Evolutionary Conservation of a GPCR-Independent Mechanism of Trimeric G Protein Activation

Trimeric G protein signaling is a fundamental mechanism of cellular communication in eukaryotes. The core of this mechanism consists of activation of G proteins by the guanine-nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) activity of G protein coupled receptors. However, the duration and amplitude of G protein-mediated signaling are controlled by a complex network of accessory proteins that appeared and diversified during evolution. Among them, nonreceptor proteins with GEF activity are the least characterized. We recently found that proteins of the ccdc88 family possess a Gα-binding and activating (GBA) motif that confers GEF activity and regulates mammalian cell behavior. A sequence similarity-based search revealed that ccdc88 genes are highly conserved across metazoa but the GBA motif is absent in most invertebrates. This prompted us to investigate whether the GBA motif is present in other nonreceptor proteins in invertebrates. An unbiased bioinformatics search in Caenorhabditis elegans identified GBAS-1 (GBA and SPK domain containing-1) as a GBA motif-containing protein with homologs only in closely related worm species. We demonstrate that GBAS-1 has GEF activity for the nematode G protein GOA-1 and that the two proteins are coexpressed in many cells of living worms. Furthermore, we show that GBAS-1 can activate mammalian Gα-subunits and provide structural insights into the evolutionarily conserved determinants of the GBA–G protein interface. These results demonstrate that the GBA motif is a functional GEF module conserved among highly divergent proteins across evolution, indicating that the GBA-Gα binding mode is strongly constrained under selective pressure to mediate receptor-independent G protein activation in metazoans.