A splice variant of the G protein β3-subunit implicated in disease states does not modulate ion channels

A single-nucleotide polymorphism (C825T) in the GNB3 gene produces an alternative splice variant of the heterotrimeric G protein beta3 subunit (Gbeta3). Translation of the alternatively spliced mRNA results in a protein product, Gbeta3-s, in which 41 amino acids are deleted from Gbeta3. Interestingly, previous studies indicate that the C825T allele occurs with a high frequency in patients with certain vascular disorders. However, little information is available regarding the functional role Gbeta3-s might play in ion channel modulation. To examine this aspect, Gbeta3 or Gbeta3-s, along with either Ggamma2 or Ggamma5, were expressed in rat sympathetic neurons by nuclear microinjection of vector encoding the desired protein. In contrast to Gbeta3, expression of Gbeta3-s did not modulate N-type Ca(2+) or G protein-gated inwardly rectifying K(+) channels. In addition, Gbeta3-s did not appear to complex with a pertussis toxin-insensitive mutant of Galpha(i2) or couple to natively expressed alpha(2)-adrenergic receptors. Finally, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements indicated that enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP)-labeled Gbeta3-s does not form a Gbetagamma heterodimer when coexpressed with enhanced cyan fluorescent protein (ECFP)-labeled Ggamma2. Therefore, when expressed in sympathetic neurons, Gbeta3-s appears to lack biological activity--hence pathological conditions in patients carrying the homozygous C825T allele may result from a functional knockout of Gbeta3.