上皮细胞极性的建立和维持

细胞极性是生物中广泛存在的一个特征。上皮细胞是构成表皮、腺体、气管和消化道等组织的一类特化细胞。上皮细胞通常沿顶端-基底端轴向发生极化,形成紧密连接、粘附连接等胞间结构,同时细胞膜、细胞骨架和中心体、内膜系统、细胞核等也发生不对称分布,使细胞能行使分泌、吸收和屏障等多种重要的生理功能。有许多分子参与上皮细胞极性的建立和维持,其中最主要的是3个极性复合物,即Par-aPKC复合物,Scribble(Lg1-Dlg-Scrib)复合物和Crb(Crb-Pals-PATJ)复合物,三者共同配合发挥功能。     

内皮屏障与极性运输

极化细胞的极性分布和功能行使,需要不同机制相互协作,改变胞内蛋白的运输和分布,并对环境变化做出极性应激。内皮细胞(endothelial cells,ECs)是一类具有极性特征的单层特化上皮细胞,在结构和功能上形成面向血液的顶端区域(apical membrane domain)和面向下方平滑肌细胞的基底侧区域(basolateral membrane domain)。内皮功能障碍和细胞极性丢失,与心血管疾病及癌症的发生紧密相关。在炎症和免疫应答中,内皮细胞通过胞内蛋白的持续分选维持极性,协助血液中大分子跨过内皮屏障完成生理功能,同时,对血液或组织中的生理变化做出极性应答。     

细胞表面聚糖标记研究进展

细胞表面聚糖与细胞的多种生理过程密切相关,是目前生命科学研究的热点之一.聚糖的糖链结构十分复杂,其合成没有直接的基因模板,且糖类化合物难以标记和检测,这些原因导致聚糖的研究面临着巨大的挑战.近年来,基于代谢糖工程和化学酶法聚糖标记策略的迅速发展,为糖生物学研究提供了重要的聚糖标记手段.这两种策略分别通过代谢糖工程和化学酶法将具有化学报告基团的非天然糖类似物标记在聚糖结构上,并通过生物正交反应对这些聚糖结构进行研究.本文主要总结了两种策略近几年的进展,分析了两种方法各自的优缺点,并探讨了两种策略在糖生物学研究中的应用和未来发展的潜力.     

近端肾小管碳酸氢根重吸收的分子机制及代谢性酸中毒

肾脏的HCO3-重吸收功能对于维持机体的酸碱平衡具有非常重要的意义,HCO3-重吸收障碍会导致代谢性酸中毒。近端肾小管是HCO3-重吸收最主要的部位,约80%的HCO3-在这里被回收至血液中。经过半个多世纪的研究,人们已经对近端肾小管跨上皮细胞的HCO3-转运过程的分子机制有了比较深入的了解。这个过程涉及到上皮细胞的顶端膜与基底侧膜一系列离子转运体的协同作用。在近端肾小管顶端膜,钠氢交换体NHE3和V型质子泵是介导HCO3-重吸收的两个重要途径。其中NHE3负责约50%,V型质子泵约30%,另外20%由其它途径介导。在基底侧膜,Na+/HCO3-共转运体NBCe1负责将HCO3-转运至组织间隙,完成跨上皮细胞运输过程。在本文中,我们梳理了过去半个世纪关于近端肾小管的HCO3-重吸收分子机制研究的历史脉络,重点阐述了最近十来年相关研究的最新进展,深入讨论近端肾小管上皮细胞中酸碱离子转运体的生理学及病理学作用,并就存在的问题进行探讨与展望。     

