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X B Chang

Publications and source records attributed to X B Chang.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

cAMP-dependent protein kinase-mediated phosphorylation of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator residue Ser-753 and its role in channel activation.

Hormonal regulation of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) Cl- channel is largely mediated via cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). CFTR contains 10 dibasic consensus sites for potential PKA phosphorylation ((R/K) (R/K)X(S*/T*)). Previous studies (Chang, X.-B., Tabcharani, J. A., Hou, Y.-X., Jensen, T. J., Kartner, N., Alon, N., Hanrahan, J. W., and Riordan, J.R (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 11304-11311) showed that approximately 25% of the CFTR wild-type response to PKA activation remained upon inhibition of most detectable phosphorylation by in vitro mutagenesis of all 10 dibasic consensus sites (10SA CFTR). To identify potential additional sites responsible for the residual activity, large amounts of this mutant CFTR were phosphorylated with PKA using high specific activity [gamma-32P]ATP. Cyanogen bromide cleavage indicated that a large portion of the observed PKA phosphorylation occurred within a 5.8-kDa fragment of the R domain between residues 722-773. Removal of serines at potential PKA sites in this fragment showed that Ser-753 accounted for all of the gamma-32P labeling of the 5.8-kDa peptide. Replacement of Ser-753 with alanine reduced the level of residual CFTR activity by a further 40%, indicating that phosphorylation at this previously unidentified site contributes to the activation of 10SA CFTR.

Amino Acid Sequence

Mutation of potential phosphorylation sites in the recombinant R domain of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator has significant effects on domain conformation.

Mutation of potential cAMP dependent protein kinase sites in the R domain of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator has significant effects on protein function. Mutation of the potential phosphorylation sites from serine to alanine, to abolish the site, reduced sensitivity to activation, or to glutamic acid, to mimic phosphorylation, caused some constitutive activity. To explore the structural effects of these mutations, recombinant R domain peptides were studied: the wild type, a mutant with nine serine residues changed to alanine, and a mutant with eight serine residues changed to glutamic acid. As assessed by C.D. spectroscopy, the mutants have substantially different secondary structure than the wild type, in agreement with the predictive algorithm of Gascuel and Golmard. The results show that mutagenesis of residues alters the polypeptide structurally as well as preventing it from serving as a phosphorylation substrate. Hence, the functional consequences of the mutations may not be entirely due to effects on phosphorylation.

Amino Acid Sequence

Conformational maturation of CFTR but not its mutant counterpart (delta F508) occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum and requires ATP.

Metabolic labeling experiments followed by immunoprecipitation were performed to investigate the kinetics, location and inhibitor sensitivity of degradation of both wild-type (wt) and mutant (delta F508) cystic fibrosis conductance transmembrane regulator (CFTR). At the earliest stages of the biosynthetic process, both wt and delta F508 CFTR were found to be susceptible to degradation by endogenous proteases. Virtually all delta F508 CFTR and 45-80% of wt CFTR were rapidly degraded with a similar half-life (t1/2 approximately 0.5 h). The remaining wt CFTR attained a protease-resistant configuration regardless of whether traffic between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi was operational. Metabolic energy is required for the conformational transition, but not to maintain the stability of the protease-resistant wt CFTR. Intracellular degradation of delta F508 CFTR and of incompletely folded wt CFTR occurs in a non-lysosomal, pre-Golgi compartment, as indicated by the sensitivity of proteolysis to different inhibitors and temperature. Accordingly, products of the degradation of delta F508 CFTR could be detected by immunoblotting in isolated ER, but not in the Golgi. Together, these results suggest a dynamic equilibrium between two forms of wt CFTR in the ER: an incompletely folded, protease-sensitive form which is partially converted by an ATP-dependent process to a more mature form that is protease-resistant and capable of leaving the ER. The inability delta F508 CFTR to undergo such a transition renders it susceptible to complete and rapid degradation in a pre-Golgi compartment.

Adenosine Triphosphate

Phosphatase inhibitors activate normal and defective CFTR chloride channels.

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride channel is regulated by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation at multiple sites. Although activation by protein kinases has been studied in some detail, the dephosphorylation step has received little attention. This report examines the mechanisms responsible for the dephosphorylation and spontaneous deactivation ("rundown") of CFTR chloride channels excised from transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and human airway epithelial cells. We report that the alkaline phosphatase inhibitors bromotetramisole, 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, theophylline, and vanadate slow the rundown of CFTR channel activity in excised membrane patches and reduce dephosphorylation of CFTR protein in isolated membranes. It was also found that in unstimulated cells, CFTR channels can be activated by exposure to phosphatase inhibitors alone. Most importantly, exposure of mammalian cells to phosphatase inhibitors alone activates CFTR channels that have disease-causing mutations, provided the mutant channels are present in the plasma membrane (R117H, G551D, and delta F508 after cooling). These results suggest that CFTR dephosphorylation is dynamic and that membrane-associated phosphatase activity may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cystic fibrosis.

