orphan adhesion receptor GPR133, member of the class B2 family of seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors
GPR133 is an orphan receptor that belongs to the group V adhesion-GPCRs together with GPR144. The function of GPR144 has not yet been characterized, whereas GPR133 is highly expressed in the pituitary gland and is coupled to the Gs protein, leading to activation of adenylyl cyclase pathway. Moreover, genetic variations in the GPR133 have been reported to be associated with adult height and heart rate. The adhesion receptors are characterized by the presence of large N-terminal extracellular domains containing multiple adhesion motifs, which play critical roles in ligand recognition as well as cell-cell adhesion and cell-matrix interactions, linked by a stalk region to a class B seven-transmembrane domain. In addition, almost all adhesion receptors, except GPR123, contain an evolutionarily conserved GPCR-autoproteolysis inducing (GAIN) domain that undergoes autoproteolytic processing at the GPCR proteolysis site (GPS) motif located immediately N-terminal to the first transmembrane region, to generate N- and C-terminal fragments (NTF and CTF), which may serve important biological functions. However, several adhesion GPCRs, including GPR 111, GPR115, and CELSR1, are predicted to be non-cleavable at the GAIN domain because of the lack of a consensus catalytic triad sequence (His-Leu-Ser/Thr) within their GPS.