Monovalent ion effects on acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica

The effects of the five Group I monovalent ions, Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs, on [³H]acetylcholine binding to Triton X-100 solubilized acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica electroplax were examined. Acetylcholine binding was not greatly affected by Li or Na, but was inhibited by the other ions in the order Cs > Rb > K. The inhibition by K appeared to occur by a mechanism identical to that for d-tubocurarine inhibition of acetylcholine binding.     

The antigenic structure of the acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica

The immunological structure of the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) from the electric organ of Torpedo californica was studied using a large number of monoclonal antibodies which were initially selected for their abilities to bind to intact AChRs. The monoclonal antibodies were tested for their ability to bind to denatured AChR subunits labeled with 125I. Antibodies derived from rats immunized with individual denatured subunits or a mixture of subunits of Torpedo AChR reacted well in the assay. A much smaller proportion of antibodies derived from rats immunized with native Torpedo AChR or native AChR from Electrophorus electricus electric organ, bovine muscle, or human muscle reacted with denatured subunits of Torpedo AChR. Many monoclonal antibodies reacted with more than one subunit, but they always reacted best with the subunit used for immunization. Those monoclonal antibodies that bound to intact subunits were mapped more precisely by their ability to bind characteristic fragments of each subunit generated by proteolysis with Staphylococcal V8 protease. These fragments were analyzed by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and monoclonal antibodies that precipitated the same fragment pattern were placed in groups. By this method, we define a minimum of 28 determinants on Torpedo AChR.     

Affinity-labeling of purified acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica

The receptor for acetylcholine purified from electric tissue of $\text{Torpedo californica}$ has been assayed both by affinity-alkylation and by neurotoxin binding. The specific activity by the latter method is about twice that by the former. Four major components of apparent molecular weights of 39,000, 48,000, 58,000 and 64,000 are separated by dodecyl sulfate-acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Reduction and affinity-alkylation of the receptor with a tritiated quaternary ammonium maleimide derivative results in the exclusive labeling of the 39,000 dalton subunit. This subunit, it is concluded, contains all or part of the acetylcholine binding site.     

Labeling of functionally sensitive sulfhydryl-containing domains of acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica membranes

N-(1-Pyrene)maleimide, a fluorescent, lipophilic, alkylating agent, was used as a probe for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR). Preincubation with N-(1-pyrene)maleimide under nonreducing conditions inhibits agonist-induced cation permeability of AChR-enriched membranes. This inhibition is dependent on the concentration of N-(1-pyrene)maleimide used. This correlation was also exhibited by resonance energy transfer of tryptophan fluorescence to N-(1-pyrene)maleimide and by the labeling stoichiometries. However, agonist-induced desensitization, as based on the time-dependent inhibition of alpha-bungarotoxin binding upon preincubation with the agonist carbamylcholine, was unaffected by N-(1-pyrene)maleimide. Alkylation of the AChR by N-(1-pyrene)maleimide is pH-dependent with an apparent pKa of 7.5 and is unaffected by preincubation with carbamylcholine, alpha-bungarotoxin, tubocurarine, or decamethonium. Preincubation with a 25-fold molar excess of N-ethylmaleimide partially protects against N-(1-pyrene)maleimide, yet simultaneous incubation with an equimolar concentration does not protect. In contrast, simultaneous incubation with equimolar concentrations of phenylmaleimide or naphthylmaleimide inhibited N-(1-pyrene)maleimide alkylation by 52 and 67%, respectively. Each AChR subunit is labeled by N-(1-pyrene)maleimide. Prior alkylation with N-ethylmaleimide does not alter the labeling profile but lowers the amount of labeling of all subunits. Reductive methylation of membranes under conditions which dimethylate all or most protein amino groups does not inhibit alkylation by N-(1-pyrene)maleimide. The above results, as well as amino acid analysis of N-(1-pyrene)maleimide-alkylated receptor, indicate that a homologous class of cysteines, which reside in each subunit within the AChR domain embedded in the membrane, are involved in the reaction with N-(1-pyrene)maleimide.     

