Activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAPK) or protein kinase C (PKC) causes a rapid desensitization of beta 2-adrenergic receptor (beta AR) stimulation of adenylylcyclase in L cells, which previous studies suggest involves the cAPK/PKC consensus phosphorylation site in the third intracellular loop of the beta AR, RRSSK263. To determine the role of the individual serines in the cAPK- and PKC-mediated desensitizations, wild type (WT) and mutant beta ARs containing the substitutions, Ser261-->Ala, Ser262-->Ala, Ser262-->Asp, and Ser261/262-->Ala, were constructed and stably transfected into L cells. Results showed that serine 262 was the primary site of the cAPK-induced desensitization, whereas either serine 261 or serine 262 was sufficient to confer the 4 beta-phorbol 12 beta-myristate 13 alpha-acetate (PMA)/PKC-mediated desensitization. Coincident stimulation of cAPK and PKC caused an additive desensitization (6-8-fold increase in the EC50) which was significantly reduced (80%) only by the double substitution mutation. Quantitative evaluation of the coupling efficiencies and the GTP-shift of the WT and mutant receptors demonstrated that only one of the mutants, Ser262-->Ala, was partially uncoupled. The Ser262-->Asp mutation did not significantly uncouple, demonstrating that introducing a negative charge did not appear to mimic the desensitized state of the receptor. The beta AR expression level played a critical role in determining the pattern of beta AR desensitization; i.e. while the overall desensitization was unaltered within a large range of beta AR expression level (10-300 fmol/mg), the increase in EC50 and decrease in Vmax were differentially affected by the change in the receptor level.

Analysis of the predicted amino acid sequence of Bacillus anthracis adenylyl cyclase revealed sequences with homology to consensus sequences for A- and B-type ATP binding domains found in many ATP binding proteins. Based on the analysis of nucleotide binding proteins, a conserved basic amino acid residue in the A-type consensus sequence and a conserved acidic amino acid residue in the B-type consensus sequence have been implicated in the binding of ATP. The putative ATP binding sequences in the B. anthracis adenylyl cyclase possess analogous lysine residues at positions 346 and 353 within two A-type consensus sequences and a glutamate residue at position 436 within a B-type consensus sequence. The two A-type consensus sequences overlap each other and have the opposite orientation. To determine whether Lys-346, Lys-353, or Glu-436 of the B. anthracis adenylyl cyclase are crucial for enzyme activity, Lys-346 and Lys-353 were replaced with methionine and Glu-436 with glutamine by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. Furthermore, Lys-346 was also replaced with arginine. The genes encoding the wild type and mutant adenylyl cyclases were placed under the control of the lac promoter for expression in Escherichia coli, and extracts were assayed for adenylyl cyclase activity. In all cases, a 90-kDa polypeptide corresponding to the catalytic subunit of the enzyme was detected in E. coli extracts by rabbit polyclonal antibodies raised against the purified B. anthracis adenylyl cyclase. The proteins with the Lys-346 to methionine or arginine mutations exhibited no adenylyl cyclase activity, indicating that Lys-346 in the A-type ATP binding consensus sequence plays a critical role for enzyme catalysis. Furthermore, the enzyme with the Lys-353 to methionine mutation was also inactive, suggesting that Lys-353 may also directly contribute to enzyme catalysis. In contrast, the protein with the Glu-436 to glutamine mutation retained 75% of enzyme activity, suggesting that Glu-436 in the B-type ATP binding consensus sequence may not be directly involved in enzyme catalysis. It is concluded that Lys-346 and Lys-353 in B. anthracis adenylyl cyclase may interact directly with ATP and contribute to the binding of the nucleotide to the enzyme.

A cDNA coding for a human brain adenylyl cyclase was isolated and sequenced. The deduced partial 675 amino-acid sequence was compared with those of other known adenylyl and guanylyl cyclases. Comparison of this predicted amino-acid sequence with that of bovine brain (type I) and rat olfactory (type III) adenylyl cyclase indicated a significant homology with the carboxyl-terminal halves of both enzymes. The homology between the human adenylyl cyclase and the other two mammalian adenylyl cyclase also appears at the topographic level. Indeed, the human enzyme includes a extremely hydrophobic region containing six potential membrane-spanning segments followed by a large hydrophilic domain. At the beginning of the hydrophilic domain, there is a 250 amino-acid region which shows not only a striking homology with the bovine and rat adenylyl cyclase (86% of similarity and 57% of identity), but also a significant homology with non-mammalian adenylyl cyclase and guanylyl cyclases. We found that this 250 amino-acid domain contains a sequence of about 165 amino-acids which is highly conserved in most of the known nucleotide cyclases suggesting that it includes residues that are critical for the function of the enzymes.