The carbohydrate moiety of aminopeptidase N of rabbit intestinal brush-border membrane

Endoglycosidase F was used to eliminate the N-linked complex glycans from intestinal aminopeptidase N. The glycans which were probably O-linked remaining after the endoglycosidase F treatment exhibited the human blood group A and H determinants expressed in enzymes from A+ or A- rabbits, respectively. The molecular mass estimation of the two types of glycans by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the sugar composition of aminopeptidase from A+ and A- rabbits strongly suggested the presence of eight N-linked complex glycans and two O-linked oligosaccharides bearing the human group antigenicity.     

N-linked neutral sugar chains of aminopeptidase N purified from rat small intestinal brush-border membrane.

Neutral oligosaccharides, which accounted for 74% of the total N-linked sugar chains released by hydrazinolysis of rat small intestinal aminopeptidase N, were investigated on a structural basis. They are mainly composed of complex-type sugar chains with tri- and tetraantennary structures, and small amounts of high mannose type sugar chains (7% of the total neutral sugar chains) are also included. The unique feature of the complex-type sugar chains is the most of them contain terminal N-acetylglucosamine residues and blood group H antigenic determinants in their outer chain moieties, and bisecting N-acetylglucosamine residues in their trimannosyl cores. Both the type 1H and type 2H determinants are found, but the former is mainly expressed at the distal portions of the outer chain moieties of the oligosaccharides.     

Inactivation of intestinal brush-border enzymes by gossypol

Gossypol, a pigment found in cottonseed that has recently been shown to have antifertility properties, inhibited the activity of 3 intestinal brush border enzymes in a concentration-dependent manner. Suspensions of rat intestinal mucosa were incubated with various concentrations of gossypol for 45 minutes and then washed. At a concentration of 6 mg per gm mucosa, gossypol inhibited the activities of alkaline phosphatase, maltase, and sucrase by 57, 73, and 77%, respectively. Gossypol is a bifunctional agent, capable of cross-linking amino acid side chains, and its action on brush-border enzymes may be due to this mechanism. Recent investigations have demonstrated that rats fed a diet of 10-15 mg of gossypol/day/kg of body weight exhibit reduced fertility. This study suggests that a partial inhibition of brush-border enzymes may occur at doses used to cause infertility. Such a side effect should be considered in studies and treatments utilizing a gossypol diet.     

Identification of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein in intestinal brush-border membrane

Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is a heterodimeric complex consisting of a unique large 97-kDa protein and the multifunctional 58-kDa protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). It plays an essential role in the assembly of lipoproteins by shuttling lipids between phospholipid membranes. Based on cell fractionation, early studies have suggested the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as the exclusive site of MTP. Focusing on the plasma membrane in this study, our attempts with immunoelectron microscopy and specific antibodies surprisingly revealed that labeling was not exclusively confined to the microsomes of rat absorptive cells. Immunogold labeling was also detected over the microvillus membrane of enterocytes. Western blot analysis and biochemical activity measurement confirmed MTP protein expression in brush-border membrane vesicles (BBMV) isolated from the intestinal epithelial cells of various species. Furthermore, MTP was coexpressed in microvilli membrane with PDI that is crucial to maintain the structure and activity of the MTP complex. The treatment of Caco-2 cells with nocodazole and colchicine blocked the appearance of MTP in the apical membrane. Similarly, the addition of BMS-197636, a known inhibitor of MTP transfer activity, suppressed the latter. In conclusion, the present studies suggest that MTP is present in the brush-border membrane of the enterocyte. Understanding the possible physiological role of MTP in this location may reveal additional functions.     

Role and environment of the conserved Lys27 of snake curaremimetic toxins as probed by chemical modifications, site-directed mutagenesis and photolabelling experiments.

