Identification of transmembrane domains of the red cell calcium pump with a new photoactivatable phospholipidic probe

A two-stage model for lipid modulation of the activity of integral membrane proteins

Lipid-protein interactions play an essential role in the regulation of biological function of integral membrane proteins; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we explore the modulation by phospholipids of the enzymatic activity of the plasma membrane calcium pump reconstituted in detergent-phospholipid mixed micelles of variable composition. The presence of increasing quantities of phospholipids in the micelles produced a cooperative increase in the ATPase activity of the enzyme. This activation effect was reversible and depended on the phospholipid/detergent ratio and not on the total lipid concentration. Enzyme activation was accompanied by a small structural change at the transmembrane domain reported by 1-aniline-8-naphtalenesulfonate fluorescence. In addition, the composition of the amphipilic environment sensed by the protein was evaluated by measuring the relative affinity of the assayed phospholipid for the transmembrane surface of the protein. The obtained results allow us to postulate a two-stage mechanistic model explaining the modulation of protein activity based on the exchange among non-structural amphiphiles at the hydrophobic transmembrane surface, and a lipid-induced conformational change. The model allowed to obtain a cooperativity coefficient reporting on the efficiency of the transduction step between lipid adsorption and catalytic site activation. This model can be easily applied to other phospholipid/detergent mixtures as well to other membrane proteins. The systematic quantitative evaluation of these systems could contribute to gain insight into the structure-activity relationships between proteins and lipids in biological membranes.

Plasma membrane calcium pump (PMCA) differential exposure of hydrophobic domains after calmodulin and phosphatidic acid activation

The exposure of the plasma membrane calcium pump (PMCA) to the surrounding phospholipids was assessed by measuring the incorporation of the photoactivatable phosphatidylcholine analog [(125)I]TID-PC/16 to the protein. In the presence of Ca(2+) both calmodulin (CaM) and phosphatidic acid (PA) greatly decreased the incorporation of [(125)I]TID-PC/16 to PMCA. Proteolysis of PMCA with V8 protease results in three main fragments: N, which includes transmembrane segments M1 and M2; M, which includes M3 and M4; and C, which includes M5 to M10. CaM decreased the level of incorporation of [(125)I]TID-PC/16 to fragments M and C, whereas phosphatidic acid decreased the incorporation of [(125)I]TID-PC/16 to fragments N and M. This suggests that the conformational changes induced by binding of CaM or PA extend to the adjacent transmembrane domains. Interestingly, this result also denotes differences between the active conformations produced by CaM and PA. To verify this point, we measured resonance energy transfer between PMCA labeled with eosin isothiocyanate at the ATP-binding site and the phospholipid RhoPE included in PMCA micelles. CaM decreased the efficiency of the energy transfer between these two probes, whereas PA did not. This result indicates that activation by CaM increases the distance between the ATP-binding site and the membrane, but PA does not affect this distance. Our results disclose main differences between PMCA conformations induced by CaM or PA and show that those differences involve transmembrane regions.

Diving Into the Lipid Bilayer to Investigate the Transmembrane Organization and Conformational State Transitions of P-type Ion ATPases

Although membrane proteins constitute more than 20% of the total proteins, the structures of only a few are known in detail. An important group of integral membrane proteins are ion-transporting ATPases of the P-type family, which share the formation of an acid-stable phosphorylated intermediate as part of their reaction cycle. There are several crystal structures of the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) pump (SERCA) revealing different conformations, and recently, crystal structures of the H(+)-ATPase and the Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase were reported as well. However, there are no atomic resolution structures for other P-type ATPases including the plasma membrane calcium pump (PMCA), which is integral to cellular Ca(2+) signaling. Crystallization of these proteins is challenging because there is often no natural source from which the protein can be obtained in large quantities, and the presence of multiple isoforms in the same tissue further complicates efforts to obtain homogeneous samples suitable for crystallization. Alternative techniques to study structural aspects and conformational transitions in the PMCAs (and other P-type ATPases) have therefore been developed. Specifically, information about the structure and assembly of the transmembrane domain of an integral membrane protein can be obtained from an analysis of the lipid-protein interactions. Here, we review recent efforts using different hydrophobic photo-labeling methods to study the non-covalent interactions between the PMCA and surrounding phospholipids under different experimental conditions, and discuss how the use of these lipid probes can reveal valuable information on the membrane organization and conformational state transitions in the PMCA, Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase, and other P-type ATPases.

Ice-induced partial unfolding and aggregation of an integral membrane protein

Although the deleterious effects of ice on water-soluble proteins are well established, little is known about the freeze stability of membrane proteins. Here we explore this issue through a combined kinetic and spectroscopic approach using micellar-purified plasma membrane calcium pump as a model. The ATPase activity of this protein significantly diminished after freezing using a slow-cooling procedure, with the decrease in the activity being an exponential function of the storage time at 253K, with t(½)=3.9±0.6h. On the contrary, no significant changes on enzyme activity were detected when a fast cooling procedure was performed. Regardless of the cooling rate, successive freeze-thaw cycles produced an exponential decrease in the Ca(2+)-ATPase activity, with the number of cycles at which the activity was reduced to half being 9.2±0.3 (fast cooling) and 3.7±0.2 (slow cooling). PAGE analysis showed that neither degradation nor formation of SDS-stable aggregates of the protein takes place during protein inactivation. Instead, the inactivation process was found to be associated with the irreversible partial unfolding of the polypeptide chain, as assessed by Trp fluorescence, far UV circular dichroism, and 1-anilino-naphtalene-8-sulfonate binding. This inactive protein undergoes, in a later stage, a further irreversible transformation leading to large aggregates.

Development and application of diazirines in biological and synthetic macromolecular systems

Many different reagents and methodologies have been utilised for the modification of synthetic and biological macromolecular systems. In addition, an area of intense research at present is the construction of hybrid biosynthetic polymers, comprised of biologically active species immobilised or complexed with synthetic polymers. One of the most useful and widely applicable techniques available for functionalisation of macromolecular systems involves indiscriminate carbene insertion processes. The highly reactive and non-specific nature of carbenes has enabled a multitude of macromolecular structures to be functionalised without the need for specialised reagents or additives. The use of diazirines as stable carbene precursors has increased dramatically over the past twenty years and these reagents are fast becoming the most popular photophors for photoaffinity labelling and biological applications in which covalent modification of macromolecular structures is the basis to understanding structure-activity relationships. This review reports the synthesis and application of a diverse range of diazirines in macromolecular systems.

Pre-steady-state phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of detergent-purified plasma-membrane Ca2+-ATPase

Pre-steady-state phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of purified and phospholipid-depleted plasma-membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase (PMCA) solubilized in the detergent polyoxyethylene 10 lauryl ether were studied at 25 degrees C. The time course of phosphorylation with ATP of the enzyme associated with Ca(2+), probably the true phosphorylation reaction, showed a fast phase (k(app) near 400 s(-1)) followed by a slow phase (k(app)=23 s(-1)). With asolectin or acidic phosphatidylinositol, the concentration of phosphoenzyme (EP) increased at as high a rate as before, passed through a maximum at 4 ms and stabilized at a steady level that was approx. half that without lipids. Calmodulin (CaM) did not change the rate of the fast phase, accelerated the slow phase (k(app)=93 s(-1)) and increased [EP] with small changes in the shape of the time course. Dephosphorylation was slow (k(app)=30 s(-1)) and insensitive to CaM. Asolectin accelerated dephosphorylation, which followed biexponential kinetics with fast (k(app)=220 s(-1)) and slow (k(app)=20 s(-1)) components. CaM stimulated the fast component by nearly 50%. The results show that the behaviour of the PMCA is complex, and suggest that acidic phospholipids and CaM activate PMCA through different mechanisms. Acceleration of dephosphorylation seems relevant during activation of the PMCA by acidic phospholipids.

Structural significance of the plasma membrane calcium pump oligomerization

The oligomerization of the plasma membrane calcium pump (PMCA) in phospholipid/detergent micelles was evaluated using a combined spectroscopic and kinetic approach and related to the enzyme stability. Energy transfer between fluorescein-5'-isothiocyanate and eosin-5'-isothiocyanate attached to different PMCA molecules was used to determine the dissociation constant of dimeric PMCA (140 +/- 50 nM at 25 degrees C) and characterize the time course of dimerization. The enzyme thermal stability at different dimer/monomer ratios was evaluated, quantifying the kinetic coefficient of thermal inactivation. This coefficient decreases with PMCA concentration, becoming approximately constant beyond 300 nM. Thermal treatment leads to the formation of inactive monomers that associate only with native monomers. These mixed dimers are formed with a kinetic coefficient that is half that determined for the native dimers. We proposed a model for PMCA thermal inactivation that considers the equilibria among dimers, monomers, and mixed dimers, and the inactivation of the last two species through irreversible steps. The numerical resolution of the differential equations describing this model fitted to the experimental data allowed the determination of the model coefficients. This analysis shows that thermal inactivation occurs through the denaturation of the monomer, which lifetime is 25 min at 44 degrees C. The obtained results suggest that PMCA dimerization constitutes a mechanism of self protection against spontaneous denaturation.

Quantitation of plasma membrane calcium pump phosphorylated intermediates by electrophoresis

P-ATPases are characterized by the formation of acid-stable phosphorylated intermediates (EP) during their reaction cycle. We have developed a microscale method to determine EP that involves the phosphorylation of the enzyme using [gamma-(32)P]ATP and precipitation with TCA; separation of the sample by SDS-PAGE, and measurement of the enzyme protein and (32)P-labeled EP by digital analysis of both the stained gel and its autoradiogram, respectively. The principal advantages of this method over typical procedures (filtration and centrifugation) are the low amount of enzyme required and the substantial decrease in the blank values and data scattering produced by unspecific phosphorylation and nonquantitative recovering of the enzyme. Application of this new method to a purified preparation of the plasma membrane calcium ATPase (PMCA) results in overcoming the difficulties of measuring EP at high ATP concentrations. A biphasic behavior of the substrate curve for EP was observed when the study was extended to ATP levels within the physiological range. Since, in principle, the method does not require the use of highly purified preparations, it could be helpful for the study of phosphorylated intermediates especially under conditions in which small amounts of protein are available, e.g., mutated variants of P-ATPases.

Oligomerization of the plasma membrane calcium pump involves two regions with different thermal stability

Ca(2+) pump dimerization was studied by using a combined approach of thermal denaturation and fluorescence resonance energy transfer. The measurement of calcium pump ability to dimerize after the unfolding of individual functional domains of the enzyme demonstrated the existence of two different regions involved in the self-association process. One of these regions is highly susceptible to thermal unfolding and was identified as the calmodulin (CaM)-binding domain. The other region whose thermal stability is higher than those of the catalytic and CaM-binding domains could be related with the previously found C28W-binding regions.

Phosphatidylcholine makes specific activity of the purified Ca(2+)-ATPase from plasma membranes independent of enzyme concentration

Ca(2+)-ATPase of plasma membranes (PMCA) was isolated from either human or pig red cells by calmodulin-affinity chromatography and supplemented with phosphatidylcholine (PC). The specific activity of the purified PMCA diluted in media with detergent (C(12)E(10)) was very low, and increased with the concentration of the enzyme along a curve that reached the maximum at 8 microg/ml with K(0.5)=1.2-2.5 microg/ml. Such behavior has been described and attributed to self-association of the enzyme (D. Kosk-Kosicka and T. Bzdega, J. Biol. Chem. 263 (1988) 18184-18189). After heat-inactivation, the PMCA was as effective an activator as the intact enzyme, increasing, to the maximum, the specific activity of diluted enzyme with K(0. 5)=2.2 microg/ml. The inactivated PMCA failed to increase the activity of concentrated enzyme, suggesting that activation did not depend on interaction of intact with denatured enzyme molecules. When enough PC was added to the reaction medium to make its final concentration 16-33 microg/ml, the specific activity of the PMCA was maximum and independent of enzyme concentration. Under these conditions, activation by calmodulin lowered to 10%. As a function of the concentration of pure PC, maximum specific activity was reached along a curve with K(0.5)=4 microg/ml. This curve was identical to that of activation at increasing enzyme concentration, suggesting that, in the latter case, activation could have depended on PC contributed to the assay medium by the enzyme. The results show that PC made the purified PMCA solubilized in detergent reach maximum activity at any concentration of the enzyme.

The membrane topology of the amino-terminal domain of the red cell calcium pump

A systematic study of the membrane-associated regions in the plasma membrane Ca2+ pump of erythrocytes has been performed by hydrophobic photolabeling. Purified Ca2+ pump was labeled with 3-(trifluoromethyl)-3-(m-[125I]iodophenyl)-diazirine ([125I]TID), a generic photoactivatable hydrophobic probe. These results were compared with the enzyme labeled with a strictly membrane-bound probe, [3H]bis-phosphatidylethanolamine (trifluoromethyl) phenyldiazirine. A significant light-dependent labeling of an M(r) 135,000-140,000 peptide, corresponding to the full Ca2+ pump, was observed with both probes. After proteolysis of the pump labeled with each probe and isolation of fragments by SDS-PAGE, a common pattern of labeled peptides was observed. Similarly, labeling of the Ca2+ pump with [125I]TID, either in isolated red blood cell membranes or after the enzyme was purified, yields a similar pattern of labeled peptides. Taken together, these results validate the use of either probe to study the lipid interface of the membrane-embedded region of this protein, and sustain the notion that the conformation of the pump is maintained throughout the procedures of solubilization, affinity purification, and reconstitution into proteoliposomes. In this work, we put special emphasis on a detailed analysis of the N-terminal domain of the Ca2+ pump. A labeled peptide of M(r) 40,000 belonging to this region was purified and further digested with V8 protease. The specific incorporation of [125I]TID to proteolytic fragments pertaining to the amino-terminal region indicates the existence of two transmembrane stretches in this domain. A theoretical analysis based on the amino acid sequence 1-322 predicts two segments with high probability of membrane insertion, in agreement with the experimental data. Each segment shows a periodicity pattern of hydrophobicity and variability compatible with alpha-helical structure. These results strongly suggest the existence of a transmembrane helical hairpin motif near the N-terminus of the Ca2+ pump.