1. A 5-mer peptide derived from hinge region of hFSHR can function as positive allosteric modulator in vivo
- Author
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Susan Idicula-Thomas, Vikas Dighe, Kaushiki S. Prabhudesai, and Muthu Sankar Aathi
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,endocrine system ,Allosteric modulator ,Biophysics ,030209 endocrinology & metabolism ,Peptide ,Leucine-rich repeat ,Molecular Dynamics Simulation ,Biochemistry ,Second Messenger Systems ,Rats, Sprague-Dawley ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Allosteric Regulation ,Extracellular ,Cyclic AMP ,Animals ,Humans ,Receptor ,Granulosa cell proliferation ,Cell Proliferation ,chemistry.chemical_classification ,Granulosa Cells ,Chemistry ,Cell Biology ,Amino acid ,Cell biology ,Rats ,Molecular Docking Simulation ,Transmembrane domain ,030104 developmental biology ,HEK293 Cells ,Receptors, FSH ,Female ,Peptides - Abstract
Interaction of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) with its cognate receptor (FSHR) is critical for maintaining reproductive health. FSHR has a large extracellular domain (ECD), composed of leucine rich repeats (LRRs) and hinge region, a transmembrane domain (TMD) and a short C-terminal domain (CTD). In this study, we have identified a short peptidic stretch in the hinge region (hFSHR(271-275)), through extensive computational modeling, docking and MD simulations, that is capable of independently interacting with the extracellular loops of FSHR(TMD). In vitro studies revealed that FSHR(271-275) peptide increased binding of [125I]-FSH to rat Fshr as well as FSH-induced cAMP production. Administration of FSHR(271-275) peptide in immature female rats significantly increased FSH-mediated ovarian weight gain and promoted granulosa cell proliferation. In summary, the results demonstrate that the synthetic peptide corresponding to amino acids 271-275 of hFSHR-hinge region stimulates FSH-FSHR interaction and behaves as positive allosteric modulator of FSHR. The study also lends evidence to the existing proposition that hinge region maintains the receptor in an inactive conformation in the absence of its ligand by engaging in intramolecular interactions with extracellular loops of TMD.
- Published
- 2020