上皮细胞间紧密连接功能的研究进展

紧密连接(tight junction,TJ)广泛存在于所有上皮或内皮细胞间连接的最顶端,是物质经旁细胞途径转运的结构和功能基础。TJ是由跨膜蛋白和胞浆蛋白两大类构成的大分子复合物,主要行使"屏障"和"栅栏"功能,前者可对物质的大小和电荷进行选择,进而调控旁细胞途径的物质转运;后者则通过调控顶膜和基底侧膜两个功能区之间的脂质和蛋白等物质的自由弥散形成高度极性化的细胞。近年来,关于TJ在各种上皮细胞中的作用及调控机制的研究日益增多。本文重点综述了上皮细胞间TJ研究的最新进展,包括TJ的构成、结构和功能检测以及调控机制,并以几类研究比较集中的上皮类型为例介绍TJ研究的现状,这将为防治与TJ改变相关的上皮屏障功能障碍性疾病提供新的思路。     

细胞膜相联钙结合蛋白的结构和功能研究进展

细胞膜相联钙结合蛋白(PCaP)是定位于细胞膜上的一类新的Ca2+结合蛋白。简要综述了PCaP的蛋白结构、调控Ca2+/磷脂酰肌醇3-磷酸信号通路的分子机制、调节微管微丝稳定的能力,以及其在植物顶端生长极性中的功能研究进展。     

参与植物细胞壁半纤维素木聚糖合成的糖基转移酶

木聚糖是双子叶植物次生细胞壁中最主要的半纤维素,含有木聚糖的次生壁是最丰富的植物生物质,广泛应用于能源、制浆、造纸和纺织业中,但其主要组分戊糖对细胞壁生物质利用具有较大影响。揭示木聚糖合成的分子机制,为遗传修饰细胞壁组成,更好地利用细胞壁生物质提供新的策略。近年来对模式植物拟南芥中多个木聚糖合成有缺陷的突变体的分析表明：GT43家族的IRX9、IRX9-L、IRX14、IRX14-L,GT47家族的FRA8、F8H、IRX10、IRX10-L,GT8家族的IRX8、PARVUS、QUA1、GUX1、GUX2等参与了木聚糖主链、还原末端序列和侧链的合成。本文主要对这些研究进展做一综述,并讨论了木聚糖合成的机制及亟待解决的问题,展望了其发展趋势。     

顶- 底极性复合物与癌症的关系研究进展

顶-底极性是上皮细胞的一项主要特征,参与细胞形态、迁移、功能维持等多个生物学事件。上皮细胞顶-底极性复合物包括PAR复合物、SCRIB复合物和CRB复合物。丧失极性是细胞癌化的标志之一,并且在人类癌症中也发现了顶-底极性复合物的异常表达。本文将就目前有关顶-底极性复合物在癌症方面的研究进行综述,重点阐述顶-底极性复合物在肿瘤发生、发展过程中的作用及调控机制。     

糖微阵列技术在糖组学研究中的进展

聚糖多以蛋白质和脂配基形式存在,在生物体内的信息传递、细胞识别和蛋白质折叠等生物过程中具有十分重要作用,是继核酸和蛋白质之后被发现的第三类生物信息分子.但聚糖结构复杂,并存在大量异构体,无法象DNA一样进行合成和测序.根据聚糖分子能够与凝集素或糖结合蛋白特异性结合,提出并发展了糖微阵列技术.此技术在聚糖结构与功能研究中已显示出优越性.通过对糖微阵列构建方式及检测方法的探讨,对近些年来糖微阵列技术的发展进行了综述.     

GlyCosmos门户网站在聚糖科学研究中的功能概述

近年来生物学领域的研究不断达到新高度,聚糖逐渐吸引越来越多科学家的目光,很多研究表明聚糖具有多种生物活性,越来越多的相关科研人员开始关注聚糖在生命过程中的作用及其机制。糖生物学逐渐成为生物学领域的热点学科。对于拟从事糖生物学研究或者刚进入该领域的新人来说,GlyCosmos作为一种全面的、统一的糖科学开放门户网站,其数据免费向大众公开,提供了对聚糖相关数据的访问,包括存储库,糖原、糖蛋白、信号通路和疾病相关的各种数据库及Glycome多种可视化数据库,目前最为前沿和统一的多种标准化多糖表示方法及其他多种功能。该网站是近两年才建成,但目前已被广泛使用也被糖生物学家所熟知。本文就GlyCosmos门户网站中的各项功能进行概述,希望帮助拟从事糖生物学研究的新人更好地了解和利用该网站,对于该网站的学习和理解,会对后续从事聚糖相关研究的研究者起到极大的帮助作用,也使后续研究更加便捷。     

