Phosphorylated nuclear receptor CAR forms a homodimer to repress its constitutive activity for ligand activation

ABSTRACT

Nuclear receptor CAR (NR1I3) regulates hepatic drug and energy metabolism as well as cell fate. Its activation can be a critical factor in drug-induced toxicity and disease development such as diabetes and tumors. CAR inactivates its constitutive activity by phosphorylation at threonine 38. Utilizing receptor for protein kinase 1 (RACK1) as the regulatory subunit, protein phosphatase PP2A dephosphorylates threonine 38 to activate CAR. Here we have demonstrated that CAR undergoes its homodimer-monomer conversion to regulate this dephosphorylation. By co-expressing two differently-tagged CAR proteins in Huh-7 cells, mouse primary hepatocytes and mouse livers, co-immunoprecipitation and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis revealed that CAR can form a homodimer in a configuration in which the PP2A/RACK1 binding site is buried within its dimer interface. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) was found to stimulate CAR homo-dimerization, thus constraining CAR in its inactive form. The agonistic ligand CITCO binds directly to the CAR homodimer and dissociates phosphorylated CAR into its monomer, exposing the PP2A/RACK1 binding site for dephosphorylation. Phenobarbital, which is not a CAR ligand, binds the EGF receptor, reversing the EGF signal to monomerize CAR for its indirect activation. Thus, the homodimer-monomer conversion is the underlying molecular mechanism that regulates CAR activation, by placing phosphorylated threonine 38 as the common target for both direct and in direct activation of CAR.