The mitochondrial carnitine carrier: characterization of SH-groups relevant for its transport function.

The transport function of the purified and reconstituted carnitine carrier from rat liver mitochondria was correlated to modification of its SH-groups by various reagents. The exchange activity and the unidirectional transport, both catalyzed by the carnitine carrier, were effectively inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide and submicromolar concentrations of mercurial reagents, e.g., mersalyl and p-(chloromercuri)benzenesulfonate. When 1 microM HgCl2 or higher concentrations of the above mentioned mercurials were added, another transport mode of the carrier was induced. After this treatment, the reconstituted carnitine carrier catalyzed unidirectional substrate-efflux and -influx with significantly reduced substrate specificity. Control experiments in liposomes without carrier or with inactivated carrier protein proved the dependence of this transport activity on the presence of active carnitine carrier. The mercurial-induced uniport correlated with inhibition of the 'physiological' functions of the carrier, i.e., exchange and substrate specific unidirectional transport. The effect of consecutive additions of various reagents including N-ethylmaleimide, mercurials, Cu(2+)-phenanthroline and diamide on the transport function revealed the presence of at least two different classes of SH-groups. N-Ethylmaleimide blocked the carrier activity by binding to SH-groups of one of these classes. At least one of these SH-groups could be oxidized by the reagents forming S-S bridges. Besides binding to the class of SH-groups to which N-ethylmaleimide binds, mercurials also reacted with SH-groups of the other class. Modification of the latter led to the induction of the efflux-type of carrier activity characterized by loss of substrate specificity.     

Hexose transport properties of myoblasts isolated from a patient with suspected muscle carnitine deficiency

The human primary carnitine deficiency syndromes are potentially fatal disorders affecting children and adults. The molecular etiologies of these syndromes have not been fully determined. Muscle carnitine deficiency syndrome is characterized by mild to severe muscle weakness, lipid accumulation in muscle, and reduced muscle carnitine concentration. In the present investigation, the hexose transport properties of muscle cells isolated from a patient with suspected muscle carnitine deficiency (MCD) were examined. We have previously shown that myoblasts from normal human subjects possessed at least two hexose transport systems, the low (LAHT) and the high (HAHT) affinity hexose transport systems. Their preferred substrates were 3-O-methyl-D-glucose and 2-deoxyglucose (dGlc), respectively; HAHT, but not LAHT, was sensitive to inhibition by carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP). Here we show that the kinetic properties of HAHT in the MCD myoblasts differ significantly from those of normal myoblasts and that the rates of dGlc transport by MCD myoblasts are restored to normal by growth in 40 microM L-carnitine. We also demonstrate that the kinetic properties of LAHT are quite similar in both normal and MCD myoblasts. It can be inferred from these findings that HAHT and LAHT may be coded or regulated by different genes. Based on the finding that the dGlc transport system in L-carnitine grown cells is no longer sensitive to inhibition by CCCP, it is thought that L-carnitine may play a regulatory role in HAHT, viz., by maintaining the HAHT transporter in a functional state, even in energy-uncoupled cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Membrane transport of fatty acylcarnitine and free L-carnitine by rat liver microsomes.

Recent studies have suggested that parts of the hepatic activities of diacylglycerol acyltransferase and acyl cholesterol acyltransferase are expressed in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However the ER membrane is impermeable to the long-chain fatty acyl-CoA substrates of these enzymes. Liver microsomal vesicles that were shown to be at least 95% impermeable to palmitoyl-CoA were used to demonstrate the membrane transport of palmitoylcarnitine and free L-carnitine - processes that are necessary for an indirect route of provision of ER luminal fatty acyl-CoA through a luminal carnitine acyltransferase (CAT). Experimental conditions and precautions were established to permit measurement of the transport of [14C]palmitoylcarnitine into microsomes through the use of the luminal CAT and acyl-CoA:ethanol acyltransferase as a reporter system to detect formation of luminal [14C]palmitoyl-CoA. Rapid, unidirectional transport of free L-[3H]carnitine by microsomes was measured directly. This process, mediated either by a channel or a carrier, was inhibited by mersalyl but not by N-ethylmaleimide or sulfobetaine - properties that differentiate it from the mitochondrial inner membrane carnitine/acylcarnitine exchange carrier. These findings are relevant to the understanding of processes for the reassembly of triacylglycerols that lipidate very low density lipoprotein particles as part of a hepatic triacylglycerol lipolysis/re-esterification cycle.     