1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine

Mapping of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator membrane topology by glycosylation site insertion.

Technical difficulties in obtaining three-dimensional structures of intrinsic membrane proteins continues to limit understanding of their function. However, considerable insight can be gained from their two-dimensional topological arrangement in the lipid bilayer. Efficient molecular genetic approaches are available to discern the topology of prokaryotic but not of eukaryotic membrane proteins. The absolute asymmetry of the sidedness of their N-glycosylation was employed here to develop such a method using the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Insertion by in vitro mutagenesis of N-glycosylation consensus sequences (NXS/T) in predicted cytoplasmic and extracytoplasmic loops between hydrophobic sequences capable of traversing the membrane established the membrane topology of CFTR. This provides the first experimental evaluation of the original topological model of CFTR based solely on hydropathy algorithms and a method which may be generally applicable for the in vivo evaluation of the topology of other mammalian membrane proteins.

1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator is present and functional in endosomes. Role as a determinant of endosomal pH.

Cystic fibrosis is caused by mutations in the gene encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), which lead to defective Cl- conductance in epithelial cells. While the CFTR gene product has been detected in the plasma membrane, its presence and functional role in the membranes of intracellular compartments remain to be established. The purpose of the present experiments was to functionally localize CFTR in the endosomal membrane and to test the role of the associated Cl- conductance in the regulation of endosomal pH (pH(en)). When using conductive protonophores, the net H+ flux across the endosomal membrane of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells is limited by the movement of counterions. Thus, ionic permeability could be estimated indirectly, from the changes in pH(en) determined fluorimetrically. Measurements in situ and in a cell-free microsomal preparation indicate the presence of a protein kinase A (PKA)-activated anion conductance in endosomes from CHO cells transfected with CFTR, but not in endosomes from wild-type or mock-transfected cells. In endosomes isolated from CFTR-expressing cells, the stimulatory effect of PKA was diminished by a specific peptide inhibitor of PKA, by alkaline phosphatase treatment or by a monoclonal antibody against the second nucleotide binding fold of CFTR. Increasing counterion permeability by phosphorylation of CFTR or by addition of valinomycin failed to alter the rate or extent of endosomal acidification in situ. Our observations indicate that functional CFTR, susceptible to activation by PKA, is present in endosomes of transfected CHO cells. More importantly, the data suggest that factors other than counterion permeability are the major determinants of pH(en).

Alkaline Phosphatase

CFTR, a channel with the structure of a transporter.

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) belongs to a superfamily of active transport molecules. However, when expressed in a wide variety of heterologous cell systems and when purified to homogeneity and reconstituted in planar lipid bilayers, it exhibits low conductance chloride channel activity. We postulate that the active transport capability of the molecule has been adapted to provide very stringent metabolic control of this channel which is responsible for chloride secretion and hydration of wet epithelial surfaces.

Biological Transport, Active

Right-angle light scattering to assay basal and regulated plasma membrane Cl- conductances.

We describe a simple and rapid technique for assaying both constitutive and regulated plasma membrane Cl- conductances. The method uses right-angle light scattering to measure the rate of swelling of cells in suspension, in which the anion conductance is rate limiting for swelling, due to introduction of high plasma membrane cation conductance using gramicidin. The technique was verified using Chinese hamster ovary cells and mouse L cells, both stably transfected with the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), to confer a specific cAMP-activated Cl- conductance not normally present in these cell types. In agreement with results obtained using other methods for assaying Cl- permeability in these cells, forskolin stimulated a significant increase in plasma membrane Cl- conductance in CFTR-expressing cells, as indicated by an increase in light scattering. That the enhanced light scattering by the cells was the result of cell swelling due to NaCl influx was shown by ion substitution experiments, in which no forskolin-induced increase in light scatter occurred in N-methyl-D-glucamine Cl- or Na+ gluconate medium. Enhanced light scattering was also observed in both CFTR-expressing and control cells stimulated with the Ca2+ ionophore, ionomycin. Extracellular anion substitution, to exploit the inwardly directed halide gradient utilized in this protocol, enabled determination of the anion selectivities of both the cAMP- and Ca(2+)-activated Cl- channels. Thus this technique provides a simple optical method for rapidly assaying not only constitutive and regulated Cl- conductance pathways but also their anion selectivities.

Animals

Phosphorylation-regulated Cl- channel in CHO cells stably expressing the cystic fibrosis gene.

A cyclic AMP-stimulated chloride conductance appears when the cystic fibrosis gene is expressed in non-epithelial cells by infection with recombinant viruses. Cyclic AMP-stimulated conductance in this system is mediated by the same ohmic, low-conductance Cl- channel as in human secretory epithelia, but control of this channel by phosphorylation has not been directly demonstrated. Here we report the appearance of the low-conductance Cl- channel in Chinese hamster ovary cells after stable transfection with the cystic fibrosis gene. The channel is regulated on-cell by membrane-permeant analogues of cAMP and off-cell by protein kinases A and C and by alkaline phosphatase. These results are further evidence that the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator is a Cl- channel which can be activated by specific phosphorylation events and inactivated by dephosphorylation; they reveal an unsuspected synergism between converging kinase regulatory pathways.

