A new variant of glycogen storage disease type I probably due to a defect in the glucose-6-phosphate transport system.

The amino acid sequence of the respiratory protein, hemerythrin, from $\text{Phascolopsis}\text{gouldii}$ was reinvestigated in the region of residue 58. Sequenator analyses were performed on peptide 50–113, obtained by trypsin digestion of the intact protein, and on peptide 50–62, obtained by cyanogen bromide cleavage of peptide 50–113. In both peptides residue 58 was unambiguously identified as glutamic acid and residue 59 as glutamine. This corrects a previous mistake in the assignment of residue 58 and makes its proposed role as an iron ligand more plausible.     

The signature motif in human glucose-6-phosphate transporter is essential for microsomal transport of glucose-6-phosphate

Glycogen storage disease type Ib (GSD-Ib) is caused by a deficiency in the glucose-6-phosphate transporter (G6PT). Sequence alignments identify a signature motif shared by G6PT and a family of transporters of phosphorylated metabolites. Two null signature motif mutations have been identified in the G6PT gene of GSD-Ib patients. In this study, we characterize the activity of seven additional mutants within the motif. Five mutants lack microsomal G6P uptake activity and one retains residual activity, suggesting that in G6PT the signature motif is a functional element required for microsomal glucose-6-phosphate transport.     

Pentamidine activates T1 the hepatic microsomal glucose 6-phosphate transport protein of the glucose-6-phosphatase system.

The mechanism of activation of hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.9) in vitro by pentamidine has been investigated in both intact and fully disrupted microsomes. The major effect of pentamidine is a 4.7-fold reduction in the Km of glucose-6-phosphatase activity in intact diabetic rat liver microsomes. The site of action of pentamidine is T1 the hepatic microsomal glucose 6-phosphate transport protein. The activation of T1 by pentamidine may contribute to the disturbed blood glucose homeostasis seen in many patients after the administration of the drug pentamidine.     

Pentamidine activates T1 the hepatic microsomal glucose 6-phosphate transport protein of the glucose-6-phosphatase system

The mechanism of activation of hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.9) in vitro by pentamidine has been investigated in both intact and fully disrupted microsomes. The major effect of pentamidine is a 4.7-fold reduction in the K_m of glucose-6-phosphatase activity in intact diabetic rat liver microsomes. The site of action of pentamidine is T₁ the hepatic microsomal glucose 6-phosphate transport protein. The activation of T₁ by pentamidine may contribute to the disturbed blood glucose homeostasis see in many patients after administration of the drug pentamidine.     

Cytochemical model system for microsomal rat liver glucose-6-phosphate.

A method is described for the incorporation of a microsomal rat liver fraction into polyacrylamide films without significant loss of its glucose-6-phosphatase activity. The enzymatic activity was completely lost when the films were prepared with ammonium persulfate as initiator of the polymerization as previously described for alkaline phosphatase, but modification of this method showed that about 90% of the glucose-6-phosphatase activity could be retained. The enzyme in the films prepared with the new method was completely inhibited by alloxan, HgCl2, and preincubation in 0.05 M acetate buffer (pH 5.0) at 37 degrees C, as determined biochemically. Similar results were obtained for the enzyme in films determined histochemically according to the lead method of Wachstein and Meisel. In this respect the behavior of the incorporated enzyme is similar to that in suspension. Films fixed with 1.5% glutaraldehyde showed rapid inactivation of glucose-6-phosphatase. There was good correlation between the biochemical and histochemical activity determined after fixation. A method to embed polyacrylamide films in Epon for electron-microscopical investigation is also described. Dimethyl sulfoxide was used as the dehydrating agent instead of ethanol/acetone.     

