activation of transcription factors within the nucleus. Cdc42p mediates these processes through interactions with a myriad of downstream effectors, whose number and regulation we are just starting to understand. In addition, Cdc42p has been implicated in a number of human diseases through interactions with its regulators and downstream effectors. While much is known about Cdc42p sturcture and functional interactions, little is known about the mechanism(s) by which it transduces signals within the cell. Future research sould focus on this question as well as on the detailed analysis of the interactions of Cdc42p with its regulators and downstream effectors.

Cdc42: An Essential Rho-Type GTPase Controlling Eukaryotic Cell Polarity

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae CDC42 gene product is involved in the morphogenetic events of the cell division cycle; temperature-sensitive cdc42 mutants are unable to form buds and display delocalized cell-surface deposition at the restrictive temperature (Adams, A. E. M., D. I. Johnson, R. M. Longnecker, B. F. Sloat, and J. R. Pringle. 1990. J. Cell Biol. 111:131-142). To begin a molecular analysis of CDC42 function, we have isolated the CDC42 gene from a yeast genomic DNA library. The use of the cloned DNA to create a deletion of CDC42 confirmed that the gene is essential. Overexpression of CDC42 under control of the GAL10 promoter was not grossly deleterious to cell growth but did perturb the normal pattern of selection of budding sites. Determination of the DNA and predicted amino acid sequences of CDC42 revealed a high degree of similarity in amino acid sequence to the ras and rho (Madaule, P., R. Axel, and A. M. Myers. 1987. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 84:779-783) families of gene products. The similarities to ras proteins (approximately 40% identical or related amino acids overall) were most pronounced in the regions that have been implicated in GTP binding and hydrolysis and in the COOH-terminal modifications leading to membrane association, suggesting that CDC42 function also involves these biochemical properties. The similarities to the rho proteins (approximately 60% identical or related amino acids overall) were more widely distributed through the coding region, suggesting more extensive similarities in as yet undefined biochemical properties and functions.

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Molecular characterization of CDC42, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene involved in the development of cell polarity.

Modification of AlF-4- and receptor-stimulated phospholipase C activity by G-protein beta gamma subunits.

Activation of muscarinic cholinergic receptors of 1321N1 human astrocytoma cells attenuates cyclic AMP accumulation. This effect results from an activation of phosphodiesterase with no direct inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity. In spite of this lack of coupling of muscarinic receptors to adenylate cyclase, guanine nucleotides reduce the apparent binding affinity of the agonist carbachol in a washed membrane preparation of 1321N1 cells. The order of potency for this effect is guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) greater than 5'-guanylyl-imidodiphosphate = GTP = GDP; ATP has no effect. The occurrence of a Mr = 41,000 protein labeled in the presence of [32P]NAD and pertussis toxin as well as the occurrence of guanine nucleotide-mediated inhibition of forskolin-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity indicate that the functional inhibitory guanine nucleotide regulatory component of adenylate cyclase (Ni) is present in 1321N1 cells. Pertussis toxin pretreatment of NG108-15 neuroblastoma X glioma cells, which express muscarinic receptors that link through Ni to inhibit adenylate cyclase, blocked the GTP-sensitive, high affinity binding of carbachol. In contrast, pretreatment of 1321N1 cells with a concentration of pertussis toxin that blocked [32P]ADP ribosylation of the Mr = 41,000 substrate and GTP-mediated inhibition of forskolin-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity had no effect on GTP-sensitive high affinity binding of carbachol. These results suggest that muscarinic cholinergic receptors of 1321N1 cells couple to a guanine nucleotide regulatory protein that is distinct from Ni.

Guanine nucleotide-sensitive, high affinity binding of carbachol to muscarinic cholinergic receptors of 1321N1 astrocytoma cells is insensitive to pertussis toxin.

A guanine-nucleotide-binding protein (G-protein) was purified from cholate extracts of bovine brain membranes by sequential DEAE-Sephacel, Ultrogel AcA-34, heptylamine-Sepharose and Sephadex G-150 chromatography. Guanosine 5′-[gamma-[35S]thio]triphosphate (GTP[35S])-binding activity copurified with a 25,000 Da peptide and a 35,000-36,000 Da protein doublet. Neither pertussis toxin nor cholera toxin catalysed the ADP-ribosylation of a protein associated with the GTP[35S]-binding activity. Photoaffinity labelling of the purified protein with 8-azido[gamma-32P]GTP indicated that the GTP-binding site resides on the 25,000 Da protein. The 35,000-36,000 Da protein doublet was electrophoretically indistinguishable from the beta-subunits of other GTP-binding proteins, and the 36,000 Da protein was recognized by antiserum to oligomeric Gt. The purified protein specifically bound 17.2 nmol of GTP[35S]/mg of protein. The Kd of the binding site for radioligand was approx. 15 nM. The brain GTP-binding protein co-migrated during SDS/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis with a GTP-binding protein, named Gp, purified from human placenta [Evans, Brown, Fraser & Northup (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 7052-7059], and cross-reacted with antiserum raised against the placental protein, but not with antiserum raised to brain Go. SDS/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis of the brain and placental GTP-binding proteins in the presence of Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease yielded identical peptide maps.

/pdf/identification-and-purification-from-bovine-brain-of-a-2x5l3fsje3.pdf

Identification and purification from bovine brain of a guanine-nucleotide-binding protein distinct from Gs, Gi and Go.

Inhibitory coupling of receptors to adenylate cyclase previously has been shown to be relatively sensitive to inactivation by alkylation with N-ethylmaleimide (NEM). Modification of the inhibitory guanine nucleotide regulatory protein, Ni, has been proposed to be responsible for this effect. The effects of NEM on GTP-sensitive binding of carbachol to muscarinic cholinergic receptors has been compared in a cell line (1321N1 human astrocytoma cells) in which these receptors stimulate phosphoinositide breakdown and in a cell line (NG108-15 neuroblastoma X glioma cells) in which activation of these receptors results in inhibition of adenylate cyclase. Pretreatment of membrane preparations from 1321N1 cells with NEM resulted in a concentration-dependent decrease in the extent of pertussis toxin-catalysed [32P]ADP-ribosylation of a 41 000 Da protein previously proposed to be the alpha subunit of Ni. Under conditions where 32P-labelling of Ni in 1321N1 membranes was reduced by NEM by 90%, no effect was observed on the extent of guanine nucleotide-sensitive high-affinity binding of carbachol to muscarinic cholinergic receptors. In contrast, treatment of NG108-15 membranes with NEM under the same conditions resulted in complete loss of high-affinity guanine nucleotide sensitive binding of carbachol. These results illustrate another difference between the muscarinic receptor population of these two cell lines, and support the previous proposal that muscarinic receptors of 1321N1 cells couple to a guanine nucleotide regulatory protein that is not Ni.

T Evans

Papers

Modification of AlF-4- and receptor-stimulated phospholipase C activity by G-protein beta gamma subunits.

Guanine nucleotide-sensitive, high affinity binding of carbachol to muscarinic cholinergic receptors of 1321N1 astrocytoma cells is insensitive to pertussis toxin.

Identification and purification from bovine brain of a guanine-nucleotide-binding protein distinct from Gs, Gi and Go.

Further evidence that muscarinic cholinergic receptors of 1321N1 astrocytoma cells couple to a guanine nucleotide regulatory protein that is not Ni.