Specific sorting of the a1 isoform of the V-H+ATPase a subunit to nerve terminals where it associates with both synaptic vesicles and the presynaptic plasma membrane

Vacuolar H+-ATPase meets glycosylation in patients with cutis laxa

Glycosylation of proteins is one of the most important post-translational modifications. Defects in the glycan biosynthesis result in congenital malformation syndromes, also known as congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG). Based on the iso-electric focusing patterns of plasma transferrin and apolipoprotein C-III a combined defect in N- and O-glycosylation was identified in patients with autosomal recessive cutis laxa type II (ARCL II). Disease-causing mutations were identified in the ATP6V0A2 gene, encoding the a2 subunit of the vacuolar H(+)-ATPase (V-ATPase). The V-ATPases are multi-subunit, ATP-dependent proton pumps located in membranes of cells and organels. In this article, we describe the structure, function and regulation of the V-ATPase and the phenotypes currently known to result from V-ATPase mutations. A clinical overview of cutis laxa syndromes is presented with a focus on ARCL II. Finally, the relationship between ATP6V0A2 mutations, the glycosylation defect and the ARCLII phenotype is discussed.

Function, structure and regulation of the vacuolar (H+)-ATPases

The vacuolar ATPases (or V-ATPases) are ATP-driven proton pumps that function to both acidify intracellular compartments and to transport protons across the plasma membrane. Intracellular V-ATPases function in such normal cellular processes as receptor-mediated endocytosis, intracellular membrane traffic, prohormone processing, protein degradation and neurotransmitter uptake, as well as in disease processes, including infection by influenza and other viruses and killing of cells by anthrax and diphtheria toxin. Plasma membrane V-ATPases are important in such physiological processes as urinary acidification, bone resorption and sperm maturation as well as in human diseases, including osteopetrosis, renal tubular acidosis and tumor metastasis. V-ATPases are large multi-subunit complexes composed of a peripheral domain (V(1)) responsible for hydrolysis of ATP and an integral domain (V(0)) that carries out proton transport. Proton transport is coupled to ATP hydrolysis by a rotary mechanism. V-ATPase activity is regulated in vivo using a number of mechanisms, including reversible dissociation of the V(1) and V(0) domains, changes in coupling efficiency of proton transport and ATP hydrolysis and changes in pump density through reversible fusion of V-ATPase containing vesicles. V-ATPases are emerging as potential drug targets in treating a number of human diseases including osteoporosis and cancer.

The V-type H+-ATPase in vesicular trafficking: targeting, regulation and function

Vacuolar-type H⁺-ATPase (V-ATPase)-driven proton pumping and organellar acidification is essential for vesicular trafficking along both the exocytotic and endocytotic pathways of eukaryotic cells. Deficient function of V-ATPase and defects of vesicular acidification have been recently recognized as important mechanisms in a variety of human diseases and are emerging as potential therapeutic targets. In the past few years, significant progress has been made in our understanding of function, regulation, and the cell biological role of V-ATPase. Here, we will review these studies with emphasis on novel direct roles of V-ATPase in the regulation of vesicular trafficking events.

Proteome analysis of human substantia nigra in Parkinson's disease

Background

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder involving the motor system. Although not being the only region involved in PD, affection of the substantia nigra and its projections is responsible for some of the most debilitating features of the disease. To further advance a comprehensive understanding of nigral pathology, we conducted a tissue based comparative proteome study of healthy and diseased human substantia nigra.

Results

The gross number of differentially regulated proteins in PD was 221. In total, we identified 37 proteins, of which 16 were differentially expressed. Identified differential proteins comprised elements of iron metabolism (H-ferritin) and glutathione-related redox metabolism (GST M3, GST P1, GST O1), including novel redox proteins (SH3BGRL). Additionally, many glial or related proteins were found to be differentially regulated in PD (GFAP, GMFB, galectin-1, sorcin), as well as proteins belonging to metabolic pathways sparsely described in PD, such as adenosyl homocysteinase (methylation), aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 and cellular retinol-binding protein 1 (aldehyde metabolism). Further differentially regulated proteins included annexin V, beta-tubulin cofactor A, coactosin-like protein and V-type ATPase subunit 1. Proteins that were similarly expressed in healthy or diseased substantia nigra comprised housekeeping proteins such as COX5A, Rho GDI alpha, actin gamma 1, creatin-kinase B, lactate dehydrogenase B, disulfide isomerase ER-60, Rab GDI beta, methyl glyoxalase 1 (AGE metabolism) and glutamine synthetase. Interestingly, also DJ-1 and UCH-L1 were expressed similarly. Furthermore, proteins believed to serve as internal standards were found to be expressed in a constant manner, such as 14-3-3 epsilon and hCRMP-2, thus lending further validity to our results.

Conclusion

Using an approach encompassing high sensitivity and high resolution, we show that alterations of SN in PD include many more proteins than previously thought. The results point towards a heterogeneous aetiopathogenesis of the disease, including alterations of GSH-related proteins as well as alterations of proteins involved in retinoid metabolism, and they indicate that proteins involved in familial PD may not be differentially regulated in idiopathic Parkinson's disease.

Vacuolar ATPases: rotary proton pumps in physiology and pathophysiology

The acidity of intracellular compartments and the extracellular environment is crucial to various cellular processes, including membrane trafficking, protein degradation, bone resorption and sperm maturation. At the heart of regulating acidity are the vacuolar (V-)ATPases--large, multisubunit complexes that function as ATP-driven proton pumps. Their activity is controlled by regulating the assembly of the V-ATPase complex or by the dynamic regulation of V-ATPase expression on membrane surfaces. The V-ATPases have been implicated in a number of diseases and, coupled with their complex isoform composition, represent attractive and potentially highly specific drug targets.

Acetylcholine release in rapid synapses: two fast partners--mediatophore and vesicular Ca2+/H+ antiport

Rapid neurotransmission is like lightning: a spark of calcium in the nerve terminal, a spark of transmitter in the cleft, and the signal is over. But "time is gained at the expense of sensitivity" (Katz, 1988); transmission relies on low-affinity, high-speed reactions. These fast processes are modulated by regulating reactions that do not need to be so rapid.

The a3 isoform of V-ATPase regulates insulin secretion from pancreatic beta-cells

Vacuolar-type H(+)-ATPase (V-ATPase) is a multi-subunit enzyme that has important roles in the acidification of a variety of intracellular compartments and some extracellular milieus. Four isoforms for the membrane-intrinsic subunit (subunit a) of the V-ATPase have been identified in mammals, and they confer distinct cellular localizations and activities on the proton pump. We found that V-ATPase with the a3 isoform is highly expressed in pancreatic islets, and is localized to membranes of insulin-containing secretory granules in beta-cells. oc/oc mice, which have a null mutation at the a3 locus, exhibited a reduced level of insulin in the blood, even with high glucose administration. However, islet lysates contained mature insulin, and the ratio of the amount of insulin to proinsulin in oc/oc islets was similar to that of wild-type islets, indicating that processing of insulin was normal even in the absence of the a3 function. The insulin contents of oc/oc islets were reduced slightly, but this was not significant enough to explain the reduced levels of the blood insulin. The secretion of insulin from isolated islets in response to glucose or depolarizing stimulation was impaired. These results suggest that the a3 isoform of V-ATPase has a regulatory function in the exocytosis of insulin secretion.

Synaptic vesicles interchange their membrane proteins with a large surface reservoir during recycling

During recycling of synaptic vesicles (SVs), the retrieval machinery faces the challenge of recapturing SV proteins in a timely and precise manner. The significant dilution factor that would result from equilibration of vesicle proteins with the much larger cell surface would make recapture by diffusional encounter with the endocytic retrieval machinery unlikely. If SV proteins exchanged with counterparts residing at steady state on the cell surface, the dilution problem would be largely avoided. In this scenario, during electrical activity, endocytosis would be driven by the concentration of a pre-existing pool of SVs residing on the axonal or synaptic surface rather than the heavily diluted postfusion vesicular pool. Using both live cell imaging of endogenous synaptotagmin Ia (sytIa) as well as pHluorin-tagged sytIa and VAMP-2, we show here that synaptic vesicle proteins interchange with a large pool on the cell axonal surface whose concentration is approximately 10-fold lower than that in SVs.

Alternative splicing controls neuronal expression of v-ATPase subunit a1 and sorting to nerve terminals

Vacuolar proton ATPase accumulates protons inside various intracellular organelles such as synaptic vesicles; its membrane domain V0 could also be involved in membrane fusion. These different functions could require vacuolar proton ATPases possessing different V0 subunit a isoforms. In vertebrates, four genes encode isoforms a1-a4, and a1 variants are also generated by alternative splicing. We identified a novel a1 splice variant a1-IV and showed that the two a1 variants containing exon C are specifically expressed in neurons. Single neurons coexpress a2, a1-I, and a1-IV, and these subunit a isoforms are targeted to different membrane compartments. Recombinant a2 was accumulated in the trans-Golgi network, and a1-I was concentrated in axonal varicosities, whereas a1-IV was sorted to both distal dendrites and axons. Our results indicate that alternative splicing of exon N controls differential sorting of a1 variants to nerve terminals or distal dendrites, whereas exon C regulates their neuronal expression.

Escape strategies and reasons for failure in the interaction between tumour cells and the immune system: how can we tilt the balance towards immune-mediated cancer control?

The last decade has witnessed an exponential increase in the attempts to demonstrate that adaptive immunity can effectively detect cancer cells and impair their growth in vivo in cancer patients. However, clinical trials of immunotherapy with a broad array of immunisation strategies have depicted a rather disappointing scenario, suggesting that successful control of tumour growth by immunotherapeutic treatments may not be an easy task to achieve. The attention of tumour immunologists has thus been switched to the potential reasons of failure, and extensive efforts are being made in defining the cellular and molecular pathways interfering with the capacity of the immune system to develop powerful immunological reactions against tumour cells. Although many of these pathways have been well characterised in murine models, little and controversial information about their role in determining neoplastic progression in cancer patients is available. This discrepancy at the moment represents one of the major limitations in understanding the obstacles to the in vivo development of protective T cell-mediated immune responses against tumours, and how pharmacological or biological interventions aimed at bypassing tumour escape mechanisms would indeed result in a clinical benefit. The study of the reasons for the failure of the immune system to control tumour growth, which have to be ascribed to highly interconnected phenomena occurring at both tumour and immune levels, could in the near future provide adequate tools to fight cancer by finely tuning the host environment through biological therapies.

Vacuolar H+-ATPase activity is required for endocytic and secretory trafficking in Arabidopsis

In eukaryotic cells, compartments of the highly dynamic endomembrane system are acidified to varying degrees by the activity of vacuolar H(+)-ATPases (V-ATPases). In the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, most V-ATPase subunits are encoded by small gene families, thus offering potential for a multitude of enzyme complexes with different kinetic properties and localizations. We have determined the subcellular localization of the three Arabidopsis isoforms of the membrane-integral V-ATPase subunit VHA-a. Colocalization experiments as well as immunogold labeling showed that VHA-a1 is preferentially found in the trans-Golgi network (TGN), the main sorting compartment of the secretory pathway. Uptake experiments with the endocytic tracer FM4-64 revealed rapid colocalization with VHA-a1, indicating that the TGN may act as an early endosomal compartment. Concanamycin A, a specific V-ATPase inhibitor, blocks the endocytic transport of FM4-64 to the tonoplast, causes the accumulation of FM4-64 together with newly synthesized plasma membrane proteins, and interferes with the formation of brefeldin A compartments. Furthermore, nascent cell plates are rapidly stained by FM4-64, indicating that endocytosed material is redirected into the secretory flow after reaching the TGN. Together, our results suggest the convergence of the early endocytic and secretory trafficking pathways in the TGN.

Characterization of the Role of the Rab GTPase-activating Protein AS160 in Insulin-regulated GLUT4 Trafficking

Insulin stimulates the translocation of the glucose transporter GLUT4 from intracellular vesicles to the plasma membrane. In the present study we have conducted a comprehensive proteomic analysis of affinity-purified GLUT4 vesicles from 3T3-L1 adipocytes to discover potential regulators of GLUT4 trafficking. In addition to previously identified components of GLUT4 storage vesicles including the insulin-regulated aminopeptidase insulin-regulated aminopeptidase and the vesicle soluble N-ethylmaleimide factor attachment protein (v-SNARE) VAMP2, we have identified three new Rab proteins, Rab10, Rab11, and Rab14, on GLUT4 vesicles. We have also found that the putative Rab GTPase-activating protein AS160 (Akt substrate of 160 kDa) is associated with GLUT4 vesicles in the basal state and dissociates in response to insulin. This association is likely to be mediated by the cytosolic tail of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase, which interacted both in vitro and in vivo with AS160. Consistent with an inhibitory role of AS160 in the basal state, reduced expression of AS160 in adipocytes using short hairpin RNA increased plasma membrane levels of GLUT4 in an insulin-independent manner. These findings support an important role for AS160 in the insulin regulated trafficking of GLUT4.

Defective lysosomal arginine transport in juvenile Batten disease

Mutations in the CLN3 gene, which encodes a lysosomal membrane protein, are responsible for the neurodegenerative disorder juvenile Batten disease. A previous study on the yeast homolog to CLN3, designated Btn1p, revealed a potential role for CLN3 in the transport of arginine into the yeast vacuole, the equivalent organelle to the mammalian lysosome. Lysosomes isolated from lymphoblast cell lines, established from individuals with juvenile Batten disease-bearing mutations in CLN3, but not age-matched controls, demonstrate defective transport of arginine. Furthermore, we show that there is a depletion of arginine in cells derived from individuals with juvenile Batten disease. We have, therefore, characterized lysosomal arginine transport in normal lysosomes and show that it is ATP-, v-ATPase- and cationic-dependent. This and previous studies have shown that both arginine and lysine are transported by the same transport system, designated system c. However, we report that lysosomes isolated from juvenile Batten disease lymphoblasts are only defective for arginine transport. These results suggest that the CLN3 defect in juvenile Batten disease may affect how intracellular levels of arginine are regulated or distributed throughout the cell. This assertion is supported by two other experimental approaches. First, an antibody to CLN3 can block lysosomal arginine transport and second, expression of CLN3 in JNCL cells using a lentiviral vector can restore lysosomal arginine transport. CLN3 may have a role in regulating intracellular levels of arginine possibly through control of the transport of this amino acid into lysosomes.

Genome-wide survey of V-ATPase genes inDrosophilareveals a conserved renal phenotype for lethal alleles

V-ATPases are ubiquitous, vital proton pumps that play a multiplicity of roles in higher organisms. In many epithelia, they are the major energizer of cotransport processes and have been implicated in functions as diverse as fluid secretion and longevity. The first animal knockout of a V-ATPase was identified in Drosophila, and its recessive lethality demonstrated the essential nature of V-ATPases. This article surveys the entire V-ATPase gene family in Drosophila, both experimentally and in silico. Adult expression patterns of most of the genes are shown experimentally for the first time, using in situ hybridization or reporter gene expression, and these results are reconciled with published expression and microarray data. For each subunit, the single gene identified previously by microarray, as upregulated and abundant in tubules, is shown to be similarly abundant in other epithelia in which V-ATPases are known to be important; there thus appears to be a single dominant “plasma membrane” V-ATPase holoenzyme in Drosophila. This provides the most comprehensive view of V-ATPase expression yet in a multicellular organism. The transparent Malpighian tubule phenotype first identified in lethal alleles of vha55, the gene encoding the B-subunit, is shown to be general to those plasma membrane V-ATPase subunits for which lethal alleles are available, and to be caused by failure to accumulate uric acid crystals. These results coincide with the expression view of the gene family, in which 13 of the genes are specialized for epithelial roles, whereas others have spatially or temporally restricted patterns of expression.

The v-ATPase V0 subunit a1 is required for a late step in synaptic vesicle exocytosis in Drosophila

The V(0) complex forms the proteolipid pore of an ATPase that acidifies vesicles. In addition, an independent function in membrane fusion has been proposed largely based on yeast vacuolar fusion experiments. We have isolated mutations in the largest V(0) component vha100-1 in flies in an unbiased genetic screen for synaptic malfunction. The protein is only required in neurons, colocalizes with markers for synaptic vesicles as well as active zones, and interacts with t-SNAREs. Loss of vha100-1 leads to vesicle accumulation in synaptic terminals, suggesting a deficit in release. The amplitude of spontaneous release events and release with hypertonic stimulation indicate normal levels of neurotransmitter loading, yet mutant embryos display severe defects in evoked synaptic transmission and FM1-43 uptake. Our data suggest that Vha100-1 functions downstream of SNAREs in synaptic vesicle fusion.

Loss of the chloride channel ClC-7 leads to lysosomal storage disease and neurodegeneration

ClC-7 is a chloride channel of late endosomes and lysosomes. In osteoclasts, it may cooperate with H(+)-ATPases in acidifying the resorption lacuna. In mice and man, loss of ClC-7 or the H(+)-ATPase a3 subunit causes osteopetrosis, a disease characterized by defective bone resorption. We show that ClC-7 knockout mice additionally display neurodegeneration and severe lysosomal storage disease despite unchanged lysosomal pH in cultured neurons. Rescuing their bone phenotype by transgenic expression of ClC-7 in osteoclasts moderately increased their lifespan and revealed a further progression of the central nervous system pathology. Histological analysis demonstrated an accumulation of electron-dense material in neurons, autofluorescent structures, microglial activation and astrogliosis. Like in human neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, there was a strong accumulation of subunit c of the mitochondrial ATP synthase and increased amounts of lysosomal enzymes. Such alterations were minor or absent in ClC-3 knockout mice, despite a massive neurodegeneration. Osteopetrotic oc/oc mice, lacking a functional H(+)-ATPase a3 subunit, showed no comparable retinal or neuronal degeneration. There are important medical implications as defects in the H(+)-ATPase and ClC-7 can underlie human osteopetrosis.