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Updated: Dec 28, 2025

A Pipeline to Investigate the Structures and Signaling Pathways of Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Receptors
Published on: June 8, 2022
Structure of formylpeptide receptor 2-Gi complex reveals insights into ligand recognition and signaling
Youwen Zhuang1,2,3, Heng Liu4, X Edward Zhou3
1The CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201203, China.
Abstract:
Formylpeptide receptors (FPRs) as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) can recognize formylpeptides derived from pathogens or host cells to function in host defense and cell clearance. In addition, FPRs, especially FPR2, can also recognize other ligands with a large chemical diversity generated at different stages of inflammation to either promote or resolve inflammation in order to maintain a balanced inflammatory response. The mechanism underlying promiscuous ligand recognition and activation of FPRs is not clear. Here we report a cryo-EM structure of FPR2-Gi signaling complex with a peptide agonist. The structure reveals a widely open extracellular region with an amphiphilic environment for ligand binding. Together with computational docking and simulation, the structure suggests a molecular basis for the recognition of formylpeptides and a potential mechanism of receptor activation, and reveals conserved and divergent features in Gi coupling. Our results provide a basis for understanding the molecular mechanism of the functional promiscuity of FPRs.
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