A glucose-6-phosphate hydrolase, widely expressed outside the liver, can explain age-dependent resolution of hypoglycemia in glycogen storage disease type Ia

A fine control of the blood glucose level is essential to avoid hyper- or hypo-glycemic shocks associated with many metabolic disorders, including diabetes mellitus and type I glycogen storage disease. Between meals, the primary source of blood glucose is gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis. In the final step of both pathways, glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) is hydrolyzed to glucose by the glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) complex. Because G6Pase (renamed G6Pase-alpha) is primarily expressed only in the liver, kidney, and intestine, it has implied that most other tissues cannot contribute to interprandial blood glucose homeostasis. We demonstrate that a novel, widely expressed G6Pase-related protein, PAP2.8/UGRP, renamed here G6Pase-beta, is an acid-labile, vanadate-sensitive, endoplasmic reticulum-associated phosphohydrolase, like G6Pase-alpha. Both enzymes have the same active site structure, exhibit a similar Km toward G6P, but the Vmax of G6Pase-alpha is approximately 6-fold greater than that of G6Pase-beta. Most importantly, G6Pase-beta couples with the G6P transporter to form an active G6Pase complex that can hydrolyze G6P to glucose. Our findings challenge the current dogma that only liver, kidney, and intestine can contribute to blood glucose homeostasis and explain why type Ia glycogen storage disease patients, lacking a functional liver/kidney/intestine G6Pase complex, are still capable of endogenous glucose production.     

Homology modeling of the human microsomal glucose 6-phosphate transporter explains the mutations that cause the glycogen storage disease type Ib

Glycogen storage disease type Ib is caused by mutations in the glucose 6-phosphate transporter (G6PT) in the endoplasmic reticulum membrane in liver and kidney. Twenty-eight missense and two deletion mutations that cause the disease were previously shown to reduce or abolish the transporter's activity. However, the mechanisms by which these mutations impair transport remain unknown. On the basis of the recently determined crystal structure of its Escherichia coli homologue, the glycerol 3-phosphate transporter, we built a three-dimensional structural model of human G6PT by homology modeling. G6PT is proposed to consist of 12 transmembrane alpha-helices that are divided into N- and C-terminal domains, with the substrate-translocation pore located between the two domains and the substrate-binding site formed by R28 and K240 at the domain interface. The disease-causing mutations were found to occur at four types of positions: (I) in the substrate-translocation pore, (II) at the N-/C-terminal domain interface, (III) in the interior of the N- and C-terminal domains, and (IV) on the protein surface. Whereas class I mutations affect substrate binding directly, class II mutations, mostly involving changes in side chain size, charge, or both, hinder the conformational change required for substrate translocation. On the other hand, class III and class IV mutations, often introducing a charged residue into a helix bundle or at the protein-lipid interface, probably destabilize the protein. These results also suggest that G6PT operates by a similar antiport mechanism as its E. coli homologue, namely, the substrate binds at the N- and C-terminal domain interface and is then transported across the membrane via a rocker-switch type of movement of the two domains.     

Rapid kinetics of liver microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase. Evidence for tight-coupling between glucose-6-phosphate transport and phosphohydrolase activity.

Rapid kinetics of both glucose-6-P uptake and hydrolysis in fasted rat liver microsomes were investigated with a recently developed fast-sampling, rapid-filtration apparatus. Experiments were confronted with both the substrate transport and conformational models currently proposed for the glucose-6-phosphatase system. Accumulation in microsomes of 14C products from [U-14C]glucose-6-P followed biexponential kinetics. From the inside to outside product concentrations, it could be inferred that mostly glucose should accumulate inside the vesicles. While biexponential kinetics are compatible with the mathematical predictions of a simplified substrate transport model, the latter fails in explaining the "burst" in total glucose production over a similar time scale to that used for the uptake measurements. Since the initial rate of the burst phase in untreated microsomes exactly matched the steady-state rate of glucose production in detergent-treated vesicles, it can be definitely concluded that the substrate transport model does not describe adequately our results. While the conformational model accounts for both the burst of glucose production and the kinetics of glucose accumulation into the vesicles, it cannot explain the burst in 32Pi production from [32P]glucose-6-P measured under the same conditions. Since the amplitude of the observed bursts is not compatible with a presteady state in enzyme activity, we propose that a hysteretic transition best explains our results in both untreated and permeabilized microsomes, thus providing a new rationale to understand the molecular mechanism of the glucose-6-phosphatase system.     

Inactivation of the glucose 6-phosphate transporter causes glycogen storage disease type 1b

Glycogen storage disease type 1b (GSD-1b) is proposed to be caused by a deficiency in microsomal glucose 6-phosphate (G6P) transport, causing a loss of glucose-6-phosphatase activity and glucose homeostasis. However, for decades, this disorder has defied molecular characterization. In this study, we characterize the structural organization of the G6P transporter gene and identify mutations in the gene that segregate with the GSD-1b disorder. We report the functional characterization of the recombinant G6P transporter and demonstrate that mutations uncovered in GSD-1b patients disrupt G6P transport. Our results, for the first time, define a molecular basis for functional deficiency in GSD-1b and raise the possibility that the defective G6P transporter contributes to neutropenia and neutrophil/monocyte dysfunctions characteristic of GSD-1b patients.     