The positive charge of Lys27 was suppressed by chemical means in two short-chain curaremimetic toxins, namely erabutoxin a (Ea) from Laticauda semifasciata and toxin alpha from Naja nigricollis. This modification leads to a decrease in the binding affinity of the toxins for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which range 6-15-fold, as judged from both the data reported here and those previously described in the literature. A negatively charged glutamate residue has been introduced at position 27 of erabutoxin a by site-directed mutagenesis. This change provokes a 120-fold decrease in the affinity, which reflects a major alteration of toxin-receptor cognate events. Using toxin-alpha derivative harbouring a photoactive group at Lys27, we probed the toxin local environment in a receptor-bound state by photocoupling experiments. The delta chain was the predominant coupling target, in contrast to previous observations indicating that a photoactive probe on Lys47 predominantly labelled the alpha chain. The toxin derivative weakly labelled the alpha and gamma chains but not the beta chain. The toxin may therefore interact with subunits other than the alpha chain, at least in the vicinity of Lys27.     

Lipid asymmetry in rabbit small intestinal brush border membrane as probed by an intrinsic phospholipid exchange protein.

All classes of phospholipids present in brush border membrane are exchanged in a 1:1 ratio for egg phosphatidylcholine when brush border membrane vesicles from rabbit small intestine are incubated with small unilamellar vesicles of egg phosphatidylcholine. The exchange reaction exhibits biphasic kinetics similar to those of the hydrolysis of brush border membrane phospholipids by phospholipase A2 and sphingomyelinase C. In both reactions there is an initial fast phase followed by a markedly slower one. The phospholipid exchange appears to be catalyzed by intrinsic brush border membrane protein(s), while the digestion by phospholipases is mediated by externally added enzymes. From a comparison of the kinetics of phospholipid exchange and phospholipid hydrolysis, the following conclusions can be drawn: Both sets of experiments indicate the presence of two phospholipid pools differing in the rate of phospholipid exchange and hydrolysis. Except for sphingomyelin, the size of the two phospholipid pools derived from phospholipid exchange is in good agreement with that derived from phospholipid hydrolysis. This is the main finding of this work, and on the basis of this result the two lipid pools are tentatively assigned to phospholipid molecules located on the outer and inner layer of the brush border membrane. The slow rate of phospholipid exchange reflects the rate of transverse or flip-flop movement of phospholipids. The half-time of this motion is approximately 8 h for isoelectric (neutral) phospholipids such as phosphatidylethanolamine and approximately 80 h for negatively charged phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol. Isoelectric phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine) are preferentially located on the inner (cytoplasmic) side (to about 70%) while the negatively charged phospholipids are more evenly distributed: 55-60% are located on the inner side.     

Spermine uptake by rat intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles

The uptake of spermine by isolated rat intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles was studied. Uptake was biphasic, with an initial rapid uptake followed by a prolonged slower phase. Spermine uptake was not affected by a Na+ electrochemical gradient. The equilibrium uptake of spermine was considerably dependent upon the medium pH. At pH 7.5 the degree of uptake was higher than that at pH 6.5 and was inversely proportional to the extravesicular osmolarity with a relatively high binding, which was estimated by extraporation to infinite extravesicular osmolarity (zero intravesicular space), while the uptake at pH 6.5 was not altered under the various medium osmolarities. A kinetic analysis of the initial uptake rate of spermine at 37 degrees C gave a Km of 24.2 microM and Vmax of 206.1 pmol/mg protein per min. Furthermore, the uptake at 4 degrees C was nonlinear, providing evidence for saturability. These findings suggest that spermine was associated with intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles in two ways, by binding to the outside and inside of membrane vesicles. The interaction of spermine and the apical membrane can be a contributory factor in the accumulation of this polyamine in the intestine of the intact animal.     

Relation between protein stability, evolution and structure, as probed by carboxylic acid mutations

Native proteins are marginally stable. Low thermodynamic stability may actually be advantageous, although the accumulation of neutral, destabilizing mutations may have also contributed to it. In any case, once marginal stability has been reached, it appears plausible that mutations at non-constrained positions become fixed in the course of evolution (due to random drift) with frequencies that roughly reflect the mutation effects on stability ("pseudo-equilibrium hypothesis"). We have found that all glutamate-->aspartate mutations in wild-type Escherichia coli thioredoxin are destabilizing, as well as most of the aspartate-->glutamate mutations. Furthermore, the effect of these mutations on thioredoxin thermodynamic stability shows a robust correlation with the frequencies of occurrence of the involved residues in several-hundred sequence alignments derived from a BLAST search. These results provide direct and quantitative experimental evidence for the pseudo-equilibrium hypothesis and should have general consequences for the interpretation of mutation effects on protein stability, as they suggest that residue environments in proteins may be optimized for stabilizing interactions to a remarkable degree of specificity. We also provide evidence that such stabilizing interactions may be detected in sequence alignments, and briefly discuss the implications of this possibility for the derivation of structural information (on native and denatured states) from comparative sequence analyses.     

