Three "hotspots" important for adenosine A(2B) receptor activation: a mutational analysis of transmembrane domains 4 and 5 and the second extracellular loop

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a major drug target and can be activated by a range of stimuli, from photons to proteins. Despite the progress made in the last decade in molecular and structural biology, their exact activation mechanism is still unknown. Here we describe new insights in specific regions essential in adenosine A_2B receptor activation (A_2BR), a typical class A GPCR. We applied unbiased random mutagenesis on the middle part of the human adenosine A_2BR, consisting of transmembrane domains 4 and 5 (TM4 and TM5) linked by extracellular loop 2 (EL2), and subsequently screened in a medium-throughput manner for gain-of-function and constitutively active mutants. For that purpose, we used a genetically engineered yeast strain (Saccharomyces cerevisiae MMY24) with growth as a read-out parameter. From the random mutagenesis screen, 12 different mutant receptors were identified that form three distinct clusters; at the top of TM4, in a cysteine-rich region in EL2, and at the intracellular side of TM5. All mutant receptors show a vast increase in agonist potency and most also displayed a significant increase in constitutive activity. None of these residues are supposedly involved in ligand binding directly. As a consequence, it appears that disrupting the relatively “silent” configuration of the wild-type receptor in each of the three clusters readily causes spontaneous receptor activity.