Agonist-selective, receptor-specific interaction of human P2Y receptors with β-arrestin-1 and -2

Abstract

Interaction of G-protein-coupled receptors with β-arrestins is an important step in receptor desensitization and in triggering "alternative" signals. By means of confocal microscopy and fluorescence resonance energy transfer, we have investigated the internalization of the human P2Y receptors 1, 2, 4, 6, 11, and 12 and their interaction with β-arrestin-1 and -2. Co-transfection of each individual P2Y receptor with β-arrestin-1-GFP or β-arrestin-2-YFP into HEK-293 cells and stimulation with the corresponding agonists resulted in a receptor-specific interaction pattern. The P2Y1 receptor stimulated with ADP strongly translocated β-arrestin-2-YFP, whereas only a slight translocation was observed for β-arrestin-1-GFP. The P2Y4 receptor exhibited equally strong translocation for β-arrestin-1-GFP and β-arrestin-2-YFP when stimulated with UTP. The P2Y6, P2Y11, and P2Y 12 receptor internalized only when GRK2 was additionally co-transfected, but β-arrestin translocation was only visible for the P2Y6 and P2Y11 receptor. The P2Y2 receptor showed a β-arrestin translocation pattern that was dependent on the agonist used for stimulation. UTP translocated β-arrestin-1-GFP and β-arrestin-2-YFP equally well, whereas ATP translocated β-arrestin-1-GFP to a much lower extent than β-arrestin-2-YFP. The same agonist-dependent pattern was seen in fluorescence resonance energy transfer experiments between the fluorescently labeled P2Y2 receptor and β-arrestins. Thus, the P2Y2 receptor would be classified as a class A receptor when stimulated with ATP or as a class B receptor when stimulated with UTP. The ligand-specific recruitment of β-arrestins by ATP and UTP stimulation of P2Y2 receptors was further found to result in differential stimulation of ERK phosphorylation. This suggests that the two different agonists induce distinct active states of this receptor that show differential interactions with β-arrestins. © 2008 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.