Differential coupling of Arg- and Gly389 polymorphic forms of the β1-adrenergic receptor leads to pathogenic cardiac gene regulatory programs

Abstract

The β1-adrenergic receptor (β1AR; ADRB1) polymorphism Arg389Gly is located in an intracellular loop and is associated with distinct human and mouse cardiovascular phenotypes. To test the hypothesis that β1-Arg389 and β1-Gly389 alleles could differentially couple to pathways beyond that of classic Gs-adenylyl cyclase (AC)/cAMP signaling, we performed comparative gene expression profile analyses on hearts from wild-type and transgenic mice that expressed either human β1-Arg389 or β1-Gly389 receptors, or AC5, sampling at an early age prior to the onset of pathological features. All three models upregulated the expression of genes associated with RNA metabolism and translation and downregulated genes associated with mitochondria and energy metabolism, consistent with shared cAMP-driven increase in cardiac contractility, protein synthesis, and compensatory downregulation of mitochondrial energy production. Both β1AR alleles activated additional genes associated with other pathways. Uniquely, β1-Arg389 hearts exhibited upregulated expression of genes associated with inflammation, programmed cell death, and extracellular matrix. These observations expand the scope of 7-transmembrane domain receptor signaling propagation beyond known cognate G protein couplings. Moreover, they implicate alterations of a repertoire of processes evoked by a single amino acid variation in the cardiac β1AR that might be exploited for genotype-specific heart failure diagnostics and therapeutics.