|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Department of Biochemistry, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
Received for publication November 13, 2006.
Accepted for publication February 1, 2007.
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
The binding pocket of GltPh is predominantly formed by TMs 7 and 8 and the two reentrant loops, which in the crystal structure enclose a nonprotein density presumably corresponding to glutamate (Yernool et al., 2004
). It is noteworthy that many of the amino acid residues of the transporter inferred to be important for the interaction with sodium (Zhang and Kanner, 1999
; Borre and Kanner, 2001
), potassium (Kavanaugh et al., 1997
; Zhang et al., 1998
), and glutamate (Bendahan et al., 2000
) (Fig. 1B) are facing toward the binding pocket and are close to the nonprotein density (Yernool et al., 2004
). It has been suggested that re-entrant loop HP1 may form the internal gate of the transporter, which moves to a more intracellular position when the transporter becomes inward-facing (Yernool et al., 2004
). In this study, we provide support for this idea by comparing the reactivity of cysteine residues engineered into HP1 and the intracellular-facing parts of TMs 6, 7, and 8 (Fig. 1B) to the membrane-permeant sulfhydryl reagent NEM in the presence of sodium and potassium.
| Materials and Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
D-[3H]aspartate Transport in HeLa Cells. HeLa cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum, 200 U/ml penicillin, 200 µg/ml streptomycin, and 2 mM glutamine. HeLa cells plated on 24-well plates were infected with the recombinant vaccinia/T7 virus vTF7-3 (Fuerst et al., 1986
) and transfected with cDNA [pBluescript SK() with CL-GLT-1 or single-cysteine mutant transporter inserted downstream to the T7 promotor] using the transfection reagent N-[1-(2,3-dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium methylsulfate as described previously (Pines et al., 1995
). Uptake of D-[3H]aspartate into the cells was assayed 18 to 20 h after transfection. The cells were washed with a solution containing 150 mM choline chloride, 5 mM potassium phosphate, pH 7.4, 0.5 mM MgSO4, and 0.3 mM CaCl2 (1 ml/well), and subsequently, transport was initiated by the addition of 200 µl of an NaCl-based transport solution (150 mM NaCl, with KPi, MgSO4, and CaCl2 as above), containing 0.4 µCi of D-[3H]aspartate (23.9 Ci/mmol), to each well. Transport was carried out for 10 min at room temperature (2224°C), and the assay was terminated by washing the cells twice with 1 ml of ice-cold NaCl-based transport solution. Cells were lysed with 1% SDS, and radioactivity was measured by liquid scintillation counting. Transport activity of each of the single cysteine mutants was directly compared with that of CL-GLT-1, indicated in the figures as the percentage of activity of CL-GLT-1 (± S.E.M.), in at least three different experiments, each done in triplicate. It should be noted that the concentration of D-aspartate used (83.7 nM) is more than 2 orders of magnitude lower than its Km value. Therefore, altered transport in the mutants, whether due to reduced Vmax or increased Km values, will be detected under these conditions.
Inhibition by Sulfhydryl Reagents and CuPh. Before the transport measurements, the cells adhering to 24-well plates were washed once with 1 ml of the transport medium containing 150 mM choline chloride instead of NaCl. Each well was then incubated at room temperature with 1 ml of the preincubation medium (NaCl-based transport solution or the same solution with 150 mM KCl instead of NaCl, as indicated in the figures) supplemented with the concentrations of sulfhydryl reagent or CuPh and other additions, as indicated in the figure legends. After 5 min, the medium was aspirated, and the cells were washed twice with 1 ml of the choline-based solution. Afterward, they were assayed for D-[3H]aspartate transport as described above. The CuPh stock solution was prepared by mixing 0.4 ml of 1.25 M 1,10-phenanthroline in water/ethanol (1:1) with 0.6 ml of 250 mM CuSO4. In the case of NEM, a fresh stock solution of 0.1 M was prepared in 50% ethanol for each experiment. In the inhibition studies with NEM, the sulfhydryl reagent was initially used at a concentration of 0.5 mM with all of the mutants. With many of the mutants, the inhibition at this concentration was almost complete. To determine whether there is a difference between the inhibition in the presence of potassium and sodium, lower concentrations of NEM were used in subsequent experiments, and these concentrations are indicated in the figure legends. In other mutants, little inhibition was obtained by 0.5 mM NEM. In this case, the concentration was increased in the subsequent experiments (see figure legends). The statistical evaluation of the difference in inhibition by NEM under different conditions used a one-way analysis of variance with a post hoc Dunnett multiple comparison test (*, p < 0.01; **, p < 0.05). Results were plotted using data for each mutant normalized to its activity after preincubation with the same solution but without NEM or CuPh.
