Constitutive expression of a saturable transport system for non-esterified fatty acids in Xenopus laevis oocytes.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zhou SL
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1137831 | biostudies-other | 1994 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:Symplekin is a dual location protein that has been localized to the cytoplasmic plaques of tight junctions but also occurs in the form of interchromatin particles in the karyoplasm. Here we report the identification of two novel and major symplekin-containing protein complexes in both the karyo- and the cytoplasm of Xenopus laevis oocytes. Buffer-extractable fractions from the karyoplasm of stage IV-VI oocytes contain an 11S particle, prepared by immunoselection and sucrose gradient centrifugation, in which symplekin is associated with the subunits of the cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF). Moreover, in immunofluorescence microscopy nuclear symplekin colocalizes with protein CPSF-100 in the "Cajal bodies." However, symplekin is also found in cytoplasmic extracts of enucleated oocytes and egg extracts, where it occurs in 11S as well as in ca. 65S particles, again in association with CPSF-100. This suggests that, in X. laevis oocytes, symplekin is possibly involved in both processes, 3'-end processing of pre-mRNA in the nucleus and regulated polyadenylation in the cytoplasm. We discuss the possible occurrence of similar symplekin-containing particles involved in mRNA metabolism in the nucleus and cytoplasm of other kinds of cells, also in comparison with the nuclear forms of other dual location proteins in nuclei and cell junctions.
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Project description:BackgroundA growing number of proteins, including ion transporters, have been shown to interact with Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane conductance Regulator (CFTR). CFTR is an epithelial chloride channel that is involved in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) when mutated; thus a better knowledge of its functional interactome may help to understand the pathophysiology of this complex disease. In the present study, we investigated if CFTR and the sodium-phosphate co-transporter type 2a (NPT2a) functionally interact after heterologous expression of both proteins in Xenopus laevis oocytes.Methodology/findingsNPT2a was expressed alone or in combination with CFTR in X. laevis oocytes. Using the two-electrode voltage-clamp technique, the inorganic phosphate-induced current (IPi) was measured and taken as an index of NPT2a activity. The maximal IPi for NPT2a substrates was reduced when CFTR was co-expressed with NPT2a, suggesting a decrease in its expression at the oolemna. This was consistent with Western blot analysis showing reduced NPT2a plasma membrane expression in oocytes co-expressing both proteins, whereas NPT2a protein level in total cell lysate was the same in NPT2a- and NPT2a+CFTR-oocytes. In NPT2a+CFTR- but not in NPT2a-oocytes, IPi and NPT2a surface expression were increased upon PKA stimulation, whereas stimulation of Exchange Protein directly Activated by cAMP (EPAC) had no effect. When NPT2a-oocytes were injected with NEG2, a short amino-acid sequence from the CFTR regulatory domain that regulates PKA-dependent CFTR trafficking to the plasma membrane, IPi values and NPT2a membrane expression were diminished, and could be enhanced by PKA stimulation, thereby mimicking the effects of CFTR co-expression.Conclusion/perspectivesWe conclude that when both CFTR and NPT2a are expressed in X. laevis oocytes, CFTR confers to NPT2a a cAMPi-dependent trafficking to the membrane. This functional interaction raises the hypothesis that CFTR may play a role in phosphate homeostasis.
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Project description:Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are nonvoltage-gated sodium channels transiently activated by extracellular protons and belong to the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC)/Degenerin (DEG) family of ion channels. Bile acids have been shown to activate two members of this family, the bile acid-sensitive ion channel (BASIC) and ENaC. To investigate whether bile acids also modulate ASIC function, human ASIC1a was heterologously expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Exposing oocytes to tauro-conjugated cholic (t-CA), deoxycholic (t-DCA), and chenodeoxycholic (t-CDCA) acid at pH 7.4 did not activate ASIC1a-mediated whole-cell currents. However, in ASIC1a expressing oocytes the whole-cell currents elicited by pH 5.5 were significantly increased in the presence of these bile acids. Single-channel recordings in outside-out patches confirmed that t-DCA enhanced the stimulatory effect of pH 5.5 on ASIC1a channel activity. Interestingly, t-DCA reduced single-channel current amplitude by ~15% which suggests an interaction of t-DCA with a region close to the channel pore. Molecular docking predicted binding of bile acids to the pore region near the degenerin site (G433) in the open conformation of the channel. Site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that the amino acid residue G433 is critically involved in the potentiating effect of bile acids on ASIC1a activation by protons.
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Project description:We determine the calcium fluxes through inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor/channels underlying calcium puffs of Xenopus laevis oocytes using a simplified version of the algorithm of Ventura et al. An analysis of 130 puffs obtained with Fluo-4 indicates that Ca2+ release comes from a region of width approximately 450 nm, that the release duration is peaked around 18 s and that the underlying Ca2+ currents range between 0.12 and 0.95 pA. All these parameters are independent of IP(3) concentration. We explore what distributions of channels that open during a puff, N(p), and what relations between current and number of open channels, I(N(p)), are compatible with our findings and with the distribution of puff-to-trigger amplitude ratio reported in Rose et al. To this end, we use simple "mean field" models in which all channels open and close simultaneously. We find that the variability among clusters plays an important role in shaping the observed puff amplitude distribution and that a model for which I(N(p)) approximately N(p) for small N(p) and I(N(p)) approximately N(p)(1/alpha) (alpha > 1) for large N(p), provides the best agreement. Simulations of more detailed models in which channels open and close stochastically show that this nonlinear behavior can be attributed to the limited time resolution of the observations and to the averaging procedure that is implicit in the mean-field models. These conclusions are also compatible with observations of approximately 400 puffs obtained using the dye Oregon green.
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Project description:L-Carnitine transport was characterized in Xenopus laevis oocytes before and after injection of mRNA isolated from rat renal cortex. Non-injected oocytes revealed endogenous Na(+)-dependent transport of L-carnitine. After injection of 15 ng of rat kidney mRNA, the Na(+)-dependent L-carnitine transport increased 2-3-fold, reaching maximal activity after 5-6 days. The expressed carnitine transport was maximal at pH 7.5, whereas the endogenous transport showed no clear maximum between pH 6.0 and 8.5. Kinetic analysis revealed apparent Km values for L-carnitine of 66 microM for the endogenous and 149 microM for the expressed transport. Trimethyl-lysine and D-carnitine inhibited both the endogenous and the expressed transport. In contrast, L-acetylcarnitine, L-isovalerylcarnitine, L-palmitoylcarnitine and butyrobetaine inhibited predominantly the expressed transport, whereas glycinebetaine had no inhibitory effect on either transport system. Size-fractionated rat renal-cortex mRNA (median size 2 kb) induced a 3-fold higher L-carnitine transport than did unfractionated mRNA. These studies demonstrate that Xenopus laevis oocytes exhibit Na(+)-dependent L-carnitine transport and provide the basis for expression-cloning of a rat renal Na(+)-dependent L-carnitine transport system.
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