Animals

Primary cells and established cell lines join DNA ends with the same efficiency relative to homologous recombination.

The joining of DNA ends was compared in the established CV1 cell line and in African green monkey kidney primary cells, from which the CV1 cell line was established. Using a linear SV40 genome that carries a terminal repeat of 526 nucleotide pairs, we measured the efficiency of circularization by end joining relative to circularization by homologous recombination between the terminal repeats. The ratios of end joining to homologous recombination were identical in the two types of cells regardless of whether the DNA ends were sticky, blunt, or mismatched. These studies demonstrate that the efficient end joining observed in established cell lines is not a peculiar adaptation to life in culture, but rather reflects a normal aspect of DNA metabolism in mammalian cells. Furthermore, the similar results in primary and established cells support the general validity of using data from studies of cultured cells to formulate models of recombinational processes in primary cells and potentially in multicellular organisms as well.

Animals

Comparison of filler DNA at immune, nonimmune, and oncogenic rearrangements suggests multiple mechanisms of formation.

Extra nucleotides (termed filler DNA) are commonly found at the junctions of genetic rearrangements in mammalian cells. The filler DNA at immune system rearrangements, which are called N regions, are generated at VDJ joints primarily by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase. However, the origin of filler DNA at genetic rearrangements in nonlymphoid cells is uncertain. In an analysis of more than 200 junctions that arose by circularization of transfected linear DNA (D. B. Roth and J. H. Wilson, Mol. Cell. Biol. 6:4295-4304, 1986), we found 18 junctions with extra nucleotides exactly at the point of circularization. Analysis of these 18 junctions indicated that nonlymphoid cells could add extra nucleotides to the ends of duplex DNA. The characteristics of the extra nucleotides at these junctions and at 31 other rearrangement junctions from nonlymphoid cells were quite similar, suggesting that many genetic rearrangements may pass through a stage with free DNA ends. A comparison of the filler DNA at these 49 nonimmune system rearrangements with 97 N regions derived from immune system rearrangements suggested that lymphoid and nonlymphoid cells use different mechanisms for insertion of filler DNA, as expected from the absence of detectable terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase in cells from nonlymphoid tissues. The filler DNAs at a smaller group of 22 translocations associated with cancer had features in common with both immune and nonimmune system rearrangements and therefore may represent a mixture of these two processes. Mechanisms that might account for the presence of filler DNA in nonlymphoid cells are discussed.

Animals

Modification of DNA ends can decrease end joining relative to homologous recombination in mammalian cells.

In animal cells, exogenous DNA recombines into random chromosomal sites much more frequently than it recombines into homologous sites. Free DNA ends are "recombinogenic" in both processes. To test the effects of specific ends on analogous extrachromosomal processes, we constructed a linear genome of simian virus 40 with terminal repeated sequences. After transfection into monkey cells, the model substrate can circularize by end joining (analogous to random integration) or by homologous recombination between its terminal repeats (analogous to targeted recombination). Since the two types of recombination are in competition with one another, the ratio of homologous-recombination to end-join products is a sensitive indicator of the differential effects of specific ends. Substrates with blunt ends, complementary sticky ends, or mismatched ends generated the same ratio of homologous-recombination to end-join products. However, addition of dideoxynucleotides to the 3' hydroxyls of the substrate decreased the frequency of end joining by a factor of 5-6 relative to homologous recombination. Thus, the frequency of end joining can be decreased relative to that of homologous recombination by modification of the ends of the input DNA. These results suggest an approach to altering the ratio of random to targeted integration in mammalian cells.

Animals

Formation of deletions after initiation of simian virus 40 replication: influence of packaging limit of the capsid.

Transfected DNA is frequently broken and rejoined in mammalian cells by recombination processes that depend on minimal nucleotide sequence homology. Although measurements of breakage and joining account reasonably well for the frequent formation of deletions during transfection, they are inadequate to explain the high frequency of deletion formation by simian virus 40 (SV40) genomes that are slightly larger than the packaging limit of the capsid. To investigate this anomaly, we constructed and transfected into CV-1 cells a series of modified SV40 genomes containing 136, 284, 460, and 656 extra base pairs in the intron of the gene encoding T antigen. These experiments indicate that the effective packaging limit of an SV40 capsid lies between 284 and 460 extra base pairs. Further analysis of these transfections suggests that molecules just above the effective packaging limit may be encapsidated and transmitted between cells at low efficiency, thereby allowing multiple rounds of replication and multiple opportunities to generate and package genomes that contain deletions. The junctional sequences in several such deletions were determined; they were similar to the junctions in deletions that were formed before replication began, suggesting that the enzymatic machinery responsible for both types of deletion may be similar.

Animals