Transport of carnosine by mouse intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles

The characteristics of carnosine (β-alanyl-l-histidine) transport have been studied using purified brush-border membrane vesicles from mouse small intestine. Uptake curves did not exhibit any overshoot phenomena, and were similar under Na⁺, K⁺ or choline⁺ gradient conditions (extravesicular > intravesicular). However, uptake of histidine showed an overshoot phenomenon in the presence of a Na⁺-gradient. There was no detectable hydrolysis of carnosine during 15 min of incubation with membrane vesicles under conditions used for transport experiments. Analysis of intravesicular contents further showed the complete absence of the constituent free amino acids of carnosine, and indicates that intact carnosine is transported. Studies on the effect of concentration on peptide uptake revealed that transport occurred by a saturable process conforming to Michaelis-Menten kinetics with a K_m of 9.6 ± 1.4 mM and a V_max of 2.9 ± 0.2 nmol / mg protein per 0.4 min. Uptake of carnosine was inhibited by both di- and tripeptides with a maximum inhibition of 68% by glycyl-l-leucyltyrosine. These results clearly demonstrate that carnosine is transported intact by a carrier-mediated, Na⁺-independent process.     

Identification and characterization of the major stilbene-disulphonate- and concanavalin A-binding protein of the porcine renal brush-border membrane as aminopeptidase N.

A 130 kDa glycoprotein (GP 130) was purified from porcine renal brush-border membranes by affinity chromatography using immobilized 4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulphonate (SITS)- and concanavalin A-Sepharose. GP 130 was the major concanavalin A-binding protein in porcine renal brush-border membranes and also bound Ricinus communis (castor-bean) and wheat-germ agglutinins. Endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase F reduced the molecular mass of GP 130 by 20 kDa as determined by SDS/PAGE, whereas endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H reduced the molecular mass by 5 kDa, showing that GP 130 contained both complex and high-mannose carbohydrate structures. Western-blot analyses using an antibody raised against GP 130 showed that it was localized to the brush-border membrane fraction and was present in a membrane fraction of the pig kidney cell line LLC-PK1. The N-terminal sequence and amino acid composition of GP 130 showed that GP 130 is similar to rat kidney zinc peptidase and human intestinal aminopeptidase N. GP 130 had aminopeptidase N enzymic activity and was inhibited by bestatin (Ki = 36 microM), 1,10-phenanthroline (Ki 30 microM), Zn2+ (Ki 26 microM), Cu2+ (Ki 260 microM), pre-incubation with EDTA and by a polyclonal antibody against GP 130. Bicarbonate and iodide blocked the binding of GP 130 to the SITS-affinity resin, showing that GP 130 has an anion-binding site. Neither these anions nor stilbene disulphonates affected the aminopeptidase N activity of GP 130.     

Transport of carnosine by mouse intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles

The characteristics of carnosine (beta-alanyl-L-histidine) transport have been studied using purified brush-border membrane vesicles from mouse small intestine. Uptake curves did not exhibit any overshoot phenomena, and were similar under Na+, K+ or choline+ gradient conditions (extravesicular greater than intravesicular). However, uptake of histidine showed an overshoot phenomenon in the presence of a Na+-gradient. There was no detectable hydrolysis of carnosine during 15 min of incubation with membrane vesicles under conditions used for transport experiments. Analysis of intravesicular contents further showed the complete absence of the constituent free amino acids of carnosine, and indicates that intact carnosine is transported. Studies on the effect of concentration on peptide uptake revealed that transport occurred by a saturable process conforming to Michaelis-Menten kinetics with a Km of 9.6 +/- 1.4 mM and a Vmax of 2.9 +/- 0.2 nmol/mg protein per 0.4 min. Uptake of carnosine was inhibited by both di- and tripeptides with a maximum inhibition of 68% by glycyl-L-leucyltyrosine. These results clearly demonstrate that carnosine is transported intact by a carrier-mediated, Na+-independent process.     

