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Stability And Activity Of Naturally Occurring Rgs2 Variants, Patrick Stockwell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Regulator of G protein signaling protein 2 (RGS2) attenuates G Protein-Coupled Receptor (GPCR) signaling by promoting the hydrolysis of GTP in the activated Gα subunit to GDP, thereby governing many physiological and pathophysiological signals. However, how RGS2 itself is regulated remains to be elucidated. In this study, our principal goal was to discover the molecular mechanisms controlling RGS2 degradation and if altered degradation affects Gα signaling. RGS2 has four initiation sites (at residues 1, 5, 16, and 33), resulting in the existence of four distinct N-terminal initiation site variants. Additionally, there are naturally occurring mutations in this region at residues …