Type-1c glycogen storage disease is not caused by mutations in the glucose-6-phosphate transporter gene

Glycogen storage disease type 1 (GSD-1) is a group of autosomal recessive disorders caused by deficiencies in glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and the associated substrate/product transporters. Molecular genetic studies have demonstrated that GSD-1a and GSD-1b are caused by mutations in the G6Pase enzyme and a glucose-6-phosphate transporter (G6PT), respectively. While kinetic studies of G6Pase catalysis predict that the index GSD-1c patient is deficient in a pyrophosphate/phosphate transporter, the existence of a separate locus for GSD-1c remains unclear. We have previously shown that the G6Pase gene of the index GSD-1c patient is intact; we now show that the G6PT gene of this patient is normal, strongly suggesting the existence of a distinct GSD-1c locus.     

Glycogen storage disease type IB: a new model of genetic disorders involving the transport system of intracellular membrane

Our studies have revealed that the primary lesion of GSD type Ib exists in the G6P transport system in the microsomal membrane. Distinct evidence for the existence of a specific G6P transport system in microsomal membrane was obtained through these studies. This is the first example of a genetic disorder involving the transport system of an intracellular membrane. HHH syndrome (hyperornithinemia, hyperammonemia, and homocitrullinuria), in which the transport of ornithine to the mitochondria is presumed to be defective, may be another example belonging to this category of genetic disorders (18-20). A possibility exists that there are many other disorders due to defects in the membrane transport of intracellular organelles.     

Hysteretic behavior of the hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase system.

Carbamyl-P:glucose and PPi:glucose phosphotransferase, but not inorganic pyrophosphatase, activities of the hepatic microsomal glucose-6-phosphatase system demonstrate a time-dependent lag in product production with 1 mM phosphate substrate. Glucose-6-P phosphohydrolase shows a similar behavior with [glucose-6-P] less than or equal to 0.10 mM, but inorganic pyrophosphatase activity does not even at the 0.05 or 0.02 mM level. The hysteretic behavior is abolished when the structural integrity of the microsomes is destroyed by detergent treatment. Calculations indicate that an intramicrosomal glucose-6-P concentration of between 20 and 40 microM must be achieved, whether in response to exogenously added glucose-6-P or via intramicrosomal synthesis by carbamyl-P:glucose or PPi:glucose phosphotransferase activity, before the maximally active form of the enzyme system is achieved. It is suggested that translocase T1, the transport component of the glucose-6-phosphatase system specific for glucose-6-P, is the target for activation by these critical intramicrosomal concentrations of glucose-6-P.     

Evidence for glucose-6-phosphate transport in rat liver microsomes

The existence of glucose-6-phosphate transport across the liver microsomal membrane is still controversial. In this paper, we show that S3483, a chlorogenic acid derivative known to inhibit glucose-6-phosphatase in intact microsomes, caused the intravesicular accumulation of glucose-6-phosphate when the latter was produced by glucose-6-phosphatase from glucose and carbamoyl-phosphate. S3483 also inhibited the conversion of glucose-6-phosphate to 6-phosphogluconate occurring inside microsomes in the presence of electron acceptors (NADP or metyrapone). These data indicate that liver microsomal membranes contain a reversible glucose-6-phosphate transporter, which furnishes substrate not only to glucose-6-phosphatase, but also to hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.     

A novel type heterozygous mutation in the glucose-6-phosphatase gene in a Chinese patient with glycogen storage disease Ia

Mutations in the glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) gene are responsible for glycogen storage disease type Ia (GSD Ia). By genotype analysis of the affected pedigree, we identified a novel type mutation in a Chinese patient with GSD Ia. Mutation analysis was performed for the coding region of G6Pase gene using DNA sequencing and TaqMan gene expression assay was used to further confirm the novel mutation. The proband was compound heterozygous for c.311A > T/c.648G > T. Our report expands the spectrum of G6Pase gene mutation in China.