Structural determinants required for apical sorting of an intestinal brush-border membrane protein

The distinct protein and lipid constituents of the apical and basolateral membranes in polarized cells are sorted by specific signals. O-Glycosylation of a highly polarized intestinal brush-border protein sucrase isomaltase is implicated in its apical sorting through interaction with sphingolipid-cholesterol microdomains. We characterized the structural determinants required for this mechanism by focusing on two major domains in pro-SI, the membrane anchor and the Ser/Thr-rich stalk domain. Deletion mutants lacking either domain, pro-SI(DeltaST) (stalk-free) and pro-SI(DeltaMA) (membrane anchor-free), were constructed and expressed in polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. In the absence of the membrane anchoring domain, pro-SI(DeltaMA) does not associate with lipid rafts and the mutant is randomly delivered to both membranes. Therefore, the O-glycosylated stalk region is not sufficient per se for the high fidelity of apical sorting of pro-SI. Pro-SI(DeltaST) does not associate either with lipid rafts and its targeting behavior is similar to that of pro-SI(DeltaMA). Only wild type pro-SI containing both determinants, the stalk region and membrane anchor, associates with lipid microdomains and is targeted correctly to the apical membrane. However, not all sequences in the stalk region are required for apical sorting. Only O-glycosylation of a stretch of 12 amino acids (Ala(37)-Pro(48)) juxtapose the membrane anchor is required in conjunction with the membrane anchoring domain for correct targeting of pro-SI to the apical membrane. Other O-glycosylated domains within the stalk (Ala(49)-Pro(57)) are not sufficient for apical sorting. We conclude that the recognition signal for apical sorting of pro-SI comprises O-glycosylation of the Ala(37)-Pro(48) stretch and requires the presence of the membrane anchoring domain.     

Cholesterol-transfer protein located in the intestinal brush-border membrane. Partial purification and characterization

Cholesterol absorption by small intestinal brush border membrane vesicles from taurocholate mixed micelles is a second-order reaction. From a comparison of reaction rates and order before and after proteinase K treatment of brush-border membrane vesicles, it is concluded that cholesterol absorption is protein-mediated. It is shown that the desorption of cholesterol from taurocholate mixed micelles is by a factor of about 10(4) faster than that from egg phosphatidylcholine bilayers. When brush border membrane vesicles are stored at room temperature, intrinsic proteinases are activated and proteins are liberated from the brush border membrane. These proteins collected in the supernatant catalyze cholesterol and phosphatidylcholine exchange between two populations of small unilamellar phospholipid vesicles. One of the active proteins present in the supernatant is purified by a two-step procedure involving gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 SF and affinity chromatography on a Nucleosil-phosphatidylcholine column. The protein thus obtained is pure by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate. It has an apparent molecular weight of slightly less than 14,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and a value of 11,500 determined by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 SF.     

Increase of the molecular rigidity of the protein conformation in the intestinal brush-border membranes by lipid peroxidation

The effect of lipid peroxidation on the protein conformation of the porcine intestinal brush-border membranes was studied using a fluorogenic thiol reagent, N-[7-dimethylamino-4-methylcoumarinyl]maleimide (DACM). By a kinetic analysis of the reaction of the membranes with DACM, it was shown that the reaction rate of the SH groups (SHf) of the membrane proteins, whose reaction with the dye is very fast, decreases in proportion to the extent of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance formation. The difference in the rate of the reaction of the SHf groups for DACM between the control and peroxidized membranes completely disappeared after denaturation of the proteins by treatment with guanidine hydrochloride. The reaction of DACM with the SHf groups of the control membranes accelerated when the temperature was increased with an apparent transition temperature between 25 degrees C and 30 degrees C. On the other hand, no transition was observed in the peroxidized membranes over the temperature range 20-43 degrees C. These results suggest that the conformation around the SHf groups of the proteins in the peroxidized membranes is apparently different from that in the control membranes. A modification of the conformation around the SH groups in the membrane proteins associated with lipid peroxidation was further demonstrated by finding that the quenching efficiency of the fluorescence of the DACM-labeled membranes by Tl+ was markedly decreased after lipid peroxidation. Based on these results, changes in the protein conformation of the porcine intestinal brush-border membranes by lipid peroxidation are discussed.     

