Proteolytic cleavage of the EMR2 receptor requires both the extracellular stalk and the GPS motif.

Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3RE, Oxford, UK.

EMR2 is a human myeloid-restricted member of the EGF-TM7 receptor family that contains a highly conserved G protein-coupled receptor proteolysis site (GPS) in the membrane-proximal region. Here the post-translational proteolytic cleavage of EMR2 at GPS was investigated. We show the cleavage occurs at Leu517-Ser518 and is independent of the transmembrane domains. The non-covalent association of the resulting extracellular alpha-subunit and transmembrane beta-subunit requires a minimum of eight amino acids in the beta-subunit. The GPS motif is necessary, but not sufficient for receptor cleavage, which requires the entire extracellular stalk. Thus, an alternatively spliced EMR2 isoform with a truncated stalk fails to undergo proteolytic cleavage. Alternative splicing therefore provides a means to regulate GPS cleavage, producing receptors with two distinct structures.

PMID: 12860403 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]