G alpha minigenes expressing C-terminal peptides serve as specific inhibitors of thrombin-mediated endothelial activation.

The C termini of G protein alpha subunits are critical for binding to their cognate receptors, and peptides corresponding to the C terminus can serve as competitive inhibitors of G protein-coupled receptor-G protein interactions. This interface is quite specific as a single amino acid difference annuls the ability of a G alpha(i) peptide to bind the A(1) adenosine receptor (Gilchrist, A., Mazzoni, M., Dineen, B., Dice, A., Linden, J., Dunwiddie, T., and Hamm, H. E. (1998 ) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 14912--14919). Recently, we demonstrated that a plasmid minigene vector encoding the C-terminal sequence of G alpha(i) could specifically inhibit downstream responses to agonist stimulation of the muscarinic M(2) receptor (Gilchrist, A., Bunemann, M., Li, A., Hosey, M. M., and H. E. Hamm (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 6610--6616). To selectively antagonize G protein signal transduction events and determine which G protein underlies a given thrombin-induced response, we generated minigene vectors that encode the C-terminal sequence for each family of G alpha subunits. Minigene vectors expressing G alpha C-terminal peptides (G alpha(i), G alpha(q), G alpha(12), and G alpha(13)) or the control minigene vector, which expresses the G alpha(i) peptide in random order (G(iR)), were systematically introduced into a human microvascular endothelial cell line. The C-terminal peptides serve as competitive inhibitors presumably by blocking the site on the G protein-coupled receptor that normally binds the G protein. Our results not only confirm that each G protein can control certain signaling events, they emphasize the specificity of the G protein-coupled receptor-G protein interface. In addition, the C-terminal G alpha minigenes appear to be a powerful tool for dissecting out the G protein that mediates a given physiological function following thrombin activation.