Identification of Na+,Pi-binding protein in kidney and intestinal brush-border membranes.

An Na+, Pi-binding protein has been extracted from kidney and intestinal brush-border membranes with an organic solvent and has been purified by Kieselghur and Sephadex LH-60 chromatography. The molecular mass of this protein has been estimated to be about 155 kDa as determined by gel-filtration chromatography on Sepharose 2B. Under denaturing conditions, polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis revealed a monomer of molecular mass about 70 kDa. The protein has high specificity and high affinity for Pi [K0.5 (concentration at which half-maximal binding is observed) near 10 microM]. Na2+ binding also exhibits saturation behaviour, with a K0.5 near 7.5 mM. Pi binding is inhibited by known inhibitors of Pi transport in brush-border membrane vesicles. It appears that this protein could be involved in Na+/Pi co-transport across the renal and intestinal brush-border membranes.     

Nanomechanical properties of human prion protein amyloid as probed by force spectroscopy

Amyloids are associated with a number of protein misfolding disorders, including prion diseases. In this study, we used single-molecule force spectroscopy to characterize the nanomechanical properties and molecular structure of amyloid fibrils formed by human prion protein PrP90-231. Force-extension curves obtained by specific attachment of a gold-covered atomic force microscope tip to engineered Cys residues could be described by the worm-like chain model for entropic elasticity of a polymer chain, with the size of the N-terminal segment that could be stretched entropically depending on the tip attachment site. The data presented here provide direct information about the forces required to extract an individual monomer from the core of the PrP90-231 amyloid, and indicate that the β-sheet core of this amyloid starts at residue ∼164-169. The latter finding has important implications for the ongoing debate regarding the structure of PrP amyloid.     

Conformational relaxation of a low-temperature protein as probed by photochemical hole burning. Horseradish peroxidase.

For the first time, conformational relaxation processes have been measured in a small protein, mesoporphyrin-horseradish peroxidase via their influence on spectral diffusion broadening of holes burnt in the fluorescence excitation spectrum of free base mesoporphyrin. Holes were burnt in three 0----0 bands of different tautomeric forms of the chromophore at 1.5 and 4 K, and the spectral diffusion broadening was measured in temperature cycling experiments between 4 and 30 K. The inhomogeneous linewidth for the tautomeric 0----0 bands was estimated to be 60-70 cm-1; the hole width was found narrow, being in the order of 350 MHz (10(-2) cm-1) at 1.5 K what allowed for an extremely sensitive detection of the conformational changes. Though proteins have many features in common with glasses, the spectral diffusion broadening of photochemical holes under temperature cycling conditions in mesoporphyrin horseradish peroxidase has a very different pattern as a function of temperature. Up to 12 K, the linewidth did not significantly change, then around 14 K; a steplike broadening was observed for all three tautomers, although to a different extent. The total magnitude of line broadening up to 30 K was large and also different for the tautomers. We argue that the difference between the behavior of this protein and that of glassy matrices originate from finite size effects; the protein may be characterized by a small number of TLS, and their distribution may bear discrete features.     

Membrane-potential-dependent uptake of tryptamine by rat intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles.

The effect of membrane potential on the uptake of tryptamine, an organic cation, by rat intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles was studied. In the presence of an outwardly directed H(+)-gradient, the initial uptake of tryptamine was stimulated remarkably and the overshoot phenomenon was observed. In contrast, the uptake was depressed by an inwardly-directed H(+)-gradient. The effect of H(+)-gradient on the uptake of tryptamine was maintained in the presence of FCCP, whereas it vanished when voltage-clamped vesicles were used. Moreover, the uptake of tryptamine was linearly augmented with increase of the valinomycin-induced inside-negative K+ diffusion potential. These results suggest that tryptamine is taken up into intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles depends upon the ionic diffusion potential. The effect of several indole derivatives and amine compounds on the uptake of tryptamine was also examined. The uptake of tryptamine was inhibited by all amine compounds used, but anionic and zwitterionic compounds had no effect, suggesting that these amines interact on brush-border membrane and cause an inhibitory effect.