O-linked glycans mediate apical sorting of human intestinal sucrase-isomaltase through association with lipid rafts.

The plasma membrane of polarised epithelial cells is characterised by two structurally and functionally different domains, the apical and basolateral domains. These domains contain distinct protein and lipid constituents that are sorted by specific signals to the correct surface domain [1]. The best characterised apical sorting signal is that of glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI) membrane anchors [2], although N-linked glycans on some secreted proteins [3] and O-linked glycans [4] also function as apical sorting signals. In the latter cases, however, the underlying sorting mechanisms remain obscure. Here, we have analysed the role of O-glycosylation in the apical sorting of sucrase-isomaltase (SI), a highly polarised N- and O-glycosylated intestinal enzyme, and the mechanisms underlying this process. Inhibition of O-glycosylation by benzyl-N-acetyl-alpha-D-galactosaminide (benzyl-GalNAc) was accompanied by a dramatic shift in the sorting of SI from the apical membrane to both membranes. The sorting mechanism of SI involves its association with sphingolipid- and cholesterol-rich membrane rafts because this association was eliminated when O-glycosylation was inhibited by benzyl-GaINAc. The results demonstrate for the first time that O-linked glycans mediate apical sorting through association with lipid rafts.     

Role of N- and O-glycans in polarized biosynthetic sorting

The maintenance of proper epithelial function requires efficient sorting of newly synthesized and recycling proteins to the apical and basolateral surfaces of differentiated cells. Whereas basolateral protein sorting signals are generally confined to their cytoplasmic regions, apical targeting signals have been identified that localize to luminal, transmembrane, and cytoplasmic aspects of proteins. In the past few years, both N- and O-linked glycans have been identified as apical sorting determinants. Glycan structures are extraordinarily diverse and have tremendous information potential. Moreover, because the oligosaccharides added to a given protein can change depending on cell type and developmental stage, the potential exists for altering sorting pathways by modulation of the expression pattern of enzymes involved in glycan synthesis. In this review, we discuss the evidence for glycan-mediated apical sorting along the biosynthetic pathway and present possible mechanisms by which these common and heterogeneous posttranslational modifications might function as specific sorting signals. glycosylation; epithelia; polarity; kidney; intestine     

肝细胞极性与膜蛋白分选的分子机制

肝细胞是高度特化的极性上皮细胞,细胞质膜蛋白的分选和极性转运对于肝细胞极性的建立与维持至关重要.首先,膜蛋白在内质网中合成,随后经高尔基体加工修饰,再由反面高尔基体进一步分选,最后通过膜泡运输等不同的机制分别转运到胆汁腔面或窦状隙面,行使其特殊的功能.近些年来,细胞内负责转运的细胞器和主要的分选信号已逐步被揭示.特别是循环内体也被证明参与了胆汁腔面和窦状隙面膜蛋白的极性分选和转运.肝细胞的极性一旦遭到破坏,将会引起胆汁分泌障碍以及其他肝脏功能的损伤,从而可能导致肝脏糖脂代谢紊乱,甚至丧失正常的生理功能.因此,深入研究肝脏细胞极性的形成与维持机制,将为多种肝脏疾病的预防和治疗寻找到新的方向和靶点,具有重要的理论和临床实践意义.     