Calcium uptake and release by rat liver mitochondria in the presence of rat liver cytosol or the components of cytosol

Summary A study has been made of factors present in rat liver cytosol that might regulate the calcium content of mitochondria. A cytosol preparation containing all the components of molecular weight greater than 10,000 prevented uptake and caused early release of accumulated calcium. These effects were due to free long-chain fatty acids and their coenzyme A derivatives present in the cytosol, and these inhibitory effects were controlled by inclusion of Mg²⁺, carnitine, and adenosine triphosphate at physiological levels in the incubation medium. Palmitoyl carnitine was a good substrate for calcium uptake and did not cause release of calcium from mitochondria. A specific fatty acid-binding protein was found in cytosol which may be the intracellular transport protein for fatty acids.     

Crystal structure of carnitine acetyltransferase and implications for the catalytic mechanism and fatty acid transport

Carnitine acyltransferases have crucial roles in the transport of fatty acids for beta-oxidation. Dysregulation of these enzymes can lead to serious diseases in humans, and they are targets for therapeutic development against diabetes. We report the crystal structures of murine carnitine acetyltransferase (CRAT), alone and in complex with its substrate carnitine or CoA. The structure contains two domains. Surprisingly, these two domains share the same backbone fold, which is also similar to that of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase and dihydrolipoyl transacetylase. The active site is located at the interface between the two domains. Carnitine and CoA are bound in deep channels in the enzyme, on opposite sides of the catalytic His343 residue. The structural information provides a molecular basis for understanding the catalysis by carnitine acyltransferases and for designing their inhibitors. Specifically, our structural information suggests that the substrate carnitine may assist the catalysis by stabilizing the oxyanion in the reaction intermediate.     

Structural and biochemical studies of the substrate selectivity of carnitine acetyltransferase

Carnitine acyltransferases catalyze the exchange of acyl groups between coenzyme A (CoA) and carnitine. They have important roles in many cellular processes, especially the oxidation of long-chain fatty acids, and are attractive targets for drug discovery against diabetes and obesity. These enzymes are classified based on their substrate selectivity for short-chain, medium-chain, or long-chain fatty acids. Structural information on carnitine acetyltransferase suggests that residues Met-564 and Phe-565 may be important determinants of substrate selectivity with the side chain of Met-564 located in the putative binding pocket for acyl groups. Both residues are replaced by glycine in carnitine palmitoyltransferases. To assess the functional relevance of this structural observation, we have replaced these two residues with small amino acids by mutagenesis, characterized the substrate preference of the mutants, and determined the crystal structures of two of these mutants. Kinetic studies confirm that the M564G or M564A mutation is sufficient to increase the activity of the enzyme toward medium-chain substrates with hexanoyl-CoA being the preferred substrate for the M564G mutant. The crystal structures of the M564G mutant, both alone and in complex with carnitine, reveal a deep binding pocket that can accommodate the larger acyl group. We have determined the crystal structure of the F565A mutant in a ternary complex with both the carnitine and CoA substrates at a 1.8-A resolution. The F565A mutation has minor effects on the structure or the substrate preference of the enzyme.     

Continuous-culture study of the regulation of glucose and fructose transport in Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 6556.

Regulation of transport of D-glucose and D-fructose was studied in Kluyveromyces marxianus grown in continuous culture. Both substrates could be transported by at least two different transport systems, low-affinity transport and high-affinity proton-sugar symport. The low-affinity transporter, specific for both glucose and fructose, was constitutively present and was apparently not regulated by carbon catabolite repression. Regulation of the activity of the glucose- and fructose-specific proton symport systems appeared to proceed mainly through catabolite repression. Activation of symport did not need the presence of specific inductor molecules in the medium. Nevertheless, the capacities of the proton-sugar symporters varied in cells grown on a wide variety of carbon sources. The possibility that the control of proton symport activity is related to the presence of specific intracellular metabolites is discussed.     

