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1 Department of Pharmacology
2 Department of Biochemistry Biological Chemistry/HHMI University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-7280
Correspondence: Send correspondence to JAB. E-mail beavo{at}u.washington.edu; fax 206-685-3822.

| SUMMARY |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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PDEs contain a C-terminal conserved catalytic domain and one or more N-terminal regulatory segments (2). Some of these regulatory domains bind cGMP. The sequences that make up these domains were originally identified in PDE2 and PDE6 (2). However, it is now known that five PDE families (PDEs 2, 5, 6, 10, and 11) contain regulatory segments composed of two of these domains. Nearly all have the domain arrangement shown in Figure 1
. More recently, using bioinformatic techniques, it was determined that these sequence motifs were present in many other proteins, many of which do not bind cGMP (3). These sequences were renamed as "GAF domains" to reflect this greater diversity of sequence, expression, and function. The GAF acronym comes from the names of the first three different classes of proteins identified to contain them: cGMP-specific and -regulated cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, Adenylyl cyclase, and E. coli transcription factor FhlA (3).
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For certain PDE families, the binding of cGMP to at least one GAF domain in the regulatory segment is known to activate catalytic activity. In PDE2, cGMP bound to the GAF B domain stimulates enzyme activity more than tenfold at low substrate concentration (710). Cyclic GMP also has been shown to bind to PDE5 (1113). In PDE5A, like PDE2, there are two GAF domains, and cGMP binds to the GAF A domain. The binding of cGMP to the GAF A domain allows cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) to phosphorylate Ser92, just N-terminal to GAF A (14). The phosphorylation in turn increases PDE5A catalytic activity. Recent data from our laboratory and Okada et al. suggest that the binding of cGMP to GAF domains also directly activates the catalytic domains (S.D. Rybalkin, I.G. Rybalkina, M. Shimizu-Albergine, X.-B. Tang, and J.A. Beavo, unpublished observations) (15).
The photoreceptor PDE6 is expressed in rod and cone photoreceptor cells, where its catalytic activity is inhibited by its gamma subunit (P
), whose affinity for PDE6 is regulated by the binding of cGMP to the PDE6 GAF domain. For PDE6 there is as yet no evidence of direct cooperativity between the GAF domains and catalytic sites (16). Instead, GAF A binds the central polycationic region of P
and increases the affinity of the C-terminal region of P
for the catalytic site (17, 18).
The two recently discovered GAF-containing PDE families, PDE10 and PDE11, are poorly characterized. Their regulatory segments are homologous to those of PDE 2, 5, and 6, but definitive binding studies have not yet been reported. A preliminary study suggests that PDE10A may contain a low-affinity cGMP-binding GAF domain (19), but no allosteric effect on the catalytic site has been established.
In PDE11A, there is a possibly unique structural feature, namely, the presence of truncated GAF domains in the N-terminal region of some splice variants. A number of tissue-specific splice variants of PDE11A have been identified, although in most cases, their enzyme activities in the cell have not yet been confirmed (2023). Nevertheless, a genomics study of the PDE11A-encoding gene shows separate promoters for both splice variants that contain an incomplete GAF A (PDE11A3) or GAF B domain (PDE11A1) (24). A preliminary study of PDE11A1 suggests that neither cAMP nor cGMP is an allosteric effector (23). However, this splice variant lacks a GAF A domain and has only an incomplete GAF B domain. Therefore, the significance of undetectable cyclic nucleotide binding is unclear. PDE11A4, which contains both GAF A and B domains, has not been reported to have cGMP or cAMP binding activity (22).
| STRUCTURE OF A PDE REGULATORY SEGMENT CONTAINING GAF DOMAINS |
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The first x-ray crystal structure of PDE GAF domains, with bound cGMP, was recently determined (Figure 2
) (26). A dimer of regulatory segments from mouse PDE2A, each segment containing the GAF A and B domains, was analyzed to a resolution of 2.9 angstroms. GAF A and B contain very similar folds to those seen in the structure of YKG9, a protein deduced from the yeast genome that contains a single GAF domain (27). No ligand for YKG9 has been reported; the protein does not appear to bind cGMP. In PDE2A, GAF A and B are connected by a thirty-tworesidue long helix of nine turns. Unexpectedly, whereas the GAF A domains from the two regulatory segments form a dimer interface, the GAF B domains are well separated. There is also contact between the first seven turns of the connecting helices. The divergence starts after the two C386 residues, which appear (at this somewhat limited resolution) to form an intermolecular disulfide bond, although a C386S mutant structure is essentially identical to the wild-type structure. Whether this disulfide is integral to enzyme activation or positive cooperativity for substrate binding remains to be determined. Surprisingly, the two GAF A domains form an interface through a completely different set of contacts than would be predicted from the YKG9 dimer.
