The tyrosine within the NPXnY motif of the human angiotensin II type 1 receptor is involved in mediating signal transduction but is not essential for internalization.

The NPXnY motif is involved in the internalization process of several types of receptors, including lipoprotein receptors and G protein-coupled receptors. We replaced Tyr302 with either phenylalanine or alanine in the NPLFY site of the human angiotensin II receptor type 1 and determined the pharmacological properties of the resulting mutant receptors. Competitive binding experiments revealed that COS-7 cells transfected with either the wild-type or mutant receptors expressed approximately the same amount of high affinity binding sites (Bmax 70,000 sites/cell and Kd approximately 2 nM). Photoaffinity labeling of both native and mutant receptors revealed apparent molecular masses of 110 kDa. Incubation of transfected cells with 0.2 nM [125I]Ang II at 37 degrees revealed an efficient internalization of the wild-type receptor and the mutant receptors, although the mutant receptors were internalized at a slower rate. Interestingly, however, the transmembrane signaling was severely impaired in transfected cells expressing mutant receptors. No significant production of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate was observed when these cells were challenged for 3 min with a concentration of angiotensin II as high as 1 microM. This is in contrast to the dose-dependent stimulation of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate production in cells expressing the wild-type receptor. Thus, our results show that the Tyr302 in the NPXnY motif of the human angiotensin II receptor type 1 is not essential for agonist binding properties or for internalization of the receptor but plays an important role in transmembrane signaling.