Molecular basis of ligand-dependent Nurr1-RXRα activation
- Vanderbilt University, United States
- Guangzhou Medical University, China
Abstract
Small molecule compounds that activate transcription of Nurr1-RXRα (NR4A2-NR2B1) nuclear receptor heterodimers are implicated in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, but function through poorly understood mechanisms. Here, we show that RXRα ligands activate Nurr1-RXRα through a mechanism that involves ligand-binding domain (LBD) heterodimer protein-protein interaction (PPI) inhibition, a paradigm distinct from classical pharmacological mechanisms of ligand-dependent nuclear receptor modulation. NMR spectroscopy, protein-protein interaction, cellular transcription assays show that Nurr1-RXRα transcriptional activation by RXRα ligands is not correlated with classical RXRα agonism but instead correlated with weakening Nurr1-RXRα LBD heterodimer affinity and heterodimer dissociation. Our data inform a model by which pharmacologically distinct RXRα ligands (agonists and Nurr1-RXRα selective agonists that function as RXRα antagonists) operate as allosteric PPI inhibitors that release a transcriptionally active Nurr1 monomer from a repressive Nurr1-RXRα heterodimeric complex. These findings provide a molecular blueprint for ligand activation of Nurr1 transcription via small molecule targeting of Nurr1-RXRα.
Data availability
Raw ITC thermograms and fitted data are provided as Figure 5-source data 1. Input files for NMR LineShapeKin simulated NMR data analysis in MATLAB are provided as Figure 6-source code 1 (zip file including two input files and one readme file). Raw data used for graphical plots are provided as Figure 1-source data 1 (Nurr1 + RXRα truncated construct luciferase reporter data), Figure 3-source data 1 (RXRα ligand treated Nurr1-RXRα/3xNBRE3-luciferase reporter data), Figure 4-source data 1 (RXRα ligand treated RXRα LBD TR-FRET), Figure 4-source data 2 (RXRα ligand treated RXRα/3xDR1-luciferase reporter data), and Figure 6-source data 1 (RXRα ligand treated Nurr1-RXRα LBD NMR-observed monomer species). All other data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institute on Aging (R01AG070719)
- Douglas J Kojetin
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Volker Dötsch, Goethe University, Germany
Publication history
- Preprint posted: November 8, 2022 (view preprint)
- Received: November 18, 2022
- Accepted: April 26, 2023
- Accepted Manuscript published: April 27, 2023 (version 1)
Copyright
© 2023, Yu et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Molecular basis of ligand-dependent Nurr1-RXRα activation
eLife 12:e85039.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.85039
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