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| ONE MOLECULE OF CGMP IS BOUND TO GAF B |
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The crystals of the dimeric regulatory sequences from PDE2A provide the first atomic structure of cGMP bound to a cGMP receptor (Figure 3
). The cGMP is completely buried, along with three bound water molecules. The most distinctive feature of the bound cGMP is that its 3,5-cyclic phosphate group does not contact any of the proteins amino acid side chains; two backbone amides (i.e., I458 and Y481), however, make H-bonds to the two exocyclic oxygen atoms of the phosphate. In addition, the negatively charged phosphate group of cGMP is stabilized by the positive end of the adjacent alpha helix. The neutralization of a phosphate negative charge with a helix dipole is an important feature of the binding site. In all other experimentally determined structures that bind cAMP or cGMP, an arginine or lysine neutralizes the phosphate charge. The helix dipole, because it is derived from backbone peptide bonds, is not directly detectable on the basis of protein sequence alignments. The guanine ring and ribose moieties of the bound cGMP make a total of six polar contacts and two hydrophobic contacts with residues of the GAF domain. One residue, D439, makes both a side chain contact (to the guanine N1 nitrogen atom) and a backbone amide contact (to the C6 carbonyl group). This aspartyl residue may thus be one specificity determinant for the binding of cGMP over cAMP. Cyclic AMP has an amino group at C6, which is incompatible with the contact to the amide bond at D439, and its N1 nitrogen atom cannot engage in an H-bond with the negatively charged D439 side chain.
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The structure of the PDE2A regulatory segments described in Figures 2 and 3![]()
does not suggest an activation mechanism for PDE2A except for the fact that a large conformation change must take place upon binding of cGMP. The fact that the cGMP is completely buried must require that a much more open state of the binding pocket exists. However, how this conformation change in GAF B causes an activation of the catalytic domain is not yet clear and ultimately will require structural determination of the holoenzyme with and without cGMP bound. Nevertheless, it appears that the mechanism of activation extends back billions of years. In a recent paper by Kanacher et al., a cAMP-activated cyanobacterial adenylyl cyclase that contains GAF A and B domains was enzymologically characterized (36). This enzyme also has two GAF domains, like PDE2A (Figure 1
), but in addition contains a PAS domain between the GAF B and the cyclase domains (36). Normally, this GAF B domain selectively binds cAMP to result in activation of cAMP synthesis. When the sequence including the GAF A and B domains of rat PDE2A was swapped into Anabaena adenylyl cyclase, the chimera had a Ka with respect to cGMP of 3 µM (i.e., concentration that results in half-maximal activation), a value identical to that for rat PDE2A (36). Cyclic AMP did not stimulate this chimera. These astonishing results strongly suggest conservation of a common regulatory mechanism in an eukaryotic phosphodiesterase and a bacterial adenylyl cyclase. The intervening PAS domain in the adenylyl cyclase apparently does not block this mechanism. The mechanism by which this activation occurs is not yet understood; however, whatever the mechanism, it has been conserved for over two billion years of evolution.
| CONCLUSION |
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| GAF DOMAINS AS DRUG TARGETS The SMART domain database contains (as of 8/5/02) approximately 1200 GAF domains, of which only about fifty-five pertain to mammals. In humans, nearly all of the GAF domains identified are in the PDEs. Although additional GAF domains may be discovered with further annotation of the human genome, the small percentage that have already been established suggest that synthesis of specific regulatory molecules that bind to the GAF domains of mammalian PDEs may be possible. Rational drug design typically has been used to design competitive inhibitors of active sites. Some early examples of such design are the HIV protease inhibitors, Crixivan and Saquinavir. In addition to the rational synthesis of active-site ligands, however, small molecules could also be designed to target regulatory domains. Two types of functional ligands could be designed to bind GAF domains: agonists and antagonists. An antagonist might bind to the open (i.e. cGMP-free) conformation of the GAF domain and stabilize it in that state, blocking the natural ligand from binding and closing the GAF domain. The result would be an enzyme left in the inactive state. A GAF agonist, on the other hand, might bind more tightly to the closed conformation than the natural ligand, permanently activating the enzyme. Both PDE2A and PDE5A could be attractive targets for GAF-binding agonists or antagonists. The activation of PDE2A by atrial natriuretic peptide, a hypotensive hormone, decreases cAMP levels in the adrenal cortex, thereby decreasing production of aldosterone and retention of salt by the kidney (37). An agonist that would bind the GAF B domain of PDE2A, for which a crystal structure is available, could similarly be used to fine-tune treatment of high blood pressure.
For PDE2A, a GAF-binding agonist would not necessarily have to resemble cGMP. No structure of the unbound GAF B is available, but presumably the domain would go through an open conformation before binding cGMP. Such an open conformation might be an actual broadening of the ligand pocket. Interestingly, an alpha helix that lies over the cGMP molecule in the closed conformation makes distinct contacts with the ligand through four amino acid side chains; in the absence of these four contactsthat is, in the unbound stateit is possible that this protein sequence is disordered. A GAF-binding agonist probably would preserve some feature of cGMP, such as the negative charge where the phosphate group is pointed to the adjacent helix (see Figure 3 Since it has recently been found that cGMP binding to the GAF A domain of PDE5 will also stimulate catalysis, antagonists of this enzyme would also be of interest. Importantly, this site would be expected to have different binding requirements than the active site. Active-site inhibitors like sildenafil (Viagra®) have proved very useful for increasing cGMP in vascular smooth muscle and for treatment of erectile dysfunction. By blocking the binding of cGMP to GAF A, no phosphorylation and activation of PDE5 by protein kinase G could occur, thereby possibly potentiating inhibition by sildenafil. On the other hand, a GAF A domainbinding agonist might activate the enzyme at lower concentrations of cGMP and thereby blunt a large increase in cGMP levels in response to pathologic stimuli. Such activation might for example be useful for treatment of ischemic injury after stroke, because high levels of cGMP have been associated with this pathology (38). It would seem very difficult, on the other hand, to design an agonist that would occupy the catalytic site and yet allow for the binding of substrate. Finally, if ligands for the GAF domains that do not bind cGMP can be found, these domains may also prove useful drug targets.
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