Activation and inactivation kinetics of Torpedo californica acetylcholine receptor in reconstituted membranes

By use of a quench-flow technique to measure tracer ion flux rates in a physiologically significant time domain, the kinetics of activation and inactivation of purified reconstituted acetylcholine receptor (AChR) were investigated. After solubilization in sodium cholate, purification by affinity chromatography, and reconstitution into soybean lipids, the AChR from Torpedo californica displayed a characteristically fast rate of ion influx measured with 86Rb+. At 4 degrees C 1 mM carbamoylcholine (Carb) stimulated a fast (t1/2 = 7 ms) first-order filling of vesicle internal volume that presented a 10(4)-fold stimulation of ion flux rate by Carb. The concentration dependence of activation was sigmoidal with a half-maximal value at 3 X 10(-4) M Carb. In the presence of Carb, the purified AChR also underwent a two-step inactivation (desensitization) process. Inactivation was measured by preincubating AChR with Carb for various times (milliseconds to minutes) and then measuring the 86Rb+ influx rate. The two inactivation processes were each characterized by a distinct maximum rate (5.3 and 0.10 s-1) and by a different dependence on Carb concentration. The slow phase of inactivation gave a half-maximal rate at 2.5 X 10(-4) M Carb, and the fast inactivation was half-maximal at 1.3 X 10(-3) M Carb. The concentration dependence curves for both inactivation processes were approximately hyperbolic. The results are discussed in terms of models that describe the relationship between ligand binding and the processes of channel activation and desensitization.     

Preparation of right-side-out, acetylcholine receptor enriched intact vesicles from Torpedo californica electroplaque membranes.

Intact vesicles enriched in acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica electroplaque membranes can be separated from collapsed or leaky vesicles and membrane sheets on sucrose density gradients. alpha-Bungarotoxin binding in intact vesicles reveals that approximately 95% of the acetylcholine receptor containing vesicles are formed outside-out (with the synaptic membrane face exposed on the vesicle exterior). The binding data also indicated that only 5% or less of the sites for alpha-bungarotoxin binding to synaptic membranes are located on the interior, cytoplasmic face. Intact vesicles are stable to gentle pelleting and resuspension but are easily osmotically shocked. The vesicles are impermeable to sucrose and Ficoll, but glycerol readily transverses to membrane barrier. Intact vesicles provide a sealed, oriented membrane preparation for studies of vectorial acetylcholine receptor mediated processes.     

Channel properties of the purified acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica reconstituted in planar lipid bilayer membranes

The electrophysiological properties of the cation channel of the purified nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) reconstituted in planar lipid bilayers were characterized. Single-channel currents were activated by acetylcholine, carbamylcholine and suberyldicholine. The single channel conductance (28 pS in 0.3 M NaCl) was ohmic and independent of the agonist. Single channel currents increased with Na+ concentration to a maximum conductance of 95 pS and showed a half-saturation point of 395 mM. The apparent ion selectivity sequence, derived from single-channel current recordings, is: NH+4 greater than Cs+ greater than Rb+ greater than or equal to Na+ Cl-, F-, SO2-(4). The distribution of channel open times was fit by a sum of two exponentials, reflecting the existence of at least two distinct open states. The time constants depend on the choice of agonist, being consistently longer for suberyldicholine than for carbamylcholine. Similar channel properties were recorded in bilayers formed from monolayers at the tip of patch pipets . Single-channel currents occur in paroxysms of channel activity followed by quiescent periods. This pattern is more pronounced as the agonist concentration increases, and is reflected in histograms of channel-opening frequencies. Computer simulations with a three-state model, consisting of two closed (unliganded and liganded) and one open state, do not resemble the recorded pattern of channel activity, especially at high agonist concentration. Inclusion of a desensitized liganded state reproduces the qualitative features of channel recordings. The occurrence of paroxysms of channel activity thus seems to result from the transit of AChR through its active conformation, from which it can open several times before desensitizing.     

