Structure of the Full-length VEGFR-1 Extracellular Domain in Complex with VEGF-A.
Markovic-Mueller SPaul Scherrer Institute, Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
Stuttfeld EBiozentrum, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
Asthana MPaul Scherrer Institute, Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
Weinert TPaul Scherrer Institute, Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
Bliven SPaul Scherrer Institute, Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland; National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA.
Goldie KNCenter for Cellular Imaging and Nano Analytics (C-CINA), Biozentrum, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
Kisko KPaul Scherrer Institute, Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
Capitani GPaul Scherrer Institute, Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
Ballmer-Hofer KPaul Scherrer Institute, Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland. Electronic address: kurt.ballmer-hofer@unibas.ch.
English
Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) regulate blood and lymph vessel development upon activation of three receptor tyrosine kinases: VEGFR-1, -2, and -3. Partial structures of VEGFR/VEGF complexes based on single-particle electron microscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering, and X-ray crystallography revealed the location of VEGF binding and domain arrangement of individual receptor subdomains. Here, we describe the structure of the full-length VEGFR-1 extracellular domain in complex with VEGF-A at 4 Å resolution. We combined X-ray crystallography, single-particle electron microscopy, and molecular modeling for structure determination and validation. The structure reveals the molecular details of ligand-induced receptor dimerization, in particular of homotypic receptor interactions in immunoglobulin homology domains 4, 5, and 7. Functional analyses of ligand binding and receptor activation confirm the relevance of these homotypic contacts and identify them as potential therapeutic sites to allosterically inhibit VEGFR-1 activity.