Transmembrane segment 11 appears to line the purine permeation pathway of the Plasmodium falciparum equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (PfENT1)

Putative purine nucleoside interacting residues in the malaria parasite purine uptake transporter PfENT1 are critical for transporter function

Malaria remains a major public health threat for billions of people worldwide. Infection with obligate intracellular, unicellular parasites from the genus Plasmodium causes malaria. Plasmodium falciparum causes the deadliest form of human malaria. Plasmodium parasites are purine auxotrophic. They rely on purine import from the host red blood cell cytoplasm via equilibrative nucleoside transporters to supply substrates to the purine salvage pathway. We previously developed a high throughput screening assay to identify inhibitors of the P. falciparum Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter Type 1 (PfENT1). Screening a small molecule library identified PfENT1 inhibitors that blocked proliferation of P. falciparum parasites in in vitro culture. The goal of the current work was to validate a high-resolution model of PfENT1 predicted by the AlphaFold protein structure prediction program. We superimposed the predicted PfENT1 structure on the human homologue structure, hENT1, and developed a structure-based sequence alignment. We mutated the residues in PfENT1 aligned with and flanking the residues in hENT1 that interact with the purine analog, nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBMPR). Mutation of the PfENT1 residues Q135, D287, and R291 that are predicted to form hydrogen bonds to purine nucleosides eliminated purine and pyrimidine transport function in various yeast-based growth and radiolabeled substrate uptake assays. Mutation of two flanking residues, W53 and S290, also resulted in inactive protein. Mutation of L50 that forms hydrophobic interactions with the purine nucleobase reduced transport function. Based on our results the AlphaFold predicted structure for PfENT1 may be useful in guiding medicinal chemistry efforts to improve the potency of our PfENT1 inhibitors.

An Uninvited Seat at the Dinner Table: How Apicomplexan Parasites Scavenge Nutrients from the Host

Obligate intracellular parasites have evolved a remarkable assortment of strategies to scavenge nutrients from the host cells they parasitize. Most apicomplexans form a parasitophorous vacuole (PV) within the invaded cell, a replicative niche within which they survive and multiply. As well as providing a physical barrier against host cell defense mechanisms, the PV membrane (PVM) is also an important site of nutrient uptake that is essential for the parasites to sustain their metabolism. This means nutrients in the extracellular milieu are separated from parasite metabolic machinery by three different membranes, the host plasma membrane, the PVM, and the parasite plasma membrane (PPM). In order to facilitate nutrient transport from the extracellular environment into the parasite itself, transporters on the host cell membrane of invaded cells can be modified by secreted and exported parasite proteins to maximize uptake of key substrates to meet their metabolic demand. To overcome the second barrier, the PVM, apicomplexan parasites secrete proteins contained in the dense granules that remodel the vacuole and make the membrane permissive to important nutrients. This bulk flow of host nutrients is followed by a more selective uptake of substrates at the PPM that is operated by specific transporters of this third barrier. In this review, we recapitulate and compare the strategies developed by Apicomplexa to scavenge nutrients from their hosts, with particular emphasis on transporters at the parasite plasma membrane and vacuolar solute transporters on the parasite intracellular digestive organelle.

Purine and pyrimidine transporters of pathogenic protozoa - conduits for therapeutic agents

Purines and pyrimidines are essential nutrients for any cell. Most organisms are able to synthesize their own purines and pyrimidines, but this ability was lost in protozoans that adapted to parasitism, leading to a great diversification in transporter activities in these organisms, especially for the acquisition of amino acids and nucleosides from their hosts throughout their life cycles. Many of these transporters have been shown to have sufficiently different substrate affinities from mammalian transporters, making them good carriers for therapeutic agents. In this review, we summarize the knowledge obtained on purine and pyrimidine activities identified in protozoan parasites to date and discuss their importance for the survival of these parasites and as drug carriers, as well as the perspectives of developments in the field.