Structural studies of a membrane-bound acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica

We investigated the differential repair of DNA lesions induced by bifunctional mitomycin C, monofunctional decarbamoyl mitomycin C and ultraviolet irradiation in normal human, Xeroderma pigmentosum and Fanconi's anemia cells using assays for the survival of clone-forming ability, alkaline sucrose sedimentation and hydroxyapatite chromatography of DNA. Four FA cell lines exhibited about 5 to 15 times higher sensitivity to MC killing, despite normal resistance to u.v. and DMC, than did normal human cells. The XP cells, however, were highly sensitive to u.v. and DMC killings due to their deficiency in excision repair, but the cells unexpectedly had an almost normal capacity for surviving MC and repairing the MC interstrand cross-links.In experiments to determine the sedimentation velocity of the DNA in alkaline sucrose gradients, normal and XP cells showed evidence for single-strand cutting following MC treatment. The sedimentation velocity of the DNA covalently cross-linked by MC in an FA strain was 2.5 times faster than that of the untreated control, and remained unaltered during post-incubation due to the lack of half-excision⁴ of cross-links. However, FA cells, but not XP cells, had the normal ability to incise DNA with the DMC monoadducts. Hydroxyapatite chromatography revealed the reversibly bihelical property of MC cross-linked DNA after denaturation. Normal and XP cells lost such reversibility during post-MC incubation as the result of cross-link removal with first-order kinetics (half-life = 2 h). The three FA lines studied exhibited two- to eightfold reduced rates of cross-link removal than normal and XP cells, indicating a difference in the repair deficiency of the FA strain. Thus we have been led to conclude that FA cells may have different levels of deficiency in half-excision repair of interstrand cross-links induced by MC, despite having normal mechanisms for repair of u.v.-induced pyrimidine dimers and DMC monoadducts, and vice versa in XP cells.     

Reaction of quinacrine mustard with the acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica

Amines with local anesthetic activity are typically also noncompetitive inhibitors of the agonist-induced increase in cation permeability mediated by the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Quinacrine is such an agent, and we have synthesized tritiated quinacrine mustard, a derivative capable of reacting with nucleophiles. Quinacrine mustard was reacted with receptor-rich membrane from torpedo electric tissue, excess reagent was removed by partition into liposomes, and the modified receptor was extracted and reconstituted with exogenous phospholipid. After reaction of the native membrane with 10 microM quinacrine mustard for 5 min, binding of cobratoxin to the acetylcholine binding sites is inhibited 15%; in contrast, receptor-mediated 86Rb uptake in the reconstituted vesicles is inhibited 70%. When the reaction with quinacrine mustard is carried out in the presence of 10 microM carbamylcholine or 10 microM d-tubocurarine, there is no block of the acetylcholine binding sites; nevertheless, the inhibition of Rb uptake is greater than that resulting from reaction in the absence of acetylcholine binding site ligands. Conversely, when the reaction is carried out in the presence of either 100 microM quinacrine or 100 microM proadifen (also a potent noncompetitive inhibitor), either with or without carbamylcholine or d-tubocurarine, the inhibition of 86Rb uptake is about 70% smaller. Under the same conditions that we used in the functional studies, quinacrine mustard reacts with the four types of chains that constitute the receptor complex, alpha 2 beta gamma delta. The presence of the acetylcholine binding site ligands, however, results in increased reaction with the alpha and beta chains, while the presence of the noncompetitive inhibitors, with or without the acetylcholine binding site ligands, results in decreased reaction with the alpha and beta chains. We conclude that the alpha and beta chains contribute to one or more functionally significant binding sites for noncompetitively inhibiting amines.     

