GPR52 is a class-A orphan G-protein-coupled receptor that is highly expressed in the brain and represents a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of Huntington's disease and several psychiatric disorders 1,2 . Pathological malfunction of GPR52 signalling occurs primarily through the heterotrimeric G s protein 2 , but it is unclear how GPR52 and G s couple for signal transduction and whether a native ligand or other activating input is required ...
GPR52 is a class-A orphan G-protein-coupled receptor that is highly expressed in the brain and represents a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of Huntington's disease and several psychiatric disorders 1,2 . Pathological malfunction of GPR52 signalling occurs primarily through the heterotrimeric G s protein 2 , but it is unclear how GPR52 and G s couple for signal transduction and whether a native ligand or other activating input is required. Here we present the high-resolution structures of human GPR52 in three states: a ligand-free state, a G s -coupled self-activation state and a potential allosteric ligand-bound state. Together, our structures reveal that extracellular loop 2 occupies the orthosteric binding pocket and operates as a built-in agonist, conferring an intrinsically high level of basal activity to GPR52 3 . A fully active state is achieved when G s is coupled to GPR52 in the absence of an external agonist. The receptor also features a side pocket for ligand binding. These insights into the structure and function of GPR52 could improve our understanding of other self-activated GPCRs, enable the identification of endogenous and tool ligands, and guide drug discovery efforts that target GPR52.
Organizational Affiliation:
Centre for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. xufei@shanghaitech.edu.cn.
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