Impact of Field Isolate Identified Nonsynonymous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms on Plasmodium falciparum Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter 1 Inhibitor Efficacy

Plasmodium falciparum causes the most severe form of malaria and causes approximately 500 000 deaths per year. P. falciparum parasites resistant to current antimalarial treatments are spreading. Therefore, it is imperative to develop new antimalarial drugs. Malaria parasites are purine auxotrophic. They rely on purine import from the host erythrocyte via Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporters (ENTs). Recently, inhibitors of the P. falciparum ENT1 (PfENT1) that inhibit proliferation of malaria parasites in culture have been identified as promising starting points for antimalarial drug development. Genome sequencing of P. falciparum field isolates has identified nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene encoding PfENT1. Here we evaluate the impact of these PfENT1 SNPs on purine substrate affinity and inhibitor efficacy. We expressed each PfENT1-SNP in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using PfENT1-SNP-expressing yeast, we characterized the PfENT1 purine substrate affinity using radiolabeled substrate uptake inhibition experiments. Four of the 13 SNPs altered affinity for one or more purines by up to 7-fold. Three of the SNPs reduced the potency of a subset of the inhibitors by up to 7-fold. One SNP, Q284E, reduced the potency of all six inhibitor chemotypes. We tested drug efficacy in available parasite strains containing PfENT1 SNPs. While PfENT1-SNP-expressing yeast had decreased sensitivity to PfENT1 inhibitors, parasite strains containing SNPs showed similar or more potent inhibition of proliferation with all PfENT1 inhibitors. Thus, parasite strains bearing PfENT1 SNPs are not resistant to these PfENT1 inhibitors. This supports PfENT1 as a promising target for further development of novel antimalarial drugs.

Validation of Plasmodium falciparum dUTPase as the target of 5'-tritylated deoxyuridine analogues with anti-malarial activity

Background

Malaria remains as a major global problem, being one of the infectious diseases that engender highest mortality across the world. Due to the appearance of resistance and the lack of an effective vaccine, the search of novel anti-malarials is required. Deoxyuridine 5′-triphosphate nucleotido-hydrolase (dUTPase) is responsible for the hydrolysis of dUTP to dUMP within the parasite and has been proposed as an essential step in pyrimidine metabolism by providing dUMP for thymidylate biosynthesis. In this work, efforts to validate dUTPase as a drug target in Plasmodium falciparum are reported.

Methods

To investigate the role of PfdUTPase in cell survival different strategies to generate knockout mutants were used. For validation of PfdUTPase as the intracellular target of four inhibitors of the enzyme, mutants overexpressing PfdUTPase and HsdUTPase were created and the IC50 for each cell line with each compound was determined. The effect of these compounds on dUTP and dTTP levels from P. falciparum was measured using a DNA polymerase assay. Detailed localization studies by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy and live cell imaging were also performed using a cell line overexpressing a Pfdut-GFP fusion protein.

Results

Different attempts of disruption of the dut gene of P. falciparum were unsuccessful while a 3′ replacement construct could recombine correctly in the locus suggesting that the enzyme is essential. The four 5′-tritylated deoxyuridine analogues described are potent inhibitors of the P. falciparum dUTPase and exhibit antiplasmodial activity. Overexpression of the Plasmodium and human enzymes conferred resistance against selective compounds, providing chemical validation of the target and confirming that indeed dUTPase inhibition is involved in anti-malarial activity. In addition, incubation with these inhibitors was associated with a depletion of the dTTP pool corroborating the central role of dUTPase in dTTP synthesis. PfdUTPase is mainly localized in the cytosol.

Conclusion

These results strongly confirm the pivotal and essential role of dUTPase in pyrimidine biosynthesis of P. falciparum intraerythrocytic stages.

Accessibility of substituted cysteines in TM2 and TM10 transmembrane segments in the Plasmodium falciparum equilibrative nucleoside transporter PfENT1

Infection with Plasmodium species parasites causes malaria. Plasmodium parasites are purine auxotrophic. They import purines via an equilibrative nucleoside transporter (ENT). In P. falciparum, the most virulent species, the equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (PfENT1) represents the primary purine uptake pathway. This transporter is a potential target for the development of antimalarial drugs. In the absence of a high-resolution structure for either PfENT1 or a homologous ENT, we used the substituted cysteine accessibility method (SCAM) to investigate the membrane-spanning domain structure of PfENT1 to identify potential inhibitor-binding sites. We previously used SCAM to identify water-accessible residues that line the permeation pathway in transmembrane segment 11 (TM11). TM2 and TM10 lie adjacent to TM11 in an ab initio model of a homologous Leishmania donovani nucleoside transporter. To identify TM2 and TM10 residues in PfENT1 that are at least transiently on the water-accessible transporter surface, we assayed the reactivity of single cysteine-substitution mutants with three methanethiosulfonate (MTS) derivatives. Cysteines substituted for 12 of 14 TM2 segment residues reacted with MTS-ethyl-ammonium-biotin (MTSEA-biotin). At eight positions, MTSEA-biotin inhibited transport, and at four positions substrate transport was potentiated. On an α helical wheel projection of TM2, the four positions where potentiation occurred were located in a cluster on one side of the helix. In contrast, although MTSEA-biotin inhibited 9 of 10 TM10 cysteine-substituted mutants, the reactive residues did not form a pattern consistent with either an α helix or β sheet. These results may help identify the binding site(s) of PfENT1 inhibitors.

HCN and K2P Channels in Anesthetic Mechanisms Research

The ability of a diverse group of agents to produce general anesthesia has long been an area of intense speculation and investigation. Over the past century, we have seen a paradigm shift from proposing that the anesthetized state arises from nonspecific interaction of anesthetics with the lipid membrane to the recognition that the function of distinct, and identifiable, membrane-embedded proteins is dramatically altered in the presence of intravenous and inhaled agents. Among proteinaceous targets, metabotropic and ionotropic receptors garnered much of the attention over the last 30 years, and it is only relatively recently that voltage-gated ion channels have clearly and rigorously been shown to be important molecular targets. In this review, we will consider the experimental issues relevant to two important ion channel anesthetic targets, HCN and K_2P.

Pinning Down the Mechanism of Transport: Probing the Structure and Function of Transporters Using Cysteine Cross-Linking and Site-Specific Labeling

Transporters are crucial in a number of cellular functions, including nutrient uptake, cell signaling, and toxin removal. As such, transporters are important drug targets and their malfunction is related to several disease states. Treating transporter-related diseases and developing pharmaceuticals targeting transporters require an understanding of their mechanism. Achieving a detailed understanding of transporter mechanism depends on an integrative approach involving structural and computational approaches as well as biochemical and biophysical methodologies. Many of the elements of this toolkit exploit the unique and useful chemistry of the amino acid cysteine. Cysteine offers researchers a specific molecular handle with which to precisely modify the protein, which enables the introduction of biophysical probes to assess ligand binding and the conformational ensemble of the transporter, to topologically map transporters and validate structural models, and to assess essential conformational changes. Here, we summarize several uses for cysteine-based labeling and cross-linking in the pursuit of understanding transporter mechanism, the common cysteine-reactive reagents used to probe transporter mechanism, and strategies that can be used to confirm cysteine cross-link formation. In addition, we provide methodological considerations for each approach and a detailed procedure for the cross-linking of introduced cysteines, and a simple screening method to assess cross-link formation.

Targeting the Plasmodium vivax equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (PvENT1) for antimalarial drug development

Infection with Plasmodium falciparum and vivax cause most cases of malaria. Emerging resistance to current antimalarial medications makes new drug development imperative. Ideally a new antimalarial drug should treat both falciparum and vivax malaria. Because malaria parasites are purine auxotrophic, they rely on purines imported from the host erythrocyte via Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporters (ENTs). Thus, the purine import transporters represent a potential target for antimalarial drug development. For falciparum parasites the primary purine transporter is the P. falciparum Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter Type 1 (PfENT1). Recently we identified potent PfENT1 inhibitors with nanomolar IC₅₀ values using a robust, yeast-based high throughput screening assay. In the current work we characterized the Plasmodium vivax ENT1 (PvENT1) homologue and its sensitivity to the PfENT1 inhibitors. We expressed a yeast codon-optimized PvENT1 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PvENT1-expressing yeast imported both purines ([³H]adenosine) and pyrimidines ([³H]uridine), whereas wild type (fui1Δ) yeast did not. Based on radiolabel substrate uptake inhibition experiments, inosine had the lowest IC₅₀ (3.8 μM), compared to guanosine (14.9 μM) and adenosine (142 μM). For pyrimidines, thymidine had an IC₅₀ of 183 μM (vs. cytidine and uridine; mM range). IC₅₀ values were higher for nucleobases compared to the corresponding nucleosides; hypoxanthine had a 25-fold higher IC₅₀ than inosine. The archetypal human ENT1 inhibitor 4-nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBMPR) had no effect on PvENT1, whereas dipyridamole inhibited PvENT1, albeit with a 40 μM IC₅₀, a 1000-fold less sensitive than human ENT1 (hENT1). The PfENT1 inhibitors blocked transport activity of PvENT1 and the five known naturally occurring non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with similar IC₅₀ values. Thus, the PfENT1 inhibitors also target PvENT1. This implies that development of novel antimalarial drugs that target both falciparum and vivax ENT1 may be feasible.

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PvENT1 can be functionally expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

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PvENT1 transports purine and pyrimidine nucleosides and nucleobases but does not transport nucleotides.

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PvENT1 is inhibited by recently described PfENT1 inhibitors with similar potency.

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Identified PvENT1 non-synonymous SNPs do not change PfENT1 inhibitor potency.

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Plasmodium ENTs may be feasible target for development of novel antimalarial drugs.

The Role of Flexible Loops in Folding, Trafficking and Activity of Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporters

Equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENTs) are integral membrane proteins, which reside in plasma membranes of all eukaryotic cells and mediate thermodynamically downhill transport of nucleosides. This process is essential for nucleoside recycling, and also plays a key role in terminating adenosine-mediated cellular signaling. Furthermore, ENTs mediate the uptake of many drugs, including anticancer and antiviral nucleoside analogues. The structure and mechanism, by which ENTs catalyze trans-membrane transport of their substrates, remain unknown. To identify the core of the transporter needed for stability, activity, and for its correct trafficking to the plasma membrane, we have expressed human ENT deletion mutants in Xenopus laevis oocytes and determined their localization, transport properties and susceptibility to inhibition. We found that the carboxyl terminal trans-membrane segments are essential for correct protein folding and trafficking. In contrast, the soluble extracellular and intracellular loops appear to be dispensable, and must be involved in the fine-tuning of transport regulation.

Yeast-based high-throughput screen identifies Plasmodium falciparum equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 inhibitors that kill malaria parasites

Equilibrative transporters are potential drug targets; however, most functional assays involve radioactive substrate uptake that is unsuitable for high-throughput screens (HTS). We developed a robust yeast-based growth assay that is potentially applicable to many equilibrative transporters. As proof of principle, we applied our approach to Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter 1 of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum (PfENT1). PfENT1 inhibitors might serve as novel antimalarial drugs since PfENT1-mediated purine import is essential for parasite proliferation. To identify PfENT1 inhibitors, we screened 64 560 compounds and identified 171 by their ability to rescue the growth of PfENT1-expressing fui1Δ yeast in the presence of a cytotoxic PfENT1 substrate, 5-fluorouridine (5-FUrd). In secondary assays, nine of the highest activity compounds inhibited PfENT1-dependent growth of a purine auxotrophic yeast strain with adenosine as the sole purine source (IC50 0.2-2 μM). These nine compounds completely blocked [(3)H]adenosine uptake into PfENT1-expressing yeast and erythrocyte-free trophozoite-stage parasites (IC50 5-50 nM), and inhibited chloroquine-sensitive and -resistant parasite proliferation (IC50 5-50 μM). Wild-type (WT) parasite IC50 values were up to 4-fold lower compared to PfENT1-knockout (pfent1Δ) parasites. pfent1Δ parasite killing showed a delayed-death phenotype not observed with WT. We infer that, in parasites, the compounds inhibit both PfENT1 and a secondary target with similar efficacy. The secondary target identity is unknown, but its existence may reduce the likelihood of parasites developing resistance to PfENT1 inhibitors. Our data support the hypothesis that blocking purine transport through PfENT1 may be a novel and compelling approach for antimalarial drug development.

Purine import into malaria parasites as a target for antimalarial drug development

Infection with Plasmodium species parasites causes malaria. Plasmodium parasites are purine auxotrophs. In all life cycle stages, they require purines for RNA and DNA synthesis and other cellular metabolic processes. Purines are imported from the host erythrocyte by equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENTs). They are processed via purine salvage pathway enzymes to form the required purine nucleotides. The Plasmodium falciparum genome encodes four putative ENTs (PfENT1-4). Genetic, biochemical, and physiologic evidence suggest that PfENT1 is the primary purine transporter supplying the purine salvage pathway. Protein mass spectrometry shows that PfENT1 is expressed in all parasite stages. PfENT1 knockout parasites are not viable in culture at purine concentrations found in human blood (<10 μM). Thus, PfENT1 is a potential target for novel antimalarial drugs, but no PfENT1 inhibitors have been identified to test the hypothesis. Identifying inhibitors of PfENT1 is an essential step to validate PfENT1 as a potential antimalarial drug target.

Membrane transport in the malaria parasite and its host erythrocyte

As it grows and replicates within the erythrocytes of its host the malaria parasite takes up nutrients from the extracellular medium, exports metabolites and maintains a tight control over its internal ionic composition. These functions are achieved via membrane transport proteins, integral membrane proteins that mediate the passage of solutes across the various membranes that separate the biochemical machinery of the parasite from the extracellular environment. Proteins of this type play a key role in antimalarial drug resistance, as well as being candidate drug targets in their own right. This review provides an overview of recent work on the membrane transport biology of the malaria parasite-infected erythrocyte, encompassing both the parasite-induced changes in the membrane transport properties of the host erythrocyte and the cell physiology of the intracellular parasite itself.

Role of the fourth transmembrane domain in proton-coupled folate transporter function as assessed by the substituted cysteine accessibility method

The proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT, SLC46A1) mediates folate transport across the apical brush-border membrane of the proximal small intestine and the basolateral membrane of choroid plexus ependymal cells. Two loss-of-function mutations in PCFT, which are the basis for hereditary folate malabsorption, have been identified within the fourth transmembrane domain (TMD4) in subjects with this disorder. We have employed the substituted Cys accessibility method (SCAM) to study the accessibilities of all residues in TMD4 and their roles in folate substrate binding to the carrier. When residues 146-167 were replaced by Cys, all except R148C were expressed at the cell surface. Modification of five of these substituted Cys residues (positions 147, 152, 157, 158, and 161) by methanethiosulfonate (MTS) reagents led to reduction of PCFT function. All five residues could be labeled with N-biotinylaminoethyl-MTS, and this could be blocked by the high-affinity PCFT substrate pemetrexed. Pemetrexed also protected PCFT mutant function from inhibitory modification of the substituted Cys at positions 157, 158, and 161 by a MTS. The findings indicate that these five residues in TMD4 are accessible to the aqueous translocation pathway, play a role in folate substrate binding, and are likely located within or near the folate binding pocket. A homology model of PCFT places three of these residues, Phe¹⁵⁷, Gly¹⁵⁸, and Leu¹⁶¹, within a breakpoint in the midportion of TMD4, a region that likely participates in alterations in the PCFT conformational state during carrier cycling.

Adaptation of low-resolution methods for the study of yeast microsomal polytopic membrane proteins: a methodological review

Most integral membrane proteins of yeast with two or more membrane-spanning sequences have not yet been crystallized and for many of them the side on which the active sites or ligand-binding domains reside is unknown. Also, bioinformatic topology predictions are not yet fully reliable. However, so-called low-resolution biochemical methods can be used to locate hydrophilic loops or individual residues of polytopic membrane proteins at one or the other side of the membrane. The advantages and limitations of several such methods for topological studies with yeast ER integral membrane proteins are discussed. We also describe new tools that allow us to better control and validate results obtained with SCAM (substituted cysteine accessibility method), an approach that determines the position of individual residues with respect to the membrane plane, whereby only minimal changes in the primary sequence have to be introduced into the protein of interest.

Cysteine residues in the transmembrane (TM) 9 to TM11 region of the human equilibrative nucleoside transporter subtype 1 play an important role in inhibitor binding and translocation function

Inhibitor and substrate interactions with equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (ENT1; SLC29A1) are known to be affected by cysteine-modifying reagents. A previous study from our laboratory established Cys222 in transmembrane (TM) 6 as the residue responsible for methyl methanethiosulfonate (a membrane-permeable sulfhydryl modifier)-mediated enhancement of the binding of the ENT1 inhibitor nitrobenzylmercaptopurine riboside (NBMPR) in intact cells. However, the capacity of charged sulfhydryl reagents to inhibit the binding of NBMPR in broken cell preparations (allowing cytoplasmic access) was not affected by mutation of any of the cysteines (Cys87, 193, 213, or 222) in the N-terminal half of the protein. We thus hypothesized that the inhibitory effects of the modifiers were due to the one or more of the six cysteine residues in the C-terminal half of ENT1, particularly one or both of those in the fifth intracellular loop (Cys414 and Cys416). Each of the cysteines were mutated to serine or alanine and expressed in nucleoside transport-deficient PK15 cells and probed with a series of methanethiosulfonate sulfhydryl-modifying reagents. Transporter function was assessed by the site-specific binding of [(3)H]NBMPR and the cellular uptake of [(3)H]2-chloroadenosine. These studies established that Cys378 is an extracellular-located residue modified by [2-(trimethylammonium)ethyl] methane-thiosulfonate (MTSET) to inhibit the binding of NBMPR to intact cells. Mutation of Cys414 led to an enhancement of the ability of MTSET to inhibit NBMPR binding, and this enhancement was eliminated by the comutation of Cys378, indicating that disruption of the fifth intracellular loop modifies the conformation of TM10 and its extracellular extension. Mutation of Cys416 led to the loss of the ability of the charged sulfhydryl reagents to inhibit NBMPR binding in isolated membranes and also led to the loss of transport function. This finding further supports an allosteric interaction between the fifth intracellular loop and the extracellular NBMPR binding domain and implicates this region in the translocation function of human ENT1.

Malaria parasite type 4 equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENT4) are purine transporters with distinct substrate specificity

Malaria, caused by Plasmodia parasites, affects hundreds of millions of people. As purine auxotrophs, Plasmodia use transporters to import host purines for subsequent metabolism by the purine salvage pathway. Thus purine transporters are attractive drug targets. All sequenced Plasmodia genomes encode four ENTs (equilibrative nucleoside transporters). During the pathogenic intraerythrocytic stages, ENT1 is a major route of purine nucleoside/nucleobase transport. Another plasma membrane purine transporter exists because Plasmodium falciparum ENT1-knockout parasites survive at supraphysiological purine concentrations. The other three ENTs have not been characterized functionally. Codon-optimized Pf- (P. falciparum) and Pv- (Plasmodium vivax) ENT4 were expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes and substrate transport was determined with radiolabelled substrates. ENT4 transported adenine and 2'-deoxyadenosine at the highest rate, with millimolar-range apparent affinity. ENT4-expressing oocytes did not accumulate hypoxanthine, a key purine salvage pathway substrate, or AMP. Micromolar concentrations of the plant hormone cytokinin compounds inhibited both PfENT4 and PvENT4. In contrast with PfENT1, ENT4 interacted with the immucillin compounds in the millimolar range and was inhibited by 10 μM dipyridamole. Thus ENT4 is a purine transporter with unique substrate and inhibitor specificity. Its role in parasite physiology remains uncertain, but is likely to be significant because of the strong conservation of ENT4 homologues in Plasmodia genomes.

Insights to the evolution of Nucleobase-Ascorbate Transporters (NAT/NCS2 family) from the Cys-scanning analysis of xanthine permease XanQ

The nucleobase-ascorbate transporter or nucleobase-cation symporter-2 (NAT/NCS2) family is one of the five known families of transporters that use nucleobases as their principal substrates and the only one that is evolutionarily conserved and widespread in all major taxa of organisms. The family is a typical paradigm of a group of related transporters for which conservation in sequence and overall structure correlates with high functional variations between homologs. Strikingly, the human homologs fail to recognize nucleobases or related cytotoxic compounds. This fact allows important biomedical perspectives for translation of structure-function knowledge on this family to the rational design of targeted antimicrobial purine-related drugs. To date, very few homologs have been characterized experimentally in detail and only two, the xanthine permease XanQ and the uric acid/xanthine permease UapA, have been studied extensively with site-directed mutagenesis. Recently, the high-resolution structure of a related homolog, the uracil permease UraA, has been solved for the first time with crystallography. In this review, I summarize current knowledge and emphasize how the systematic Cys-scanning mutagenesis of XanQ, in conjunction with existing biochemical and genetic evidence for UapA and the x-ray structure of UraA, allow insight on the structure-function and evolutionary relationships of this important group of transporters. The review is organized in three parts referring to (I) the theory of use of Cys-scanning approaches in the study of membrane transporter families, (II) the state of the art with experimental knowledge and current research on the NAT/NCS2 family, (III) the perspectives derived from the Cys-scanning analysis of XanQ.

Functional roles of the A335 and G338 residues of the proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT-SLC46A1) mutated in hereditary folate malabsorption

The proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT-SLC46A1) mediates intestinal folate absorption and folate transport across the choroid plexus, processes defective in hereditary folate malabsorption (HFM). This paper characterizes the functional defect, and the roles of two mutated PCFT residues, associated with HFM (G338R and A335D). The A335D-PCFT and other mutations at this residue result in an unstable protein; when expression of a mutant protein was preserved, function was always retained. The G338R and other charged mutants resulted in an unstable protein; substitutions with small neutral and polar amino acids preserved protein but with impaired function. Pemetrexed and methotrexate (MTX) influx kinetics mediated by the G338C mutant PCFT revealed marked (15- to 20-fold) decreases in K(t) and V(max) compared with wild-type PCFT. In contrast, there was only a small (∼2-fold) decrease in the MTX influx K(i) and an increase (∼3-fold) in the pemetrexed influx K(i) for the G338C-PCFT mutant. Neither a decrease in pH to 4.5, nor an increase to 7.4, restored function of the G338C mutant relative to wild-type PCFT excluding a role for this residue in proton binding or proton coupling. Homology modeling localized the A335 and G338 residues embedded in the 9th transmembrane, consistent with the inaccessibility of the A335C and G338C proteins to MTS reagents. Hence, the loss of intrinsic G338C-PCFT function was due solely to impaired oscillation of the carrier between its conformational states. The data illustrate how alterations in carrier cycling can impact influx K(t) without comparable alterations in substrate binding to the carrier.

A P425R mutation of the proton-coupled folate transporter causing hereditary folate malabsorption produces a highly selective alteration in folate binding

Proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT) mediates folate intestinal absorption and transport across the choroid plexus, processes defective in subjects with hereditary folate malabsorption (HFM). PCFT is also widely expressed in human solid tumors where it contributes to the transport of pemetrexed and other antifolates. This study defines the basis for the functional changes due to a P425R mutation detected in a subject with HFM. Among various substitutions, only positively charged mutants (P425R and P425K) lost function but in a highly selective manner. Transport of reduced folates mediated by P425R-PCFT was virtually abolished; the methotrexate influx K(t) was increased fivefold (from 2 to 10 μM). In contrast, the pemetrexed influx K(t) mediated by P425R-PCFT was decreased 30% compared with wild-type (WT)-PCFT. Methotrexate inhibition of pemetrexed influx was competitive with a K(i) for WT-PCFT comparable to its influx K(t). However, the methotrexate influx K(i) for P425R-PCFT was ∼15-fold higher than the WT-PCFT influx K(t) and threefold higher than the methotrexate influx K(t) for the P425R-PCFT mutant. The confirmed secondary structure and homology modeling place the P425 residue at the junction of the 6th external loop and 12th transmembrane domain, remote from the aqueous translocation pathway, a prediction confirmed by the failure to label P425C-PCFT with N-biotinylaminoethyl methanethiosulfonate-biotin and the absence of inhibition of P425C-PCFT function by water-soluble sulfhydryl reagents. Hence, despite its location, the P425R-PCFT mutation produces a conformational change that fully preserves pemetrexed binding but markedly impairs binding of methotrexate and other folates to the carrier.