The G protein Gi1 exhibits basal coupling but not preassembly with G protein-coupled receptors.

The Gi/o protein family transduces signals from a diverse group of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The observed specificity of Gi/o-GPCR coupling and the high rate of Gi/o signal transduction have been hypothesized to be enabled by the existence of stable associates between Gi/o proteins and their cognate GPCRs in the inactive state (Gi/o-GPCR preassembly). To test this hypothesis, we applied the recently developed technique of two-photon polarization microscopy (2PPM) to Gαi1 subunits labeled with fluorescent proteins and four GPCRs: the α2A-adrenergic receptor, GABAB, cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1R), and dopamine receptor type 2. Our experiments with non-dissociating mutants of fluorescently labeled Gαi1 subunits (exhibiting impaired dissociation from activated GPCRs) showed that 2PPM is capable of detecting GPCR-G protein interactions. 2PPM experiments with non-mutated fluorescently labeled Gαi1 subunits and α2A-adrenergic receptor, GABAB, or dopamine receptor type 2 receptors did not reveal any interaction between the Gi1 protein and the non-stimulated GPCRs. In contrast, non-stimulated CB1R exhibited an interaction with the Gi1 protein. Further experiments revealed that this interaction is caused solely by CB1R basal activity; no preassembly between CB1R and the Gi1 protein could be observed. Our results demonstrate that four diverse GPCRs do not preassemble with non-active Gi1 However, we also show that basal GPCR activity allows interactions between non-stimulated GPCRs and Gi1 (basal coupling). These findings suggest that Gi1 interacts only with active GPCRs and that the well known high speed of GPCR signal transduction does not require preassembly between G proteins and GPCRs.