Mutations in novel organic cation transporter (OCTN2), an organic cation/carnitine transporter, with differential effects on the organic cation transport function and the carnitine transport function

Novel organic cation transporter (OCTN2) is an organic cation/carnitine transporter, and two missense mutations, L352R and P478L, in OCTN2 have been identified as the cause for primary carnitine deficiency. In the present study, we assessed the influence of these two mutations on the carnitine transport function and the organic cation transport function of OCTN2. The L352R mutation resulted in a complete loss of both transport functions. In contrast, the P478L mutation resulted in a complete loss of only the carnitine transport function but significantly stimulated the organic cation transport function. Studies with human OCTN2/rat OCTN2 chimeric transporters indicated that the carnitine transport site and the organic cation transport site were not identical. Because carnitine transport is Na(+)-dependent whereas organic cation transport is Na(+)-independent, we investigated the possibility that the P478L mutation affected Na(+) binding. The Na(+) activation kinetics were found to be similar for the P478L mutant and wild type OCTN2. We then mutated nine different tyrosine residues located in or near transmembrane domains and assessed the transport function of these mutants. One of these mutations, Y211F, was found to have differential influence on the two transport activities of OCTN2 as did the P478L mutation. However, the Na(+) activation kinetics were not affected. These findings are of clinical relevance to patients with primary carnitine deficiency because whereas each and every mutation in these patients is expected to result in the loss of the carnitine transport function, all of these mutations may not interfere with the organic cation transport function.     

Cellular energy metabolism during fetal development. II. Fatty acid oxidation by the developing heart

In view of the importance of fatty acids as substrates for the mature heart, fatty acid oxidation by fetal and calf heart mitochondria has been investigated. Free fatty acids of 10 carbon units or less which exhibit carnitine-independent transport into mitochondria were effective substrates for oxidative phosphorylation in both fetal and calf heart mitochondria. Efficient oxidative phosphorylation with these substrates was dependent upon the presence of bovine serum albumin in the assay medium to reverse the uncoupling effects of the fatty acids. In the presence of bovine serum albumin, ADP/0 ratios were in the range of 3 when short-chain fatty acids and carnitine esters of short- and long-chain fatty acids were substrates. Compared with calf heart mitochondria, fetal heart mitochondria showed decreased carnitine-dependent oxidation of palmityl-CoA. However, the oxidation of palmitylcarnitine was identical in both. These data suggest that the formation of palmitylcarnitine is rate limiting for palmityl-CoA oxidation by the fetal heart mitochondria and that long-chain fatty acids are not readily oxidized by the fetal heart.     

In vivo and in vitro intervention with L-carnitine prevents abnormal energy metabolism in isolated diabetic rat heart: chemical and phosphorus-31 NMR evidence

The beneficial effects of in vivo injections (200 mg/kg, twice daily) or in vitro perfusion (5.0 mM) of L-carnitine on an intrinsic abnormality in energy metabolism was investigated in isolated, perfused diabetic rat heart. Hearts were aerobically perfused for 60 min with elevated fatty acid substrate to simulate diabetic conditions. Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed a temporal decline in myocardial ATP levels (to approx 82%) during perfusion of diabetic hearts, but not in control hearts. This reduction was prevented by prior treatment in vivo with L-carnitine or by providing L-carnitine acutely in the perfusion medium. Chemical analysis of tissue extracts indicated that L-carnitine injections were effective in replenishing the decrease in total myocardial carnitine content which was present in diabetic hearts and in preventing the accumulation of long chain fatty acyl CoA. Perfusion with L-carnitine also attenuated the elevation of long chain fatty acyl CoA in diabetic hearts. This study gives additional support to the hypothesis that decreases in ATP which occur in the isolated, perfused diabetic heart are correlated with a concomitant elevation in long chain fatty acyl CoA, a known inhibitor of adenine nucleotide translocase. In the presence of elevated exogenous fatty acids, a primary deficiency in the total myocardial carnitine pool would result in elevations in tissue concentrations of long chain fatty acyl CoA since carnitine is a required carrier for transport of fatty acids into mitochondria. Replenishment of the carnitine in vivo was shown to be sufficient to prevent subsequent alteration in long chain fatty acyl CoA and ATP in isolated perfused diabetic hearts despite the burden of elevated fatty acid substrates.     

