Examination of ligand-induced conformational changes in the beta2 adrenergic receptor

The environmentally sensitive and cysteine reactive fluorescent probe, IANBD, was used to monitor ligand-induced structural changes in the beta2 adrenergic receptor (beta2AR) by fluorescent spectroscopy. We found that agonists caused a dose-dependent and reversible decrease in fluorescence from the purified IANBD-labeled beta2AR. This suggested that agonists promote a conformational change in the receptor that leads to an increase in the polarity of the environment around one or more IANBD labeled cysteines. The wildtype receptor contains eight free cysteines and mutagenesis and peptide mapping experiments have indicated that several of these sites are accessible for chemical derivatization. Thus, to identify the cysteine(s) involved in the agonist-induced change in fluorescence and thereby map agonist-induced conformational changes in the beta2AR, we generated a series of mutant receptors having limited numbers of cysteines available for fluorescent labeling. Fluorescence spectroscopy analysis of the purified and site-selectively IANBD-labeled mutants showed that IANBD labeled 125Cys and 285Cys are responsible for the observed changes in fluorescence consistent with movements of TM III and VI in response to agonist binding.