An experimental strategy to probe Gq contribution to signal transduction in living cells.

["Heterotrimeric G protein subunits G\u03b1q and G\u03b111 are inhibited by two cyclic depsipeptides, FR900359 (FR) and YM-254890 (YM), both of which are being used widely to implicate Gq\/11 proteins in the regulation of diverse biological processes. An emerging major research question therefore is whether the cellular effects of both inhibitors are on-target, that is, mediated via specific inhibition of Gq\/11 proteins, or off-target, that is, the result of nonspecific interactions with other proteins. Here we introduce a versatile experimental strategy to discriminate between these possibilities. We developed a G\u03b1q variant with preserved catalytic activity, but refractory to FR\/YM inhibition. A minimum of two amino acid changes were required and sufficient to achieve complete inhibitor resistance. We characterized the novel mutant in HEK293 cells depleted by CRISPR-Cas9 of endogenous G\u03b1q and G\u03b111 to ensure precise control over the G\u03b1-dependent cellular signaling route. Using a battery of cellular outcomes with known and concealed Gq contribution, we found that FR\/YM specifically inhibited cellular signals after G\u03b1q introduction via transient transfection. Conversely, both inhibitors were inert across all assays in cells expressing the drug-resistant variant. These findings eliminate the possibility that inhibition of non-Gq proteins contributes to the cellular effects of the two depsipeptides. We conclude that combined application of FR or YM along with the drug-resistant G\u03b1q variant is a powerful in\u00a0vitro strategy to discern on-target Gq against off-target non-Gq action. Consequently, it should be of high value for uncovering Gq input to complex biological processes with high accuracy and the requisite specificity.",{"copyright":"Copyright \u00a9 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."}]