Carnitine acyltransferase and acyl-coenzyme A hydrolase activities in human liver. Quantitative analysis of their subcellular localization.

The subcellular localizations of carnitine acyltransferase and acyl-CoA hydrolase activities with different chain-length substrates were quantitatively evaluated in human liver by fractionation of total homogenates in metrizamide density gradients and by differential centrifugation. Peroxisomes were found to contain 8-37% of the liver acyltransferase activity, the relative amount depending on the chain length of the substrate. The remaining activity was ascribed to mitochondria, except for carnitine octanoyltransferase, for which 25% of the activity was present in microsomal fractions. In contrast with rat liver, where the activity in peroxisomes is very low or absent, human liver peroxisomes contain about 20% of the carnitine palmitoyltransferase. Short-chain acyl-CoA hydrolase activity was found to be localized mainly in the mitochondrial and soluble compartments, whereas the long-chain activity was present in both microsomal fractions and the soluble compartment. Particle-bound acyl-CoA hydrolase activity for medium-chain substrates exhibited an intermediate distribution, in mitochondria and microsomal fractions, with 30-40% of the activity in the soluble fraction. No acyl-CoA hydrolase activity appears to be present in human liver peroxisomes.     

EmrE, a multidrug transporter from Escherichia coli, transports monovalent and divalent substrates with the same stoichiometry

Multidrug transporters recognize and transport substrates with apparently little common structural features. At times these substrates are neutral, negatively, or positively charged, and only limited information is available as to how these proteins deal with the energetic consequences of transport of substrates with different charges. Multidrug transporters and drug-specific efflux systems are responsible for clinically significant resistance to chemotherapeutic agents in pathogenic bacteria, fungi, parasites, and human cancer cells. Understanding how these efflux systems handle different substrates may also have practical implications in the development of strategies to overcome the resistance mechanisms mediated by these proteins. Here, we compare transport of monovalent and divalent substrates by EmrE, a multidrug transporter from Escherichia coli, in intact cells and in proteoliposomes reconstituted with the purified protein. The results demonstrated that whereas the transport of monovalent substrates involves charge movement (i.e. electrogenic), the transport of divalent substrate does not (i.e. electroneutral). Together with previous results, these findings suggest that an EmrE dimer exchanges two protons per substrate molecule during each transport cycle. In intact cells, under conditions where the only driving force is the electrical potential, EmrE confers resistance to monovalent substrates but not to divalent ones. In the presence of proton gradients, resistance to both types of substrates is detected. The finding that under some conditions EmrE does not remove certain types of drugs points out the importance of an in-depth understanding of mechanisms of action of multidrug transporters to devise strategies for coping with the problem of multidrug resistance.     

Defective intramitochondrial NADH oxidation in skin fibroblasts from an infant with fatal neonatal lacticacidemia.

A small-for-gestational-age female infant born at term developed severe lactic acidosis and died on day 13 of life. Two previous sibs had also died of overwhelming lactic acidosis in the neonatal period. The lactate-to-pyruvate and 3-hydroxybutyrate-to-acetoacetate ratios were elevated at 136 and 42 to one, respectively. The activities of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and pyruvate carboxylase in cultured skin fibroblasts were normal but a defect in respiration was indicated by the low rates of conversion of 1-[14C]pyruvate, glutamate, and lactate to 14CO2 in these cells. Skin fibroblast cultures also displayed an elevated lactate-to-pyruvate ratio (72:1) when incubated with glucose as substrate compared to control cell cultures (20:1). When mitochondrial preparations of skin fibroblasts (prepared by digitonin extraction) were tested for their ability to synthesize ATP from a variety of substrates, it was found that those of the patient made adequate amounts of ATP with either succinate or ascorbate/tetramethyl-phenylenediamine as substrate but not with the NAD-linked substrates pyruvate, isocitrate, and palmitoyl carnitine. We propose that this is indicative of a defect in the respiratory chain between NADH and coenzyme Q, for the first time demonstrable in cultured skin fibroblasts.     

