Heterodimerization with the β1 subunit directs the α2 subunit of nitric oxide-sensitive guanylyl cyclase to calcium-insensitive cell-cell contacts in HEK293 cells: Interaction with Lin7a

Nitric oxide-sensitive guanylyl cyclase is a heterodimeric enzyme consisting of an α and a β subunit. Two different α subunits (α1 and α2) give rise to two heterodimeric enzymes α1/β1 and α2/β1. Both coexist in a wide range of tissues including blood vessels and the lung, but expression of the α2/β1 form is generally much lower and approaches levels similar to the α1/β1 form in the brain only. In the present paper, we show that the α2/β1 form interacts with Lin7a in mouse brain synaptosomes based on co-precipitation analysis. In HEK293 cells, we found that the overexpressed α2/β1 form, but not the α1/β1 form is directed to calcium-insensitive cell-cell contacts. The isolated PDZ binding motif of an amino-terminally truncated α2 subunit was sufficient for cell-cell contact localization. For the full length α2 subunit with the PDZ binding motif this was only the case in the heterodimer configuration with the β1 subunit, but not as isolated α2 subunit. We conclude that the PDZ binding motif of the α2 subunit is only accessible in the heterodimer conformation of the mature nitric oxide-sensitive enzyme. Interaction with Lin7a, a small scaffold protein important for synaptic function and cell polarity, can direct this complex to nectin based cell-cell contacts via MPP3 in HEK293 cells. We conclude that heterodimerization is a prerequisite for further protein-protein interactions that direct the α2/β1 form to strategic sites of the cell membrane with adjacent neighbouring cells. Drugs increasing the nitric oxide-sensitivity of this specific form may be particularly effective.

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