UDP-glucose and MRS2905 agonist-bound states of the purinergic P2Y14 receptor
P2Y<sub>14</sub> receptors respond to uracil-diphosphate-hexose conjugates, yet how this receptor selectively recognizes both uracil-nucleotides and hexose moieties of diverse agonists remains unclear. Here we report the active agonist-bound G protein-bound states of the P2Y<sub>14</sub> G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) bound to endogenous agonist uridine diphosphate glucose (UDP-glucose) and 2-thiouridine-5'-O-(α,β-methylene)diphosphate (MRS2905). The cryo-EM structures of the heterotrimeric complexes with 3.19 Å and 3.05 Å global resolution, respectively, with local refinements reaching 2.87 Å and 3.22 Å for the masked receptor region. Our structures reveal a pronounced extracellular facing electronegative vestibule connecting to a smaller nucleotide binding subpocket (~300Å<sup>3</sup> volume) that is shielded by extracellular loop 2 (ECL2). A glucose-binding subpocket is spatially delimited by residue V93; mutation to Trp selectively blocks UDP-glucose while permitting MRS2905 and antagonist binding. These findings provide atomic insights into uracil recognition, reveal how the receptor accommodates diverse flexible UDP-sugars, and promise to enable rational drug discovery of therapeutic P2Y<sub>14</sub>R modulators.
Authors
- Christina Meyer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0380-195X)
- Siva Hariprasad Kurma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6597-192X)
- Paola Oliva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9148-931X)
- Asmita Pramanik
- Matteo Pavan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6234-5934)
- Zhan-Guo Gao
- Joseph N. Kousouros (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4878-4687)
- Jonathan F. Fay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1822-2384)
- B. Krumm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6039-4767)
- Kenneth A. Jacobson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8104-1493)
- Wen Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5294-4062)
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (US)
- University of Baltimore (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Biology
- Published
- 2025-11-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-09174-6
- Primary Topic
- Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases