Interaction between cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator and outwardly rectified chloride channels

Membrane trafficking of the cystic fibrosis gene product, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, tagged with green fluorescent protein in madin-darby canine kidney cells

The mechanism by which cAMP stimulates cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)-mediated chloride (Cl-) secretion is cell type-specific. By using Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) type I epithelial cells as a model, we tested the hypothesis that cAMP stimulates Cl- secretion by stimulating CFTR Cl- channel trafficking from an intracellular pool to the apical plasma membrane. To this end, we generated a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-CFTR expression vector in which GFP was linked to the N terminus of CFTR. GFP did not alter CFTR function in whole cell patch-clamp or planar lipid bilayer experiments. In stably transfected MDCK type I cells, GFP-CFTR localization was substratum-dependent. In cells grown on glass coverslips, GFP-CFTR was polarized to the basolateral membrane, whereas in cells grown on permeable supports, GFP-CFTR was polarized to the apical membrane. Quantitative confocal fluorescence microscopy and surface biotinylation experiments demonstrated that cAMP did not stimulate detectable GFP-CFTR translocation from an intracellular pool to the apical membrane or regulate GFP-CFTR endocytosis. Disruption of the microtubular cytoskeleton with colchicine did not affect cAMP-stimulated Cl- secretion or GFP-CFTR expression in the apical membrane. We conclude that cAMP stimulates CFTR-mediated Cl- secretion in MDCK type I cells by activating channels resident in the apical plasma membrane.

Purification and reconstitution of an outwardly rectified Cl- channel from tracheal epithelia

We reported the identification of three outwardly rectified Cl- channel (ORCC) candidate proteins (115, 85, and 52 kDa) from bovine tracheal epithelia. We have raised polyclonal antibodies against these isolated proteins. Incorporation into planar lipid bilayers of material partly purified from bovine tracheal apical membranes with one of these antibodies as a ligand (anti-p115) resulted in the incorporation of an ORCC identical in biophysical characteristics to one we previously described. We developed a new purification procedure to increase the yield and purity of this polypeptide. The purification scheme that gave the best results in terms of overall protein yield and purity was a combination of anion- and cation-exchange chromatography followed by immunopurification. By use of this purification scheme, 7 microg of the 115-kDa protein were purified from 20 mg of tracheal apical membrane proteins. Incorporation of this highly purified material into planar lipid bilayers revealed a DIDS-inhibitable channel with the following properties: linear conductance of 87 +/- 9 pS in symmetrical Cl- solutions, halide selectivity sequence of I- > Cl- > Br-, and lack of sensitivity to protein kinase A, Ca2+, or dithiothreitol. Using anti-Galphai antibodies to precipitate Galphai protein(s) from the partly purified preparations, we demonstrated that the loss of rectification of the ORCC was due to uncoupling of Galphai protein(s) from the ORCC protein and that the 115-kDa polypeptide is an ORCC.

Patch clamp on the luminal membrane of exocrine gland acini from frog skin (Rana esculenta) reveals the presence of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator-like Cl- channels activated by cyclic AMP

Chloride channels in the luminal membrane of exocrine gland acini from frog skin (Rana esculenta) constituted a single homogeneous population. In cell-attached patches, channels activated upon exposure to isoproterenol, forskolin, or dibutyryl-cAMP and isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine rectified in the outward direction with a conductance of 10.0 +/- 0.4 pS for outgoing currents. Channels in stimulated cells reversed at 0 mV applied potential, whereas channels in unstimulated cells reversed at depolarized potentials (28.1 +/- 6.7 mV), indicating that Cl- was above electrochemical equilibrium in unstimulated, but not in stimulated, cells. In excised inside-out patches with 25 mM Cl- on the inside, activity of small (8-pS) linear Cl--selective channels was dependent upon bath ATP (1.5 mM) and increased upon exposure to cAMP-dependent protein kinase. The channels displayed a single substate, located just below 2/3 of the full channel amplitude. Halide selectivity was identified as PBr > PI > PCl from the Goldman equation; however, the conductance sequence when either halide was permeating the channel was GCl > GBr >> GI. In inside-out patches, the channels were blocked reversibly by 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid, glibenclamide, and diphenylamine-2-carboxylic acid, whereas 4, 4-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2-disulfonic acid blocked channel activity completely and irreversibly. Single-channel kinetics revealed one open state (mean lifetime = 158 +/- 72 ms) and two closed states (lifetimes: 12 +/- 4 and 224 +/- 31 ms, respectively). Power density spectra had a double-Lorentzian form with corner frequencies 0.85 +/- 0.11 and 27.9 +/- 2.9 Hz, respectively. These channels are considered homologous to the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator Cl- channel, which has been localized to the submucosal skin glands in Xenopus by immunohistochemistry (Engelhardt, J.F., S.S. Smith, E. Allen, J.R. Yankaskas, D.C. Dawson, and J.M. Wilson. 1994. Am. J. Physiol. 267: C491-C500) and, when stimulated by cAMP-dependent phosphorylation, are suggested to function in chloride secretion.