Disulfide bond cross-linked dimer in acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica

Acetylcholine receptor from $\text{Torpedo californica}$ electric tissue occurs in membrane, and is purified, as a mixture of monomer and dimer. Dimer is cross-linked by disulfide bonds involving one of the four polypeptide components of receptor, namely the one of apparent molecular weight of 64,000.     

Immunospecific identification and three-dimensional structure of a membrane-bound acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica.

Antibodies, raised against affinity column-purified acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica, were used as a basis for immunospecific identification of the receptor in membrane fragments. Rabbit and goat anti-receptor antibodies were coupled directly or indirectly via goat anti-rabbit antibody to colloidal gold spheres or to ferritin. The labeled membranes were visualized by negative stain electron microscopy, and show that the receptor corresponds to the 85 Å diameter rosette seen in membranes derived from electroplaques.Electron micrographs of immunospecifically labeled receptor, in the plane perpendicular to the membrane surface, confirm and extend our previous conclusions based on X-ray diffraction analysis, that the molecule extends above the extracellular membrane surface by approximately 55 Å, and little on the cytoplasmic side. Calculated molecular volumes based on X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy indicate that the membrane receptor has a molecular weight in the range of 250,000 to 310,000, a range consistent with current estimates of detergent-solubilized monomer molecular weight.     

Site-selective agonist binding to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica

Fluorescent energy transfer measurements of dansyl-C6-choline binding to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) from Torpedo californica were used to determine binding characteristics of the alpha gamma and alpha delta binding sites. Equilibrium binding measurements show that the alpha gamma site has a lower fluorescence than the alpha delta site; the emission difference is due to differences in the intrinsic fluorescence of the bound fluorophores rather than differences in energy transfer at the two sites. Stopped-flow fluorescence kinetics showed that dissociation of dansyl-C6-choline from the AChR in the desensitized conformation occurs 5-10-fold faster from the alpha gamma site than from the alpha delta site. The dissociation rates are robust for distinct protein preparations, in the presence of noncompetitive antagonists, and over a broad range of ionic strengths. Equilibrium fluorescent binding measurements show that dansyl-C6-choline binds with higher affinity to the alpha delta site (K = 3 nM) than to the alpha gamma site (K = 9 nM) when the AChR is desensitized. Similar affinity differences were observed for acetylcholine itself. The distinct dissociation rates permit the extent of desensitization to be measured at each site during the time course of binding. This sequential mixing method of measuring the desensitized state population at each agonist site can be applied to study the mechanism of AChR activation and subsequent desensitization in detail.     

Active acetylcholine receptor fragment obtained by tryptic digestion of acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica.

Tryptic digestion of acetylcholine receptor (AChR) from Torpedo californica did not change the pharmacological specificity and the pathological myasthenic acitivity of the receptor molecule. The product obtained after tryptic digestion was repurified by affinity chromatography on a toxin-Sepharose resin and was designated T-AChR. T-AChR has a sedimentation coefficient of 8.0S and in SDS acrylamide gel electrophoresis shows one major band with a molecular weight of 27,000. Immunological studies reveal that T-AChR binds to anti-AChR antibodies directed only against conformational antigenic determinants.     

A differential scanning calorimetry study of acetylcholine receptor-rich membranes from Torpedo californica

Various acetylcholine receptor-rich membrane preparations from Torpedo californica electroplax tissue were examined using the techniques of differential scanning calorimetry coupled with gel electrophoretic analysis of heat-denaturing material and functional assays following passage through discrete transitions. In unfractionated membranes, four irreversible calorimetric transitions were observed, one of which (Td = 59 degrees C) could be assigned to a complete loss of acetylcholine receptor function. A second lower temperature transition apparently corresponds to loss of certain peripheral membrane proteins including the Mr = 43,000 polypeptide and the acetylcholinesterase activity. Membrane preparations highly enriched in acetylcholine receptor polypeptides contained a major transition at 59 degrees C which could be shown to be sensitive to the presence of added ligands of the acetylcholine receptor, supporting its assignment to structural alterations of the receptor protein or its arrangement in the membrane.     