Tissue specific depletion of L-carnitine in rat heart and skeletal muscle by D-carnitine

L-carnitine deficiency in heart and skeletal muscle was induced by intraperitoneal injection of D-carnitine into starved or fed rats. Carnitine levels in kidney were slightly lowered, but liver, brain and plasma were unaffected. L-carnitine deficient hearts were unable to maintain normal cardiac function when perfused in an isolated working heart apparatus with palmitate as the only perfused substrate. These findings indicate that tissue levels of carnitine in heart and skeletal muscle are maintained $\text{in vivo}$ by an exchange transport mechanism. It is postulated that the depletion of L-carnitine from these tissues occurs by an exchange of the D- and L-isomer across the cell membrane. The technique may be useful for estimating the levels of carnitine required for fatty acid oxidation and normal cardiac and skeletal muscle function; however, interpretation of such tests may be complicated by the inhibitory effects of the D-isomer upon carnitine transferase enzymes.     

The membrane valve: A consequence of asymmetrical inhibition of membrane carriers. I. Equilibrating transport systems

Facilitated membrane transport systems act as valves, or rectifiers, when the substrate affinities on the two sides of the membrane differ substantially, i.e. when the system is strongly asymmetric. The asymmetry may be intrinsic or imposed by a reversible competitive inhibitor acting on only one side of the membrane. Under non-equilibrium conditions such systems allow net movements of substrate to proceed faster, sometimes much faster, in one direction than the other, though the final equilibrium is unaffected. Obligatory exchange systems may also function as valves when inhibited unsymmetrically, permitting exchange to occur more rapidly with one distribution of substrates than with the reversed distribution. Here, unequal flux rates do not depend on unequal concentrations of the substrate on either side of the membrane, but may also occur with equal concentrations, provided the affinities of the two substrates differ.The kinetic theory leading to these conclusions is given here, and it is shown how individual parameters of a carrier system affect the efficiency, or tightness, of the valve. In addition, simple kinetic tests for the operation of a valve are outlined. Examples are cited of transport systems having inhibitor-binding sites on only one surface of the cell membrane, which could function normally as valves. Systems implicated are glucose transport in various cells, the ADP-ATP exchanger of mitochondria, the anion transporter of erythrocytes, and the Na⁺-K⁺ pump.     

Identification of opuC as a chill-activated and osmotically activated carnitine transporter in Listeria monocytogenes

The food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is notable for its ability to grow under osmotic stress and at low temperatures. It is known to accumulate the compatible solutes glycine betaine and carnitine from the medium in response to osmotic or chill stress, and this accumulation confers tolerance to these stresses. Two permeases that transport glycine betaine have been identified, both of which are activated by hyperosmotic stress and one of which is activated by low temperature. An osmotically activated transporter for carnitine, OpuC, has also been identified. We have isolated a Tn917-LTV3 insertional mutant that could not be rescued from hyperosmotic stress by exogenous carnitine. The mutant, LTS4a, grew indistinguishably from a control strain (DP-L1044) in the absence of stress or in the absence of carnitine, but DP-L1044 grew substantially faster under osmotic or chill stress in the presence of carnitine. LTS4a was found to be strongly impaired in KCl-activated as well as chill-activated carnitine transport. 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of perchloric acid extracts showed that accumulation of carnitine by LTS4a was negligible under all conditions tested. Direct sequencing of LTS4a genomic DNA with a primer based on Tn917-LTV3 yielded a 487-bp sequence, which allowed us to determine that the opuC operon had been interrupted by the transposon. It can be concluded that opuC encodes a carnitine transporter that can be activated by either hyperosmotic stress or chill and that the transport system plays a significant role in the tolerance of L. monocytogenes to both forms of environmental stress.     

