Mutations in Retinal Guanylyl Cyclase 1 Provide Biochemical Reasons for Dominant Cone-rod Dystrophy but Not for Stationary Night Blindness

Mutations in the gene coding for the dimeric human retinal membrane guanylyl cyclase (RetGC) isozyme RetGC1 cause various forms of blindness, ranging from rod dysfunction to rod and cone degeneration. We tested how the mutations causing recessive congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB), recessive Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA1), and dominant cone-rod dystrophy-6 (CORD6) affected RetGC1 activity and regulation by RetGC-activating proteins (GCAPs) and retinal degeneration-3 protein (RD3). CSNB mutations R666W, R761W, and L911F, as well as LCA1 mutations R768W and G982VfsX39, disabled RetGC1 activation by human GCAP1, -2, and -3. The R666W and R761W substitutions compromised binding of GCAP1 with RetGC1 in HEK293 cells. In contrast, G982VfsX39 and L911F RetGC1 retained the ability to bind GCAP1 but failed to effectively bind RD3. R768W RetGC1 did not bind either GCAP1 or RD3. The co-expression of allelic combinations linked to CSNB did not restore RetGC1 activity The CORD6 mutation R838S in the RetGC1 dimerization domain strongly dominated the Ca sensitivity of cyclase regulation by GCAP1 in RetGC1 heterodimer produced by co-expression of WT and the R838S subunits. It required higher Ca concentrations to decelerate GCAP-activated RetGC1 heterodimer-6-fold higher than WT and 2-fold higher than the Ser-harboring homodimer. The heterodimer was also more resistant than homodimers to inhibition by RD3. The observed biochemical changes can explain the dominant CORD6 blindness and recessive LCA1 blindness, both of which affect rods and cones, but they cannot explain the selective loss of rod function in recessive CSNB.