alar4, a constitutive mutant of the A system for amino acid transport, has increased abundance of the Na+,K+-ATPase and mRNA for alpha 1 subunit of this enzyme

The role of system A for neutral amino acid transport in the regulation of cell volume

System A is a secondary active, sodium dependent transport system for neutral amino acids. Strictly coupled with Na,K-ATPase, its activity determines the size of the intracellular amino acid pool, through a complex network of metabolic reaction and exchange fluxes. Many hormones and drugs affect system A activity in specific cell models or tissues. In all the cell models tested thus far the activity of the system is stimulated by amino acid starvation, cell cycle progression, and the incubation under hypertonic conditions. These three conditions produce marked alterations of cell volume. The stimulation of system A activity plays an important role in cell volume restoration, through an expansion of the intracellular amino acid pool. Under normal conditions, system A substrates represent a major fraction of cell compatible osmolytes, organic compounds that exert a protein stabilizing effect. It is, therefore, likely that the activation of system A represents a portion of a more complex response triggered by exposure to stresses of various nature. Since system A transporters have been recently cloned, the molecular bases of these regulatory mechanisms will probably be elucidated in a short time.

Evidence for a regulatory protein involved in the increased activity of system A for neutral amino acid transport in osmotically stressed mammalian cells

System A for neutral amino acid transport is increased by hypertonic shock in NBL-1 cells previously induced to express system A activity by amino acid starvation. The hypertonicity-mediated effect can be blocked by cycloheximide but is insensitive to tunicamycin. The activity induced may be inactivated irreversibly by the addition of system A substrates, by a rapid mechanism insensitive to cycloheximide. In CHO-K1 cells, hypertonicity increases system A activity, as has been shown in NBL-1 cells. This effect is additive to the activity produced by derepression of system A by amino acid starvation and is insensitive to tunicamycin. Furthermore, the alanine-resistant mutant CHO-K1 alar4, which bears a mutation affecting the regulatory gene R1, involved in the derepression of system A activity after amino acid starvation, is still able to respond to the hypertonic shock by increasing system A activity to a level similar to that described in hypertonicity-induced derepressed CHO-K1 (wild type) cells. These results suggest (i) that the hypertonicity-mediated increase of system A activity occurs through a mechanism other than that involved in system A derepression and (ii) that a regulatory protein coded by an osmotically sensitive gene is responsible for further activation of preexisting A carriers.

Regulatory and molecular aspects of mammalian amino acid transport

Images

Enhancement in amount of P1 (hsp60) in mutants of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells exhibiting increases in the A system of amino acid transport

Mutants of CHO-K1 cells with varied levels of A system activity, probably the result of increases in absolute amount of the A system transporter, have corresponding increases in levels of peptides banding at 62-66 and 29 kDa. Mutant alar4-H3.9, showing the highest increase of A system activity and of 62- to 66- and 29-kDa peptides, was selected for this study. The N terminus 16-amino acid sequence of the 62- to 66-kDa peptide(s) of this mutant showed between 80% and 100% identity with the mammalian mitochondrial 60-kDa heat shock protein P1 (hsp60). Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of the 62- to 66-kDa band showed two major, a minor, and several smaller spots (of same mass but different pI values) for both wild type (WT) and mutant, with the two major spots being of greater density in the mutant. Immunoblots with antibody to P1 identified the two major and minor peptides as P1 related. Two-dimensional gels of whole cell extracts of the WT and alar4-H3.9 confirmed these findings and indicated that the two major bands of the mutant were 2.4 times as abundant as that found for the WT. A plasma membrane fraction of the mutant, exhibiting 4.8 times more A system activity than the WT, contained 3.6 times as much P1 as the WT. Immunoblots with antibodies to P1, mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase, and to the mitochondrial F1/F0-ATPase demonstrated that the increased amount of P1 observed in the mutant was not the result of increases in amount of mitochondrial protein. Northern blot analysis demonstrated that the mutant had 2.5 times as much mRNA for P1 as the WT. The close analogy with the relationship between A system and Na+,K(+)-ATPase suggests that there is a coordinate regulation of the A system of amino acid transport, Na+,K(+)-ATPase, and P1 protein, probably as a result of mutation in a shared regulatory element. The possible role of P1 in A system function is discussed.

Stable expression of the cardiac sodium-calcium exchanger in CHO cells

A line of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells called CK1.4 was produced by transfection with the gene for the bovine cardiac Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger. CK1.4 cells stably expressed substantial exchange activity and exchanger protein as shown by immunoprecipitation. Exchange activity was quantified as 45Ca2+ influx that depended on both increasing intracellular Na+ and lowering the concentration of external Na+. Replacing external Na+ with K+ slightly increased 45Ca2+ uptake by CK1.4 cells with basal Na+ and greatly increased 45Ca2+ uptake by Na(+)-loaded cells. Neither exchange activity nor exchanger protein was detected in the nontransfected parental line. By contrast to CK1.4 cells, replacing external Na+ with K+ decreased 45Ca2+ uptake in the nontransfected cells whether or not they were Na+ loaded. Changes in cytosolic free Ca2+ determined with fura-2 were consistent with the 45Ca2+ uptake data. Analysis of poly(A)(+)-RNA by Northern blot confirmed that CK1.4 cells, but not the parental line, expressed the exchanger. Expression of the exchanger was also observed in aortic myocytes and a renal epithelial cell line (LLC-MK2) but not in other lines of renal epithelial cells (MDCK, LLC-PK1) or human dermal fibroblasts. The cardiac exchanger produced substantial 45Ca2+ efflux from CK1.4 cells in response to hormone-evoked release of stored Ca2+. CK1.4 cells are an attractive model for studies of the regulation of the cardiac exchanger because they stably express sufficient exchanger for biochemical and immunological analysis.

Evidence for coordinate regulation of the A system for amino acid transport and the mRNA for the alpha 1 subunit of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase gene in Chinese hamster ovary cells

Previous work suggested that the structural gene for the A system transporter and the mRNA for the alpha subunit of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase in Chinese hamster ovary cells CHO-K1 [wild type (WT)] are coordinately controlled by regulatory gene R1. This conclusion was based on analysis of a mutant for the A system, alar4. This mutant had a constitutive level of A system transport activity equal to the level found in derepressed WT cells and a 4 times increase in abundance of the alpha 1 subunit of Na+,K(+)-ATPase mRNA over that found in repressed WT. The level of Na+ per cell in alar4 was not significantly greater than that found in the WT. To further characterize the likely coregulation of both genes, we have studied the A system activity and Na+,K(+)-ATPase mRNA alpha 1-subunit levels in cells grown under various conditions that result in repression or derepression of the A system in the WT. System A activity increased up to 2-3 times the basal transport rate (repressed state) and Na+,K(+)-ATPase mRNA alpha 1-subunit levels showed a 3-fold increase after amino acid starvation (derepressed state). These changes occurred along with a decrease in intracellular Na+ levels. N-Methyl-alpha-aminoisobutyric acid and beta-alanine, previously shown to be corepressors for the A system, prevented to a similar extent A system derepression and Na+,K(+)-ATPase mRNA alpha 1-subunit accumulation. On the other hand, phenylalanine and lysine, amino acids that are not corepressors of the A system, failed to significantly prevent derepression of both genes. Hybrids between the WT and alar4 have the phenotype of the WT when grown under repressed conditions. These results give further support to the proposition that both the A system transporter and mRNA for the alpha 1 subunit of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase are coordinately controlled by regulatory gene R1 and elevated Na+ concentrations are not involved. No Na+,K(+)-ATPase activity was detected in derepressed cells. Activity was restored by the addition of monensin. However, this activity was no greater than that obtained in repressed cells. Indications are that the reduced Na+ content in derepressed cells inhibits Na+,K(+)-ATPase activity and that conditions that favored derepression do not allow for de novo synthesis of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase.