The calcium-sensor guanylate cyclase activating protein type 2 specific site in rod outer segment membrane guanylate cyclase type 1

The rod outer segment membrane guanylate cyclase type 1 (ROS-GC1), originally identified in the photoreceptor outer segments, is a member of the subfamily of Ca²⁺-modulated membrane guanylate cyclases. In phototransduction, its activity is tightly regulated by its two Ca ²⁺-sensor protein parts, GCAP1 and GCAP2. This study maps the GCAP2-modulatory site in ROS-GC1 through the use of multiple techniques involving surface plasmon resonance binding studies with soluble ROS-GC1 constructs, coimmunoprecipitation, functional reconstitution experiments with deletion mutants, and peptide competition assays. The findings show that the sequence motif of the core GCAP2-modulatory site is Y965-N981 of ROS-GC1. The site is distinct from the GCAP1-modulatory site. It, however, partially overlaps with the S100B-regulatory site. This indicates that the Y965-N981 motif tightly controls the Ca²⁺-dependent specificity of ROS-GC1. Identification of the site demonstrates an intriguing topographical feature of ROS-GC1. This is that the GCAP2 module transmits the Ca²⁺ signals to the catalytic domain from its C-terminal side and the GCAP1 module from the distant N-terminal side.