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
|
Cysteine Scanning of the Cytoplasmic Ends of TMs 7 and 8. In the GltPh structure, TMs 7 and 8 line a possible permeation pathway connecting the binding pocket of the transporter with the cytoplasm (Yernool et al., 2004
). One at a time, cysteine residues were introduced at 13 positions of the "cytoplasmic" part of TM 7 (7a) of CL-GLT-1 and at the 7 positions of the "linker" connecting the intracellular ends of HP1b with TM 7 (Fig. 1B). In 7 of these 20 single cysteine mutants, the transport activity was too low to conduct inhibition studies (Fig. 4A, left), but the transport activity of the remaining 13 mutants was at least 40% of that of CL-GLT-1 (Fig. 4A). In the case of eight of these mutants, a potent inhibition by NEM was observed, and in six of these eight, the inhibition by NEM, using optimized concentrations for each mutant, was increased in the presence of potassium (Fig. 4B). In the case of the "cytoplasmic" part of TM 8, eight mutants were made (at positions 489496), and six of those exhibited at least 35% of the transport activity of CL-GLT-1 (Fig. 4A, right). In five of these mutants, NEM was inhibitory, and in four of them, potassium significantly increased the inhibition of transport by NEM (Fig. 4B).
|
|
|
Reactivity and Oxidative Cross-Linking of A364C and S440C. Even though the inhibition of transport of many single cysteine mutants of HP1 by NEM was increased in the presence of potassium, no change was observed in the case of A364C (Fig. 3A). In contrast with most other HP1 positions, this residue, whose GltPh counterpart is located closest to the external medium (Yernool et al., 2004
), was shown to be accessible to membrane impermeant MTSET (Grunewald and Kanner, 2000
). Whereas potassium did not increase the inhibition of transport by NEM, this cation decreased the sensitivity of transport of A364C to MTSET (Fig. 7A), consistent with a movement of the tip of HP1 away from the external aqueous cavity. On the other hand, potassium potentiated the inhibition of transport of the single cysteine mutant S440C by MTSET, and the same effect was observed with NEM (Fig. 7B). Position 440 is located at the tip of HP2 and is close to position 364 (Brocke et al., 2002
; Yernool et al., 2004
). The inhibition of transport of the A364C/S440C double mutant by CuPh, documented to be the result of oxidative cross-linking of the two engineered cysteines within one transporter monomer (Brocke et al., 2002
), was reduced in the presence of external potassium (Fig. 8A). In the case of the A412C/V427C double mutant, it has also been shown that the two engineered cysteines, both located on HP2, can be cross-linked intramolecularly by CuPh (Brocke et al., 2002
). In contrast to A364C/S440C, attenuation of the CuPh inhibition of transport by potassium was not observed in A412C/V427C (Fig. 8B).
|
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
In most of the cysteine mutants of HP1, the extent of inhibition of transport by NEM was dependent on the nature of the external cation. In the presence of external sodium, most transporters are expected to be outward-facing, because in the absence of external glutamate, the translocation complex cannot be formed (Fig. 1A; the intermediate sodium-bound, glutamate-free form of the transporter is not indicated in the figure). External potassium promotes inward translocation via half-cycle II (Fig. 1A). Even though the potassium relocation step is believed to be the rate-limiting step for the transport cycle (Bergles et al., 2002
), the proportion of inward-facing transporters is expected to increase when external potassium replaces sodium. Under these conditions, the sensitivity of transport to NEM was increased in 16 of the 22 NEM-sensitive mutants documented in Figs. 3 and 4. It is significant that potassium did not decrease the inhibition any of the NEM-sensitive mutants. It is possible that in some of the positions, the introduction of a cysteine could have resulted in a prolonged dwell time of an accessible state so that this cysteine becomes more accessible. Nevertheless, an increased sensitivity to NEM in the presence of potassium means that also in such mutants, potassium can increase the proportion of inward-facing transporters. Kainate, expected to exert the opposite effect of potassium and to trap the transporter in an outward-facing conformation, has the opposite effect of potassium (Fig. 6). This provides additional support for the idea that NEM acts on most positions from the cytoplasmic side.