Identification of OpuC as a Chill-Activated and Osmotically Activated Carnitine Transporter in Listeria monocytogenes

The food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is notable for its ability to grow under osmotic stress and at low temperatures. It is known to accumulate the compatible solutes glycine betaine and carnitine from the medium in response to osmotic or chill stress, and this accumulation confers tolerance to these stresses. Two permeases that transport glycine betaine have been identified, both of which are activated by hyperosmotic stress and one of which is activated by low temperature. An osmotically activated transporter for carnitine, OpuC, has also been identified. We have isolated a Tn917-LTV3 insertional mutant that could not be rescued from hyperosmotic stress by exogenous carnitine. The mutant, LTS4a, grew indistinguishably from a control strain (DP-L1044) in the absence of stress or in the absence of carnitine, but DP-L1044 grew substantially faster under osmotic or chill stress in the presence of carnitine. LTS4a was found to be strongly impaired in KCl-activated as well as chill-activated carnitine transport. ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of perchloric acid extracts showed that accumulation of carnitine by LTS4a was negligible under all conditions tested. Direct sequencing of LTS4a genomic DNA with a primer based on Tn917-LTV3 yielded a 487-bp sequence, which allowed us to determine that the opuC operon had been interrupted by the transposon. It can be concluded that opuC encodes a carnitine transporter that can be activated by either hyperosmotic stress or chill and that the transport system plays a significant role in the tolerance of L. monocytogenes to both forms of environmental stress.     

Quantitation of the effect of L-carnitine on the levels of acid-soluble short-chain acyl-CoA and CoASH in rat heart and liver mitochondria

The steady state levels of mitochondrial acyl-CoAs produced during the oxidation of pyruvate, alpha-ketoisovalerate, alpha-ketoisocaproate, and octanoate during state 3 and state 4 respiration by rat heart and liver mitochondria were determined. Addition of carnitine lowered the amounts of individual short-chain acyl-CoAs and increased CoASH in a manner that was both tissue- and substrate-dependent. The largest effects were on acetyl-CoA derived from pyruvate in heart mitochondria using either state 3 or state 4 oxidative conditions. Carnitine greatly reduced the amounts of propionyl-CoA derived from alpha-ketoisovalerate, while smaller effects were obtained on the branched-chain acyl-CoA levels, consistent with the latter acyl moieties being poorer substrates for carnitine acetyltransferase and also poorer substrates for the carnitine/acylcarnitine translocase. The levels of acetyl-CoA in heart and liver mitochondria oxidizing octanoate during state 3 respiration were lower than those obtained with pyruvate. The rate of acetylcarnitine efflux from heart mitochondria during state 3 (with pyruvate or octanoate as substrate, in the presence or absence of malate with 0.2 mM carnitine) shows a linear response to the acetyl-CoA/CoASH ratio generated in the absence of carnitine. This relationship is different for liver mitochondria. These data demonstrate that carnitine can modulate the aliphatic short-chain acyl-CoA/CoA ratio in heart and liver mitochondria and indicate that the degree of modulation varies with the aliphatic acyl moiety.     

Molecular and functional characterization of organic cation/carnitine transporter family in mice

Carnitine is essential for beta-oxidation of fatty acids, and a defect of cell membrane transport of carnitine leads to fatal systemic carnitine deficiency. We have already shown that a defect of the organic cation/carnitine transporter OCTN2 is a primary cause of systemic carnitine deficiency. In the present study, we further isolated and characterized new members of the OCTN family, OCTN1 and -3, in mice. All three members were expressed commonly in kidney, and OCTN1 and -2 were also expressed in various tissues, whereas OCTN3 was characterized by predominant expression in testis. When their cDNAs were transfected into HEK293 cells, the cells exhibited transport activity for carnitine and/or the organic cation tetraethylammonium (TEA). Carnitine transport by OCTN1 and OCTN2 was Na(+)-dependent, whereas that by OCTN3 was Na(+)-independent. TEA was transported by OCTN1 and OCTN2 but not by OCTN3. The relative uptake activity ratios of carnitine to TEA were 1.78, 11.3, and 746 for OCTN1, -2, and -3, respectively, suggesting high specificity of OCTN3 for carnitine and significantly lower carnitine transport activity of OCTN1. Thus, OCTN3 is unique in its limited tissue distribution and Na(+)-independent carnitine transport, whereas OCTN1 efficiently transported TEA with minimal expression of carnitine transport activity and may have a different role from other members of the OCTN family.