Pseudohypoparathyroidism, a novel mutation in the betagamma-contact region of Gsalpha impairs receptor stimulation

Pseudohypoparathyroidism, type Ia (PHP-Ia), is a dominantly inherited endocrine disorder characterized by resistance to Hormones that act by stimulating adenylyl cyclase. It is caused by inheritance of an autosomal mutation that inactivates the alpha subunit (alphas) of Gs, the stimulatory regulator of adenylyl cyclase. In three members of a family, the PHP-Ia phenotype is associated with a mutation (R231H) that substitutes histidine for an arginine at position 231 in alphas. We assessed signaling function of alphas-WT versus alphas-R231H transiently transfected in HEK293 cells. Hormone receptor-dependent stimulation of cAMP accumulation in cells expressing alphas-R231H is reduced by approximately 75% in comparison to cAMP accumulation in cells expressing alphas-WT. A second mutation, alphas-R201C, inhibits the GTPase turnoff reaction of alphas, thus producing receptor-independent stimulation of cAMP accumulation. The double mutant, alphas-R231H/R201C, stimulates cAMP accumulation almost as well (approximately 80%) as does alphas-R201C itself, indicating that the R231H mutation selectively impairs receptor-dependent signaling. In three-dimensional structures of G protein heterotrimers, Arg-231 is located in a region, switch 2, that is thought to interact with the betagamma subunit rather than with the hormone receptor. Thus, the R231H phenotype suggests that switch 2 (perhaps in concert with betagamma) mediates G protein activation by receptors at a site distant from the receptor-G protein contact surface.