Basolateral sorting signals differ in their ability to redirect apical proteins to the basolateral cell surface

Polarized sorting of membrane proteins in epithelial cells is mediated by cytoplasmic basolateral signals or by apical signals in the transmembrane or exoplasmic domains. Basolateral signals were generally found to be dominant over apical determinants. We have generated chimeric proteins with the cytoplasmic domain of either the asialoglycoprotein receptor H1 or the transferrin receptor, two basolateral proteins, fused to the transmembrane and exoplasmic segments of aminopeptidase N, an apical protein, and analyzed them in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. Whereas both cytoplasmic sequences induced endocytosis of the chimeras, only that of the transferrin receptor mediated basolateral expression in steady state. The H1 fusion protein, although still largely sorted to the basolateral side in biosynthetic surface transport, was subsequently resorted to the apical cell surface. We tested whether the difference in sorting between trimeric wild-type H1 and the dimeric aminopeptidase chimera was caused by the number of sorting signals presented in the oligomers. Consistent with this hypothesis, the H1 signal was fully functional in a tetrameric fusion protein with the transmembrane and exoplasmic domains of influenza neuraminidase. The results suggest that basolateral signals per se need not be dominant over apical determinants for steady-state polarity and emphasize an important contribution of the valence of signals in polarized sorting.     

Apical and basolateral coated pits of MDCK cells differ in their rates of maturation into coated vesicles, but not in the ability to distinguish between mutant hemagglutinin proteins with different internalization signals

In polarized epithelial MDCK cells, all known endogenous endocytic receptors are found on the basolateral domain. The influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) which is normally sorted to the apical plasma membrane, can be converted to a basolateral protein by specific mutations in its short cytoplasmic domain that also create internalization signals. For some of these mutations, sorting to the basolateral surface is incomplete, allowing internalization of two proteins that differ by a single amino acid of the internalization signal to be compared at both the apical and basolateral surfaces of MDCK cells. The rates of internalization of HA-Y543 and HA-Y543,R546 from the basolateral surface of polarized MDCK cells resembled those in nonpolarized cells, whereas their rates of internalization from the apical cell surface were fivefold slower. However, HA-Y543,R546 was internalized approximately threefold faster than HA-Y543 at both membrane domains, indicating that apical endocytic pits in polarized MDCK cells retained the ability to discriminate between different internalization signals. Slower internalization from the apical surface could not be explained by a limiting number of coated pits: apical membrane contained 0.7 as many coated pits per cell cross-section as did basolateral membranes. 10-14% of HA-Y543 at the apical surface of polarized MDCK cells was found in coated pits, a percentage not significantly different from that observed in apical coated pits of nonpolarized MDCK cells, where internalization was fivefold faster. Thus, there was no lack of binding sites for HA-Y543 in apical coated pits of polarized cells. However, at the apical surface many more shallow pits, and fewer deep, mature pits, were observed than were seen at the basolateral. These results suggest that the slower internalization at the apical surface is due to slower maturation of coated pits, and not to a difference in recognition of internalization signals.     

Polarized Secretion of Human Corticosteroid Binding Globulin by MDCK and BeWo Cells

Polarized epithelial cells are able to faithfully direct certain secretory protein components to either their apical or basolateral environments. The mechanism by which these cells accomplish this is still not entirely understood. It is hypothesized that a membrane-associated "sorting receptor" recognizes an intrinsic signal contained within the sorted protein. This interaction directs the secretory protein into the appropriate domain-specific vesicle for transport to either the apical or basolateral face. The nature of this sorting signal and the recognition receptor have not been established. In an effort to understand this phenomenon, a study was undertaken to ascertain whether human corticosteroid binding globulin (hCBG) contains intrinsic signals capable of directing its secretion to a particular side of polarized epithelial cells. The results of these studies have revealed that hCBG is selectively secreted into the apical environment by both MDCK and BeWo cells. Furthermore, this polarized secretion is unaffected by either (1) agents that inhibit N-linked oligosaccharide processing or (2) lysomotrophic drugs, which alter the intravesicular pH. It is concluded that hCBG possesses an intrinsic signal for apical secretion, which can be recognized by two polarized cell types of differing origins. This signal does not appear to be present in the N-linked oligosaccharide moieties of hCBG nor is it affected hy an elevation of the intravesicular pH within the trans-Golgi network. The use of hCBG-transfected MDCK and BeWo cells constitute a useful model system for the investigation of the signals involved in the sorting of secreted proteins.     

Trafficking of immunoglobulin receptors in epithelial cells:signals and cellular factors

A typical feature of epithelial cells is the polarized distribution of their respective plasma membrane proteins. Apical and basolateral proteins can be sorted both in the trans-Golgi network and endosomes, or in both locations. Inclusion into basolateral carriers in the TGN requires the presence of distinct cytoplasmic determinants, which also appear to be recognized in endosomes. Inactivation of the basolateral sorting information leads to the efficient apical delivery, probably due to the unmasking of a recessive apical signal. Factors associated with the cytosolic face of organelles probably not only recognize these signals to mediate the inclusion of the proteins into the correct transport vesicles, but also target the carriers to the corresponding plasma membrane domain. Our interest has focused on analyzing at the molecular level how epithelial MDCK cells generate and maintain a polarized phenotype, taking advantage of immunoglobulin receptors to study the biosynthetic and endocytic pathways and the corresponding sorting events.     

Measles virus matrix protein specifies apical virus release and glycoprotein sorting in epithelial cells

In polarized epithelial cells measles virus (MV) is predominantly released at the apical cell surface, irrespective of the sorting of its two envelope glycoproteins F and H. It has been reported previously that the viral matrix (M) protein modulates the fusogenic capacity of the viral envelope glycoproteins. Here, extant MV mutants and chimeras were used to determine the role of M protein in the transport of viral glycoproteins and release of progeny virions in polarized epithelial CaCo2 cells. In the absence of M, envelope glycoproteins are sorted to the basolateral surface, suggesting that they possess intrinsic basolateral sorting signals. However, interactions of M with the glycoprotein cytoplasmic tails allow M-glycoprotein co-segregation to the apical surface, suggesting a vectorial function of M to retarget the glycoproteins for apical virion release. Whereas this may allow virus airway shedding, the intrinsic sorting of the glycoproteins to the basolateral surface may account for systemic host infection by allowing efficient cell-cell fusion.     

Polarized sorting and trafficking in epithelial cells

The polarized distribution of proteins and lipids at the surface membrane of epithelial cells results in the formation of an apical and a basolateral domain, which are separated by tight junctions. The generation and maintenance of epithelial polarity require elaborate mechanisms that guarantee correct sorting and vectorial delivery of cargo molecules. This dynamic process involves the interaction of sorting signals with sorting machineries and the formation of transport carriers. Here we review the recent advances in the field of polarized sorting in epithelial cells. We especially highlight the role of lipid rafts in apical sorting.     

N-glycans mediate apical recycling of the sialomucin endolyn in polarized MDCK cells

Apical and basolateral proteins are maintained within distinct membrane subdomains in polarized epithelial cells by biosynthetic and postendocytic sorting processes. Sorting of basolateral proteins in these processes has been well studied; however, the sorting signals and mechanisms that direct proteins to the apical surface are less well understood. We previously demonstrated that an N-glycan-dependent sorting signal directs the sialomucin endolyn to the apical surface in polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. Terminal processing of a subset of endolyn's N-glycans is key for polarized biosynthetic delivery to the apical membrane. Endolyn is subsequently internalized, and via a cytoplasmic tyrosine-based sorting motif is targeted to lysosomes from where it constitutively cycles to the cell surface. Here, we examine the polarized sorting of endolyn along the postendocytic pathway in polarized cells. Our results suggest that similar N-glycan sorting determinants are required for apical delivery of endolyn along both the biosynthetic and the postendocytic pathways.