Creatine kinase isoenzymes in Torpedo californica: absence of the major brain isoenzyme from nicotinic acetylcholine receptor membranes

Creatine kinase, actin, and nu 1 are three proteins of Mr 43 000 associated with membranes from electric organ highly enriched in nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. High levels of creatine kinase are required to maintain adequate ATP levels, while actin may play a role in maintaining the synaptic cytoskeleton. Previous investigations have prompted the conclusion that postsynaptic specializations at the receptor-enriched membrane domains in electroplax contain the brain form of creatine kinase rather than the form of creatine kinase predominantly found in muscle. We have examined this conclusion by purifying Torpedo brain creatine kinase to virtual homogeneity in order to examine its immunochemical, molecular, and electrophoretic properties. On the basis of immunological cross-reactivity and isozyme analysis, the receptor-associated creatine kinase is identified to be of the muscle type. When the molecular characteristics of Torpedo brain and muscle creatine kinase are compared, the brain enzyme is positioned at a more basic pH during chromatofocusing and on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (pI = 7.5-7.9). Furthermore, electrophoretic mobilities of the brain and muscle forms of creatine kinase differ in sodium dodecyl sulfate electrophoresis: the brain isozyme of creatine kinase has lower apparent molecular weight (Mr 41 000) when compared with the muscle enzyme (Mr 43 000). On the basis of the results of our current investigations, the hypothesis that the brain isozyme of creatine kinase is a component of the postsynaptic specializations of the Torpedo californica electroplax must be abandoned. Recent sequence data have established close homology between Torpedo and mammalian muscle creatine kinases. On the basis of electrophoretic criteria, our results indicate that a lower degree of homology exists between the brain isozymes.     

Thiol-group modification of Torpedo californica acetylcholine receptor: subunit localization and effects on function

The effects of thiol-group modifications on acetylcholine receptor (ACHR) function were measured with purified ACHR reconstituted into asolectin vesicles. N-Phenylmaleimide (NPM) was used to modify sulfhydryl groups on ACHR in the absence of any prior reduction of dithiothreitol, so that only the functional relevance of free sulfhydryls was examined. Modification by NPM led to the inhibition of ion-channel activity without a detectable effect on ligand binding. The ion flux inhibition by NPM primarily affected channel activation, since the initial rates of activation were decreased over a wide range of carbamylcholine concentrations. The [3H]NPM subunit labeling pattern of ACHR (a multisubunit membrane protein with alpha 2 beta gamma delta stoichiometry) revealed that there was preferential labeling of the gamma subunit. At high NPM concentrations, the number of sulfhydryl groups on the gamma subunit that could be modified with NPM was approximately two. Detergent was required during labeling for functionally relevant thiol-group modifications, and most of the label was protected from protease digestion in the reconstituted membranes. These results are consistent with the presence of the NPM modification in a bilayer and/or cytoplasmic domain.     

Ligand-induced conformation changes in Torpedo californica membrane-bound acetylcholine receptor

A time-dependent increase in ligand affinity has been studied in cholinergic ligand binding to Torpedocalifornica acetylcholine receptor by inhibition of the kinetics of of [125I]-alpha-bungarotoxin-receptor complex formation. The conversion of the acetylcholine receptor from low to high affinity form was induced by both agonists and antagonists of acetylcholine and was reversible upon removal of the ligand. The slow ligand induced affinity change in vitro resembled electrophysiological desensitization observed at the neuromuscular junction and described by a two-state model (Katz, B., & Thesleff, S. (1957) J. Physiol. 138, 63). A quantitative treatment of the rate and equilibrium constants determined for binding of the agonist carbamoylcholine to membrane bound acetylcholine receptor indicated that the two-state model is not compatible with the in vitro results.