Chloride channel and chloride conductance regulator domains of CFTR, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator

CFTR is a cyclic AMP (cAMP)-activated chloride (Cl-) channel and a regulator of outwardly rectifying Cl- channels (ORCCs) in airway epithelia. CFTR regulates ORCCs by facilitating the release of ATP out of cells. Once released from cells, ATP stimulates ORCCs by means of a purinergic receptor. To define the domains of CFTR important for Cl- channel function and/or ORCC regulator function, mutant CFTRs with N- and C-terminal truncations and selected individual amino acid substitutions were created and studied by transfection into a line of human airway epithelial cells from a cystic fibrosis patient (IB3-1) or by injection of in vitro transcribed complementary RNAs (cRNAs) into Xenopus oocytes. Two-electrode voltage clamp recordings, 36Cl- efflux assays, and whole cell patch-clamp recordings were used to assay for the Cl- channel function of CFTR and for its ability to regulate ORCCs. The data showed that the first transmembrane domain (TMD-1) of CFTR, especially predicted alpha-helices 5 and 6, forms an essential part of the Cl- channel pore, whereas the first nucleotide-binding and regulatory domains (NBD1/R domain) are essential for its ability to regulate ORCCs. Finally, the data show that the ability of CFTR to function as a Cl- channel and a conductance regulator are not mutually exclusive; one function could be eliminated while the other was preserved.

Regulation of CFTR chloride channels by syntaxin and Munc18 isoforms

The cystic fibrosis gene encodes a cyclic AMP-gated chloride channel (CFTR) that mediates electrolyte transport across the luminal surfaces of a variety of epithelial cells. The molecular mechanisms that modulate CFTR activity in epithelial tissues are poorly understood. Here we show that CFTR is regulated by an epithelially expressed syntaxin (syntaxin 1A), a membrane protein that also modulates neurosecretion and calcium-channel gating in brain. Syntaxin 1A physically interacts with CFTR chloride channels and regulates CFTR-mediated currents both in Xenopus oocytes and in epithelial cells that normally express these proteins. The physical and functional interactions between syntaxin 1A and CFTR are blocked by a syntaxin-binding protein of the Munc18 protein family (also called n-Secl). Our results indicate that CFTR function in epithelial cells is regulated by an interplay between syntaxin and Munc18 isoforms.

Immuno and functional characterization of CFTR in submandibular and pancreatic acinar and duct cells

Cystic fibrosis results from defective Cl- channel activity mediated by the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene product. In the gastrointestinal tract this is manifested in abnormal salivary secretion and pancreatic insufficiency. This is generally attributed to defective Cl- transport by the ductal system of the glands. We provide the first immunocytochemical and functional evidence for expression of CFTR protein and Cl- current in rat and mouse submandibular gland (SMG) and pancreatic acinar cells, a site proximal to the ductal system of these secretory glands. Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies recognizing COOH-terminal epitopes of CFTR show that duct and acinar cells from the two glands express CFTR in the luminal membrane. Specificity of the polyclonal antibody was verified by absence of staining in duct and acinar cells of the SMG of cf-/cf- and delta F/delta F mice. Identification of CFTR in acinar cells was aided by demonstrating coexpression of CFTR and type 3 inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors in the luminal pole of acini and absence of type 3 inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors in ducts. Electrophysiological characterization in single SMG duct and acinar cells shows the presence of a protein kinase A-activated, voltage- and time-independent, ohmic Cl- current and absence of repolarization-dependent tail currents, all of which are kinetic properties of the CFTR-dependent Cl- channel. In addition, the channel was activated by the nonhydrolyzable ATP analog 5'-adenylylimidodiphosphate and the benzimidazalone NS-004. Channels activated by all activators were inhibited by glibenclamide and a known inhibitory antiserum [anti-CFTR-(505-511)]. Combined immunologic, functional, and pharmacological evidence allows us to conclude that acinar cells of the SMG and pancreas express functional CFTR-dependent Cl- channels. Because this site is proximal to the duct, modification of activity of this channel in acinar cells is likely to contribute to abnormal salivary secretion and pancreatic insufficiency typical of cystic fibrosis.

