Project A01 – Structural elucidation of activity regulation at GPCRs involved in metabolism and immune responses

Contact

Dr. Patrick Scheerer (Project Leader)

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics
Group Structural Biology of Cellular Signaling
(Protein X-ray Crystallography - Cryo-Electron Microscopy - Signal Transduction)
Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin

Phone +49 30 450 524 178
E-Mail
Web biophysik.charite.de/forschung/ag_scheerer

Dr. Michal Szczepek (Scientist)

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics
Group Structural Biology of Cellular Signaling
(Protein X-ray Crystallography - Cryo-Electron Microscopy - Signal Transduction)
Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin

Phone +49 30 450 524 178
E-Mail

Dr. Antje Kamprad (Scientist)

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics
Group Structural Biology of Cellular Signaling
(Protein X-ray Crystallography - Cryo-Electron Microscopy - Signal Transduction)
Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin

Phone +49 30 450 524 170
E-Mail

David Speck (PhD Student)

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics
Group Structural Biology of Cellular Signaling
(Protein X-ray Crystallography - Cryo-Electron Microscopy - Signal Transduction)
Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin

Phone +49 30 450 524 170
E-Mail

Monique Gallandi (PhD Student)

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics
Group Structural Biology of Cellular Signaling
(Protein X-ray Crystallography - Cryo-Electron Microscopy - Signal Transduction)
Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin

Phone +49 30 450 524 170
E-Mail

Further Team Members

Dr. Gunnar Kleinau (Senior scientist at Charité)
Anja Koch (Technician at Charité)
Dr. Andrea Schmidt (Senior scientist at Charité)

Fromer Team Member

Brian Bauer (Technician at Charité)
Dr. Nikolas Heyder
(PhD Student until 10/2022)

Resources

Methods and Techniques used in A01 and A05 at the Charité: Structure biology methods:
  • Protein X-ray crystallography, membrane protein crystallization, lipidic cubic phase (LCP) crystallization (e.g. TTP Labtech’s mosquito, Gryphon-LCP crystallization and PRIMA Xtallob robots; Formulatrix – Rock Imager 182/54; High-end Stereo microscope Leica M205; Formulatrix – MUVIS)
  • X-ray data acquisition: synchrotrons (e.g. BESSY and DESY (Germany), ESRF (France), or in house rotating anode generator (MicroMax007 Microfocus)
  • Free-electron laser (XFEL) X-ray data acquisition: (e.g. LCLS-SLAC (USA) or SACLA-Spring-8 (Japan))
  • Cryo-electron microscopy (in house) – high-end 300 kV FEI Titan Krios G3 cyro-TEM System/ K3 direct electron detector/ Volta phase plate/ energy filter, Vitrobot, 120kV TEM for sample screening
GPCR production methods and signaling/ligand-binding assays:
  • GPCR cloning/expression/purification/solubilisation methods
  • Large-scale heterologous cell expression (baculovirus expression in Sf9/High Five™ and HEK or Expi293F and E.Coli)
  • Various purification systems: Äktapurifier (FPLC), AktaprimePlus (Gel filtration) or ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography – UltiMate 3000 Bio UHPLC
  • Production of G-protein or arrestin
  • Nanodisc/SMA lipid particles (SMALPs) production and integration
  • NanoBRET Ligand-Binding and G-protein Dissociation assays
  • cAMP Signaling assays (in vivo)
Biophysical methods:
  • Nano-differential scanning fluorimetry (nDSF with NanoTemper Prometheus system) or other thermal shift assays (e.g. CPM) to test thermostability
  • MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST) to test binding affinity & protein interactions (NanoTemper Monolith NT 115 system)
  • Multiplate reader for assay development with e.g. BRET/FRET/nanoLuc (CLARIOstar Plus – BMG Labtech)
  • Surface plasmon resonance-like instrument to test biomolecular interaction (White FOx 1.0 – FOx Biosystem)
  • Static light scattering – Multi-angle light scattering detector (Wyatt Technology)
  • UV-vis spectrometer (Cary4000, Agilent)

Publications

Anthofer L, Gmach P, Uretmen Kagiali ZC, Kleinau G, Rotter J, Opitz R, Scheerer P, Beck-Sickinger AG, Wolf P, Biebermann H, Bechmann I, Kühnen P, Krude H, Paisdzior S. Melanocortin-4 Receptor PLC Activation Is Modulated by an Interaction with the Monocarboxylate Transporter 8. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Jul 10;25(14):7565. doi: 10.3390/ijms25147565. PMID: 39062808; PMCID: PMC11277258.

Batebi H, Pérez-Hernández G, Rahman SN, Lan B, Kamprad K, Shi M, Speck D, Tiemann JKS, Guixà-González R, Reinhardt F, Stadler PF, Papasergi-Scott MM, Skiniotis G, Scheerer P, Kobilka BK, Mathiesen JM, Liu X, Hildebrand PW. Mechanistic insights into G-protein coupling with an agonist-bound G-protein-coupled receptor. Nature Struct Mol Biol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-024-01334-2 .

Bredow C, Thery F, Wirth EK, Ochs S, Kespohl M, Kleinau G, Kelm N, Gimber N, Schmoranzer J, Voss M, Klingel K, Spranger J, Renko K, Ralser M, Mülleder M, Heuser A, Knobeloch KP, Scheerer P, Kirwan J, Brüning U, Berndt N, Impens F, Beling A. ISG15 blocks cardiac glycolysis and ensures sufficient mitochondrial energy production during Coxsackievirus B3 infection. Cardiovasc Res. 2024 Feb 3:cvae026. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvae026 . Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38309955 .

Ji R-L, Jiang S-S, Kleinau G, Scheerer P, Tao Y-X. Are Melanocortin Receptors Present in Extant Protochordates? Biomolecules 2024, 14, 1120. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom14091120

Makkonen K, Jännäri M, Crisóstomo L, Kuusi M, Patyra K, Melnyk V, Linnossuo V, Ojala J, Ravi R, Löf C, Mäkelä JA, Miettinen P, Laakso S, Ojaniemi M, Jääskeläinen J, Laakso M, Bossowski F, Sawicka B, Stożek K, Bossowski A, Kleinau G, Scheerer P, FinnGen F, Reeve MP, Kero J. Mechanisms of thyrotropin receptor-mediated phenotype variability deciphered by gene mutations and M453T-knockin model. JCI Insight. 2024 Jan 9;9(4):e167092. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.167092 . PMID: 38194289 .

Sohail I, Laurin SA, Kleinau G, Chunila V , Kagiali ZCUK, Lohse MJ, Scheerer P, Bouvier M, McCormick P, Annibale P, Biebermann H. MRAP2 modifies the signaling and oligomerization state of the melanocortin-4 receptor. bioRxiv 2024.; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.09.588099 .

Kleinau G, Ali AH, Wiechert F, Szczepek M, Schmidt A, Spahn CMT, Liebscher I, Schöneberg T, Scheerer P. Intramolecular activity regulation of adhesion GPCRs in light of recent structural and evolutionary information. Pharmacol Res. 2023 Nov;197:106971. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2023.106971. Epub 2023 Oct 30. PMID: 38032292

Giesecke Y, Asimi V, Stulberg V, Kleinau G, Scheerer P, Koksch B, Grötzinger C. Is the Neuropeptide PEN a Ligand of GPR83? Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Oct 12;24(20):15117. doi: 10.3390/ijms242015117. PMID: 37894796 F

Smirnova J, Loerke J, Kleinau G, Schmidt A, Bürger J, Meyer EH, Mielke T, Scheerer P, Bock R, Spahn CMT, Zoschke R. Structure of the actively translating plant 80S ribosome at 2.2 Å resolution. Nat Plants. 2023 Jun;9(6):987-1000. doi: 10.1038/s41477-023-01407-y. Epub 2023 May 8. PMID: 37156858

Hegner B, Kretzschmar T, Zhu N, Kleinau G, Zhao H, Kamhieh-Milz J, Hilger J, Schindler R, Scheerer P, Riemekasten G, Philippe A, Catar R. Autoimmune activation and hypersensitization of the AT1 and ETA receptors contributes to vascular injury in scleroderma renal crisis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2023 Jun 1;62(6):2284-2293. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keac594. PMID: 36227102

Catar R, Herse-Naether M, Zhu N, Wagner P, Wischnewski O, Kusch A, Kamhieh-Milz J, Eisenreich A, Rauch U, Hegner B, Heidecke H, Kill A, Riemekasten G, Kleinau G,  Scheerer P, Dragun D, Philippe A. Autoantibodies Targeting AT1- and ETA-Receptors Link Endothelial Proliferation and Coagulation via Ets-1 Transcription Factor. Int J Mol Sci. 2022, 23, 244. doi: 10.3390/ijms23010244. PMID: 35008670.

Höpfner F, Paisdzior S, Reininghaus N, Sohail I, Scheerer P, Annibale P, Biebermann H, Kühnen P. Evaluation of pharmacological rescue of Melanocortin-4 receptor nonsense mutations by aminoglycoside. Life. 2022; 12(11).

Nemec K, Schihada H, Kleinau G, Zabel U, Grushevskyi EO, Scheerer PLohse MJ, Maiellaro I. Functional modulation of PTH1R activation and signaling by RAMP2. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Aug 9;119(32):e2122037119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2122037119 . Epub 2022 Aug 1. PMID: 35914163 .

Philippe A, Kleinau G, Gruner JJ, Wu S, Postpieszala D, Speck D, Heidecke H, Dowell SJ, Riemekasten G, Hildebrand PW, Kamhieh-Milz J, Catar R, Szczepek M, Dragun D, Scheerer P. Molecular Effects of Auto-Antibodies on Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Signaling and Cell Proliferation. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Apr 2;23(7):3984. doi: 10.3390/ijms23073984. PMID: 35409344

Reininghaus N, Paisdzior S, Höpfner F, Jyrch S, Cetindag C, Scheerer P, Kühnen P, Biebermann H. A Setmelanotide-like Effect at MC4R Is Achieved by MC4R Dimer Separation. Biomolecules. 2022 Aug 15;12(8):1119. doi: 10.3390/biom12081119. PMID: 36009013.

Schulze AS, Kleinau G, Krakowsky R, Rochmann D, Das R, Worth CL, Krumbholz P, Scheerer P, Stäubert C. Evolutionary analyses reveal immune cell receptor GPR84 as a conserved receptor for bacteria-derived molecules. iScience. 2022 Sep 6;25(10):105087. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105087. eCollection 2022 Oct 21. PMID: 36164652.

Speck D, Kleinau G, Szczepek M, Kwiatkowski D, Catar R, Philippe A, Scheerer P. Angiotensin and Endothelin Receptor Structures With Implications for Signaling Regulation and Pharmacological Targeting. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022 Apr 19;13:880002. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.880002. eCollection 2022. PMID: 35518926.

Speck D, Kleinau G, Meininghaus M, Erbe A, Einfeldt A, Szczepek M, Scheerer P, Pütter V. Expression and Characterization of Relaxin Family Peptide Receptor 1 Variants. Front Pharmacol. 2022 Jan 28;12:826112. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.826112. eCollection 2021. PMID: 35153771 Free PMC article.

Voss M, Kleinau G, Gimber N, Janek K, Bredow C, Thery F, Impens F, Schmoranzer J, Scheerer P, Kloetzel PM, Beling A. A cytosolic disulfide bridge-supported dimerization is crucial for stability and cellular distribution of Coxsackievirus B3 protein 3A. FEBS. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.16368.

Yang Y, Stensitzki T, Sauthof L, Schmidt A, Piwowarski P, Velazquez Escobar F, Michael N, Nguyen AD, Szczepek M, Brünig FN, Netz RR, Mroginski MA, Adam S, Bartl F, Schapiro I, Hildebrandt P, Scheerer P, Heyne K. Ultrafast proton-coupled isomerization in the phototransformation of phytochrome. Nat Chem. 2022 May 16. doi: 10.1038/s41557-022-00944-x. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35577919.

Chen J, Bi H, Pettersson ME, Sato DX, Fuentes-Pardo AP, Mo C, Younis S, Wallerman O, Jern P, Molés G, Gómez A, Kleinau G, Scheerer P, Andersson L. Functional differences between TSHR alleles associate with variation in spawning season in Atlantic herring. Commun Biol. 2021 Jun 25;4(1):795. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02307-7. PMID: 34172814.

Heyder NA, Kleinau G, Speck D, Schmidt A, Paisdzior S, Szczepek M, Bauer B, Koch A, Gallandi M, Kwiatkowski D, Bürger J, Mielke T, Beck-Sickinger A, Hildebrand P, Spahn CMT, Hilger D, Schacherl M, Biebermann H, Hilal T, Kühnen P, Kobilka BK, Scheerer P. Structures of active melanocortin-4 receptor−Gs-protein complexes with NDP-α-MSH and setmelanotide. Cell Research. 2021, 31(11):1176-1189. doi: 10.1038/s41422-021-00569-8. PMID: 34561620.

Hong TI, Hwang KS, Choi TI, Kleinau G, Scheerer P, Bang JK, Jung SH, Kim CH. Zebrafish Bioassay for Screening Therapeutic Candidates Based on Melanotrophic Activity. Int J Mol Sci. 2021; 22:9313. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179313.

Wallach T, Mossmann ZJ, Szczepek M, Wetzel M, Machado R, Raden M, Miladi M, Kleinau G, Krüger C, Dembny P, Adler D, Zhai Y, Kumbol V, Dzaye O, Schüler J, Futschik M, Backofen R, Scheerer P, Lehnardt S. MicroRNA-100-5p and microRNA-298-5p released from apoptotic cortical neurons are endogenous Toll-like receptor 7/8 ligands that contribute to neurodegeneration. Mol Neurodegener. 2021 Nov 27;16(1):80. doi:10.1186/s13024-021-00498-5. PMID: 34838071.

