Inverse Regulation of C-C Chemokine Receptor 3 Oligomerization by Downstream Proteins Indicates Biased Signal Transduction Pathways.

Oligomerization is one of the important mechanisms for G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to modulate their activity in signal transduction. However, details of how and why the oligomerization of GPCRs regulates their functions under physiological conditions remain largely unknown. Here, using single-molecule photobleaching technology, we show that chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) and chemokine ligand 8 (CCL8) are similar to the previously reported chemokine ligand 11 (CCL11) and chemokine ligand 24 (CCL24), which can regulate the oligomerization of chemokine receptor 3 (CCR3). Our results further demonstrate that downstream proteins, β-arrestin 2 and G i protein complex, on the CCR3 signal transduction pathway, can inversely regulate the oligomeric states of CCR3 induced by its binding ligands. This unexpected discovery suggests complex relationships between the oligomeric behaviors of CCR3 and the components of ligands-CCR3-downstream proteins, reflecting the potentially functional impact of the oligomerization on the multiple activation pathways of GPCR, such as biased activation.