Abstract
Several key functions of the androgen receptor (AR) such as hormone recognition and co-regulator recruitment converge in the ligand binding domain (LBD). Loss- or gain-of-function of the AR contributes to pathologies such as the androgen insensitivity syndrome and prostate cancer. Here, we describe a gain-of-function mutation of the surface-exposed threonine at position 850, located at the amino-terminus of Helix 10 (H10) in the AR LBD. Since T850 phosphorylation was reported to affect AR function, we created the phosphomimetic mutation T850D. The AR T850D variant has a 1.5- to 2-fold increased transcriptional activity with no effect on ligand affinity. In the androgen responsive LNCaP cell line grown in medium with low androgen levels, we observed a growth advantage for cells in which the endogenous AR was replaced by AR T850D. Despite the distance to the AF2 site, the AR T850D LBD displayed an increased affinity for coactivator peptides as well as the 23FQNLF27 motif of AR itself. Molecular Dynamics simulations confirm allosteric transmission of the T850D mutation towards the AF2 site via extended hydrogen bond formation between coactivator peptide and AF2 site. This mechanistic study thus confirms the gain-of-function character of T850D and T850 phosphorylation for AR activity and reveals details of the allosteric communications within the LBD.