Role of actin in regulation of epithelial sodium channels by CFTR

Cystic fibrosis (CF) airway epithelia exhibit enhanced Na+ reabsorption in parallel with diminished Cl- secretion. We tested the hypothesis that actin plays a role in the regulation of a cloned epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) by the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). We found that immunopurified bovine tracheal CFTR coreconstituted into a planar lipid bilayer with alpha,beta,gamma-rat ENaC (rENaC) decreased single-channel open probability (Po) of rENaC in the presence of actin by over 60%, a significantly greater effect than was observed in the absence of actin (approximately 20%). In the presence of actin, protein kinase A plus ATP activated both CFTR and rENaC, but CFTR was activated in a sustained manner, whereas the activation of rENaC was transitory. ATP alone could also activate ENaC transiently in the presence ofactin but had no effect on CFTR. Stabilizing short actin filaments at a fixed length with gelsolin (at a ratio to actin of 2:1) produced a sustained activation of alpha,beta,gamma-rENaC in both the presence or absence of CFTR. Gelsolin alone (i.e., in the absence of actin) had no effect on the conductance or Po of either CFTR or rENaC. We have also found that short actin filaments produced their modulatory action on alpha-rENaC independent of the presence of the beta- or gamma-rENaC subunits. In contrast, CFTR did not affect any properties of the channel formed by alpha-rENaC alone, i.e., in the absence of beta- or gamma-rENaC. These results indicate that CFTR can directly downregulate single Na+ channel activity, which may account for the observed differences between Na+ transport in normal and CF-affected airway epithelia. Moreover, the presence of actin confers an enhanced modulatory ability of CFTR on Na+ channels.

Simultaneous functional expression of swelling and forskolin-activated chloride currents in primary cultures of rabbit distal convoluted tubule

Ionic Cl- currents induced by cell swelling and forskolin were studied in primary cultures of rabbit distal convoluted tubule (DCTb) by the whole-cell patch clamp technique. We identified a Cl- conductance activated by cell swelling with an hyperosmotic pipette solution. The initial current exhibited an outwardly rectifying 1-V relationship, whereas steady state current showed strong decay at depolarized membrane potentials. The ion selectivity was I- > Br- > Cl- > > glutamate. The forskolin-activated Cl- conductance demonstrated a linear I-V relationship and its ion selectivity was Br- > Cl- > I- > glutamate. This last conductance could be related to the CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) previously identified in these cells. NPPB inhibited both Cl- currents, and DIDS inhibited only the swelling-activated Cl- current. Forskolin had no effect on the activation of the swelling-activated Cl- current. In DCTb cells which exhibited swelling-activated Cl- currents subsequently inhibited by DIDS, forskolin could activate CFTR related Cl- currents. In the continuous presence of I- which inhibited CFTR conductance, forskolin did not modify the swelling-activated current. The results suggest that both Cl- conductances could be co-expressed in the same DCTb cell and that CFTR did not modulate the swelling-activated conductance.

Expression of the cystic fibrosis phenotype in a renal amphibian epithelial cell line

Mutations in a Cl- channel (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator or CFTR) are responsible for the cystic fibrosis (CF) phenotype. Increased Na+ transport rates are observed in CF airway epithelium, and recent studies suggest that this is due to an increase in Na+ channel open probability (Po). The Xenopus renal epithelial cell line, A6, expresses both cAMP-activated 8-picosiemen (pS) Cl- channels and amiloride-sensitive 4-pS Na+ channels, and provides a model system for examining the interactions of CFTR and epithelial Na+ channels. A6 cells express CFTR mRNA, as demonstrated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and partial sequence analysis. A phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotide, complementary to the 5' end of the open reading frame of Xenopus CFTR, was used to inhibit functional expression of CFTR in A6 cells. Parallel studies utilized the corresponding sense oligonucleotide as a control. CFTR protein expression was markedly reduced in cells incubated with the antisense oligonucleotide. Incubation of A6 cells with the antisense oligonucleotide led to inhibition of forskolin-activated amiloride-insensitive short circuit current (Isc). After a 30-min exposure to 10 microM forskolin, 8-pS Cl- channel activity was detected in only 1 of 31 (3%) cell-attached patches on cells treated with antisense oligonucleotide, compared to 5 of 19 (26%) patches from control cells. A shift in the single-channel current-voltage relationship derived from antisense-treated cells was also consistent with a reduction in Cl- reabsorption. Both amiloride-sensitive Isc and Na+ channel Po were significantly increased in antisense-treated, forskolin-stimulated A6 cells, when compared with forskolin-stimulated controls. These data suggest that the regulation of Na+ channels by CFTR is not limited to respiratory epithelia and to epithelial cells in culture overexpressing CFTR and epithelial Na+ channels.