The addition of glutamate in the presence of sodium would promote transport and thereby increase the proportion of inward-facing transporters. However, in several mutants in which the NEM-sensitivity of transport was increased by potassium and decreased by kainate, no effect by sodium plus glutamate was observed. A possible explanation could be that in the latter case, many of the inward-facing transporters are likely to be in the glutamate-bound conformation (Fig. 1A, bottom right state) rather than in the potassium bound conformation (Fig. 1A, bottom left state). It is likely that glutamate can physically restrict the access of NEM to the engineered cysteines from the cytoplasm much better than the smaller potassium ion.
Based on the GltPh structure, we predicted that when the transporter becomes inward-facing, HP1 moves away from HP2 to a location closer to the cytoplasm (Yernool et al., 2004
). In this study, we have provided experimental evidence consistent with two of the major predictions: 1) an increased cytoplasmic reactivity/accessibility of many positions of HP1 (Figs. 3 and 4); and 2) an increased distance between the tips of HP1 and HP2, respectively. Support for the second prediction comes from the effect of potassium on inhibition of transport activity of the A364C/S440C double mutant by oxidative cross-linking (Fig. 8A). The two cysteines of this double mutant are located on HP1 and HP2, respectively. The most straightforward explanation for the diminished inhibition of transport by CuPh in the presence of potassium is that when the transporter becomes inward-facing, HP1 moves away from HP2 and this is further supported by the opposite effect of potassium on the inhibition of transport of A364C and S440C by MTSET (Fig. 7). On the other hand, external potassium had no effect on the inhibition of transport of the A412C/V427C double mutant by CuPh (Fig. 8B). This case, in which the two cysteine residues are inserted in HP2, illustrates the specificity of the effect of potassium. Therefore, the effect of potassium on the CuPh inhibition of transport by A364C/S440C is probably due to the relative movement of HP1 and HP2 rather than to the movement of more peripheral parts of the transporter around the binding pocket, sealing it off alternatively from the outside and the inside. Alternatively, potassium could bind close to position 364, thereby physically blocking its reactivity/accessibility. However, in the GltPh structure, which reflects the substrate-occluded form of the transporter, the two positions are within 4Å of each other. Therefore, a blockade of accessibility of position 364 by external potassium effectively means that the distance between positions 364 and 440 is increased.
The inhibition of transport of A364C by membrane-impermeant MTSET is diminished in the presence of potassium (Fig. 7A), but inhibition by NEM is unaffected under these conditions (Fig. 7A). Presumably this is because NEM may be able to reach the cysteine at position 364 equally well from the outside or from the inside. In the case of transport activity of S440C, potassium potentiates the inhibition by NEM and that by MTSET (Fig. 7B). It has been proposed that when the intracellular gate is open, HP2 moves toward the center of the trimer, occupying the space vacated by the tip of HP1, thereby preventing the formation of an open transmembrane pore (Yernool et al., 2004
). It is possible that in this new position, the cysteine at position 440 is more accessible to either of the two sulfhydryl reagents.
Recent fluorescence energy transfer experiments suggest that glutamate transporters do not undergo large conformational changes during transport (Koch and Larsson, 2005
). In these experiments, donor and acceptor fluorophores were attached mostly at the extracellular ends of the transmembrane domains. However, sulfhydryl modification at the tips of HP1 and HP2 by MTSET leads to inactivation of transport (Zhang and Kanner, 1999
; Grunewald and Kanner, 2000
), and a fluorescently labeled mutant via a cysteine introduced at the tip of HP1 is inactive (Koch and Larsson, 2005
). Thus, significant movements of HP1 and HP2 during transport are not ruled out by the fluorescence resonance energy transfer experiments.
It is perhaps surprising that so many HP1 positions retain a low reactivity toward NEM, even in the presence of potassium (legend to Fig. 3). However, these observations are consistent with the proposal that in the inward-facing form of the transporter, this loop may become sequestered within the crevice formed between TMs 1 and 6 on the lipid-exposed face of each subunit (Yernool et al., 2004
). Alternatively, the movement by HP1 could be more limited than the prediction.
Many of the positions of the more intracellular parts of TMs 7 and 8, but not of the more peripheral TM 6, become more reactive/accessible to NEM in the presence of potassium (Figs. 4 and 5). It is possible that TMs 7 and 8, which are close to each other in the GltPh structure, could move away from each other when the transporter becomes inward-facing. However, increased reactivity of an engineered cysteine does not necessarily mean that such a residue moves, because it could rather be the result of movement of other parts of the protein around it. Therefore, HP1 could act as a "plug," obstructing the path connecting the binding pocket with the cytoplasm, which is lined by TMs 7 and 8. Removal of this "plug" would expose the access channel from the cytoplasm and make several positions of TMs 7 and 8 more accessible to permeant sulfhydryl reagents.
The GltPh structure (Yernool et al., 2004
) represents one conformation of the transporter. Experiments on transporter dynamics, such as the ones described here, are an important tool toward a better understanding of how glutamate transporters move their substrates from the extracellular medium to the cytoplasm and vice versa.
| Footnotes |
|---|
Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org.
ABBREVIATIONS: TM, transmembrane domain; HP, helical hairpin; MTSET, [2-(trimethylammonium)ethyl]methanethiosulfonate; NEM, N-ethylmaleimide; CuPh, Cu(II)(1,10-phenantroline)3; CL-GLT-1, cysteine-less GLT-1.
Address correspondence to: Dr. Baruch I. Kanner, Department of Biochemistry, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, P.O. Box 12272, Jerusalem 91120, Israel. E-mail: kannerb{at}cc.huji.ac.il
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Bergles DE, Tzingounis AV, and Jahr CE (2002) Comparison of coupled and uncoupled currents during glutamate uptake by GLT-1 transporters. J Neurosci 22: 1015310162.
Borre L and Kanner BI (2001) Coupled, but not uncoupled, fluxes in a neuronal glutamate transporter can be activated by lithium ions. J Biol Chem 276: 4039640401.
Brew H and Attwell D (1987) Electrogenic glutamate uptake is a major current carrier in the membrane of axolotl retinal glial cells. Nature (Lond) 327: 707709.[CrossRef][Medline]
Brocke L, Bendahan A, Grunewald M, and Kanner BI (2002) Proximity of two oppositely oriented reentrant loops in the glutamate transporter GLT-1 identified by paired cysteine mutagenesis. J Biol Chem 277: 39853992.
Fuerst TR, Niles EG, Studier FW, and Moss B (1986) Eukaryotic transient-expression system based on recombinant vaccinia virus that synthesizes bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 83: 81228126.
Grewer C, Watzke N, Rauen T, and Bicho A (2003) Is the glutamate residue Glu-373 the proton acceptor of the excitatory amino acid carrier 1. J Biol Chem 278: 25852592.
Grunewald M, Bendahan A, and Kanner BI (1998) Biotinylation of single cysteine mutants of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 from rat brain reveals its unusual topology. Neuron 21: 623632.[CrossRef][Medline]
Grunewald M and Kanner BI (2000) The accessibility of a novel reentrant loop of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 is restricted by its substrate. J Biol Chem 275: 96849689.
Grunewald M, Menaker D, and Kanner BI (2002) Cysteine-scanning mutagenesis reveals a conformationally sensitive reentrant pore-loop in the glutamate transporter GLT-1. J Biol Chem 277: 2607426080.
Kaback HR, Dunten R, Frillingos S, Venkatesan P, Kwaw I, Zhang W, and Ermolova N (2007) Site-directed alkylation and the alternating access model for LacY. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104: 491494.
Kanner BI and Bendahan A (1982) Binding order of substrates to the sodium and potassium ion coupled L-glutamic acid transporter from rat brain. Biochemistry 21: 63276330.[CrossRef][Medline]
Kanner BI and Sharon I (1978) Active transport of L-glutamate by membrane vesicles isolated from rat brain. Biochemistry 17: 39493953.[CrossRef][Medline]
Kavanaugh MP, Bendahan A, Zerangue N, Zhang Y, and Kanner BI (1997) Mutation of an amino acid residue influencing potassium coupling in the glutamate transporter GLT-1 induces obligate exchange. J Biol Chem 272: 17031708.
Kleinberger-Doron N and Kanner BI (1994) Identification of tryptophan residues critical for the function and targeting of the
-aminobutyric acid transporter (subtype A). J Biol Chem 269: 30633067.
Koch HP and Larsson HP (2005) Small-scale molecular motions accomplish glutamate uptake in human glutamate transporters. J Neurosci 25: 17301736.
Kunkel TA, Roberts JD, and Zakour RA (1987) Rapid and efficient site-specific mutagenesis without phenotypic selection. Methods Enzymol 154: 367382.[Medline]
Leighton BH, Seal RP, Shimamoto K, and Amara SG (2002) A hydrophobic domain in glutamate transporters forms an extracellular helix associated with the permeation pathway for substrates. J Biol Chem 277: 2984729855.
Levy LM, Warr O, and Attwell D (1998) Stoichiometry of the glial glutamate transporter GLT-1 expressed inducibly in a Chinese hamster ovary cell line selected for low endogenous Na+-dependent glutamate uptake. J Neurosci 18: 96209628.
Pines G and Kanner BI (1990) Counterflow of L-glutamate in plasma membrane vesicles and reconstituted preparations from rat brain. Biochemistry 29: 1120911214.[CrossRef][Medline]
Pines G, Zhang Y, and Kanner BI (1995) Glutamate 404 is involved in the substrate discrimination of GLT-1, a (Na+ + K+)-coupled glutamate transporter from rat brain. J Biol Chem 270: 1709317097.
Rosental N, Bendahan A, and Kanner BI (2006) Multiple consequences of mutating two conserved
-bridge forming residues in the translocation cycle of a neuronal glutamate transporter. J Biol Chem 281: 2790527915.
Slotboom DJ, Sobczak I, Konings WN, and Lolkema JS (1999) A conserved serine-rich stretch in the glutamate transporter family forms a substrate-sensitive reentrant loop. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96: 1428214287.
Szatkowski M, Barbour B, and Attwell D (1990) Non-vesicular release of glutamate from glial cells by reversed electrogenic glutamate uptake. Nature (Lond) 348: 443446.[CrossRef][Medline]
Tao Z, Zhang Z, and Grewer C (2006) Neutralization of the aspartic acid residue Asp-367, but not Asp-454, inhibits binding of Na+ to the glutamate-free form and cycling of the glutamate transporter EAAC1. J Biol Chem 281: 1026310272.
Wadiche JI, Arriza JL, Amara SG, and Kavanaugh MP (1995) Kinetics of a human glutamate transporter. Neuron 14: 10191027.[CrossRef][Medline]
Watzke N, Bamberg E, and Grewer C (2001) Early intermediates in the transport cycle of the neuronal excitatory amino acid carrier EAAC1. J Gen Physiol 117: 547562.
Yernool D, Boudker O, Jin Y, and Gouaux E (2004) Structure of a glutamate transporter homologue from Pyrococcus horikoshii. Nature (Lond) 431: 811818.[CrossRef]
Zerangue N and Kavanaugh MP (1996) Flux coupling in a neuronal glutamate transporter. Nature (Lond) 383: 634637.[CrossRef][Medline]
Zhang Y, Bendahan A, Zarbiv R, Kavanaugh MP, and Kanner BI (1998) Molecular determinant of ion selectivity of a (Na+ + K+)-coupled rat brain glutamate transporter. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95: 751755.
Zhang Y and Kanner BI (1999) Two serine residues of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 are crucial for coupling the fluxes of sodium and the neurotransmitter. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96: 17101715.
Zhang Y, Pines G, and Kanner BI (1994) Histidine 326 is critical for the function of GLT-1, a (Na+ + K+)-coupled glutamate transporter from rat brain. J Biol Chem 269: 1957319577.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
J. Weerachayaphorn and A. M. Pajor Sodium-dependent Extracellular Accessibility of Lys-84 in the Sodium/Dicarboxylate Cotransporter J. Biol. Chem., July 13, 2007; 282(28): 20213 - 20220. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||