Heyder N, Kleinau G, Szczepek M, Kwiatkowski D, Speck D, Soletto L, Cerdá-Reverter JM, Krude H, Kühnen P, Biebermann H, Scheerer P. Signal Transduction and Pathogenic Modifications at the Melanocortin-4 Receptor: A Structural Perspective. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2019 Jul 31;10:515. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2019.00515. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31417496

Kleinau G, Heyder NA, Tao YX, Scheerer P. Structural Complexity and Plasticity of Signaling Regulation at the Melanocortin-4 Receptor. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Aug 10;21(16):5728. doi: 10.3390/ijms21165728. PMID: 32785054

Paisdzior S, Dimitriou IM, Schöpe PC, Annibale P, Scheerer P, Krude H, Lohse MJ, Biebermann H, Kühnen P. Differential Signaling Profiles of MC4R Mutations with Three Different Ligands. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Feb 12;21(4). pii: E1224. doi: 10.3390/ijms21041224. PMID: 32059383

Schulze A, Kleinau G, Neumann S, Scheerer PSchöneberg T, Brüser A. The intramolecular agonist is obligate for activation of glycoprotein hormone receptors. FASEB J. 2020 Jul 10. doi: 10.1096/fj.202000100R. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32648604

Behrmann E, Loerke J, Budkevich TV, Yamamoto K, Schmidt A, Penczek PA, Vos MR, Burger J, Mielke T, Scheerer P, Spahn CM. Structural snapshots of actively translating human ribosomes. Cell. 2015; 161:845-57.

Choe HW, Kim YJ, Park JH, Morizumi T, Pai EF, Krauss N, Hofmann KP, Scheerer P, Ernst, OP. Crystal structure of metarhodopsin II. Nature. 2011; 471: 651-5.

Clément K, Biebermann H, Farooqi IS, Van der Ploeg L, Wolters B, Poitou C, Puder L, Fiedorek F, Gottesdiener K, Kleinau G, Heyder N, Scheerer P, Blume-Peytavi U, Jahnke I, Sharma S, Mokrosinski J, Wiegand S, Müller A, Weiß K, Mai K, Spranger J, Grüters A, Blankenstein O, Krude H, Kühnen P. MC4R agonism promotes durable weight loss in patients with leptin receptor deficiency. Nature Medicine. 2018; 24:551-5.

Heyder N, Kleinau G, Szczepek M, Kwiatkowski D, Speck D, Soletto L, Cerdá-Reverter JM, Krude H, Kühnen P, Biebermann H, Scheerer P. Signal Transduction and Pathogenic Modifications at the Melanocortin-4 Receptor: A Structural Perspective. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2019; 10:515.

Kim YJ, Hofmann KP, Ernst OP, Scheerer P§, Choe HW§, Sommer ME§. Crystal structure of pre-activated arrestin p44. Nature. 2013; 497:142-146.

Park JH*, Scheerer P*, Hofmann KP, Choe HW, Ernst OP. Crystal structure of the ligand-free G-protein-coupled receptor opsin. Nature. 2008; 454:183-7.

Qureshi BM, Schmidt A, Behrmann E, Bürger J, Mielke T, Spahn CMT, Heck M, Scheerer P§. Mechanistic insights into the role of prenyl-binding protein PrBP/δ in membrane dissociation of phosphodiesterase 6. Nature Communications. 2018; 9:90.

Saleh N*, Kleinau G*, Heyder N, Clark T, Hildebrand PW§, Scheerer P§. Binding, thermodynamics and selectivity of a non-peptide antagonist to the Melanocortin-4 receptor. Frontiers Pharmacol. 2018; 9:560.

Scheerer P, Park JH, Hildebrand PW, Kim YJ, Krauss N, Choe HW, Hofmann KP, Ernst OP. Crystal structure of opsin in its G-protein-interacting conformation. Nature. 2008; 455:497-502.

Soletto L, Hernández Balfagó S, Rocha A, Scheerer P, Kleinau G, Cerdá-Reverter JM. Melanocortin Receptor Accessory Protein 2-Induced Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Response of Human Melanocortin 4 Receptor. Journal of the Endocrine Society. 2018; 3:314-23.

Szczepek M, Beyrière F, Hofmann KP, Elgeti M, Kazmin R, Rose A, Bartl FJ, von Stetten D, Heck M, Sommer ME, Hildebrand PW, Scheerer P§. Crystal structure of a common GPCR-binding interface for G protein and arrestin. Nature Communications. 2014; 5:4801.