Phosphorylation analysis of G protein-coupled receptor by mass spectrometry: identification of a phosphorylation site in V2 vasopressin receptor

Phosphorylation plays vital roles in the regulation and function of the V2 vasopressin receptor (V2R), a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that is responsible for maintaining water homeostasis in the kidney. Through a combination of immunoaffinity purification, immobilized metal affinity chromatography, and nanoflow liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, we identified a novel phosphorylation site (Ser(255)) in the third intracellular loop of human V2R. We showed that the third intracellular loop could be phosphorylated in vitro by protein kinase A, but not by Akt kinase, although sequence motif analysis predicated otherwise. The analytical procedures and methodologies described in this study should be generally applicable for identifying the endogenous phosphorylation sites in other GPCRs, overcoming the limitations of conventional approaches such as sequence motif analysis and site-directed mutagenesis.