The biogenesis, traffic, and function of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a cyclic AMP-activated chloride channel that is encoded by the gene that is defective in cystic fibrosis. This ion channel resides at the luminal surfaces and in endosomes of epithelial cells that line the airways, intestine, and a variety of exocrine glands. In this article we discuss current hypotheses regarding how CFTR functions as a regulated ion channel and how CF mutations lead to disease. We also evaluate the emerging notion that CFTR is a multifunctional protein that is capable of regulating epithelial physiology at several levels, including the modulation of other ion channels and the regulation of intracellular membrane traffic. Elucidating the various functions of CFTR should contribute to our understanding of the pathology in cystic fibrosis, the most common lethal genetic disorder among Caucasians.

Chloride channels: a molecular perspective

Plasma membrane Cl- channels perform a variety of functions, including control of excitability in neurons and muscle, cell volume regulation and transepithelial transport. Structurally, three classes of Cl- channels have been identified: ligand-gated, postsynaptic Cl- channels (e.g. GABA and glycine receptors); the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) Cl- channels (which belong to the traffic ATPase superfamily); and the CLC family of Cl- channels. Recent developments of note include further characterization of the expanding CLC Cl- channel family, advances in understanding the regulation of the CFTR Cl- channel and its emergent role as a regulator of other channels, clarification of issues related to swelling-activated Cl- channels, and the discovery that several co-transporter molecules are now known to induce Cl- currents in Xenopus oocytes.

Regulation of epithelial sodium channels by the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator

Cystic fibrosis airway epithelia exhibit enhanced Na+ reabsorption in parallel with diminished Cl- secretion. We tested the hypothesis that the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) directly affects epithelial Na+ channel activity by co-incorporating into planar lipid bilayers immunopurified bovine tracheal CFTR and either heterologously expressed rat epithelial Na+ channel ( alpha,b eta,gamma-rENaC) or an immunopurified bovine renal Na+ channel protein complex. The single channel open probability (Po) of rENaC was decreased by 24% in the presence of CFTR. Protein kinase A (PKA) plus ATP activated CFTR, but did not have any effect on rENaC. CFTR also decreased the extent of elevation of the renal Na+ channel Po following PKA-mediated phosphorylation. Moreover, the presence of CFTR prohibited the inward rectification of the gating of this renal Na+ channel normally induced by PKA-mediated phosphorylation, thus down-regulating inward Na+ current. This interaction between CFTR and Na+ channels occurs independently of whether or not wild-type CFTR is conducting anions. However, the nonconductive CFTR mutant, G551D CFTR, cannot substitute for the wild-type molecule. Our results indicate that CFTR can directly down-regulate single Na+ channel activity, thus accounting, at least in part, for the observed differences in Na+ transport between normal and cystic fibrosis-affected airway epithelia.

G-protein regulation of outwardly rectified epithelial chloride channels incorporated into planar bilayer membranes

Experiments were designed to test if immunopurified outwardly rectified chloride channels (ORCCs) and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) incorporated into planar lipid bilayers are regulated by G-proteins. pertussis toxin (PTX) (100 ng/ml) + NAD (1 mM) + ATP (1 mM) treatment of ORCC and CFTR in bilayers resulted in a 2-fold increase in single channel open probability (Po) of ORCC but not of CFTR. Neither PTX, NAD, nor ATP alone affected the biophysical properties of either channel. Further, PTX conferred a linearity to the ORCC current-voltage curve, with a slope conductance of 80 +/- 3 picosiemens (pS) in the +/- 100 mV range of holding potentials. PKA-mediated phosphorylation of these PTX + NAD-treated channels further increased the Po of the linear 80-pS channels from 0.66 +/- 0.05 to >0.9, and revealed the presence of a small (16 +/- 2 pS) linear channel in the membrane. PTX treatment of a CFTR-immunodepleted protein preparation incorporated into bilayer membranes resulted in a similar increase in the Po of the larger conductance channel and restored PKA-sensitivity that was lost after CFTR immunodepletion. The addition of guanosine 5'-3-O-(thio)triphosphate (100 mum) to the cytoplasmic bathing solutions decreased the activity of the ORCC and increased its rectification at both negative and positive voltages. ADP-ribosylation of immunopurified material revealed the presence of a 41-kDa protein. These results demonstrate copurification of a channel-associated G-protein that is involved in the regulation of ORCC function.