When gastric H(+),K(+)-ATPase-containing microsomes are solubilized by detergents, a rapid loss of ATPase activity is generally observed. In this article, SDS/PAGE of octa(ethylene glycol)dodecyl monoether (C(12)E(8))- and n-dodecyl beta-d-maltoside-solubilized microsomes and their purifications by affinity chromatography on Reactive Red column reveal that inactivation is due to two main effects. (i) Solubilization activates an aspartic protease that cleaves down the alpha-subunit of the H(+),K(+)-ATPase. Addition of pepstatin A at slightly acidic pH and at low temperature prevents the proteolysis. (ii) A too-harsh delipidation inactivates the ATPase. When n-dodecyl-beta-d-maltoside is the detergent, the soluble H(+), K(+)-ATPase is highly active (2.5 micromol/mg per h at pH 6.0 and 5 degrees C) as long as ATP is added. When C(12)E(8) is used, the detergent induces an inactivation due to delipidation, since addition of lipids restores activity. The two subunits of the H(+), K(+)-ATPase are present in equimolar ratio in the n-dodecyl beta-d-maltoside-purified complex. Moreover, two main types of complex (330 and 660 kDa) were resolved in non-denaturing gels and should be the dimeric (alphabeta)(2) and tetrameric (alphabeta)(4) heterodimers respectively. In conclusion, purification of active, stable, soluble complexes of H(+),K(+)-ATPase with few lipids (a lipid/protein ratio of 0.25, w/w) has been achieved. This material should be useful for further structural studies.

The classical short‐term effect (within minutes) of arginine vasopressin (AVP) consists in increasing sodium, chloride and water transport in kidney cells. More recently, long‐term actions (several hours) of the hormone have been evidenced on water and sodium fluxes, due to transcriptional enhancement in the expression of their transporters. The present study demonstrates that AVP is also responsible for a long‐term increase in net chloride secretion. In the RCCD1 rat cortical collecting duct cell line, 10−8 M AVP induced, after several hours, an increase in net 36Cl− secretion. This delayed effect of AVP was inhibited by basal addition of 10−4 M bumetanide and apical addition of 10−4 M glibenclamide, suggesting chloride entry at the basal membrane through a Na+/K+/2Cl− and apical secretion through a chloride conductance. An original acute cell permeabilization method was developed to allow for entry of antibodies directed against the regulatory region (R) of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) into the cells. This procedure led to a complete and specific blocking of the long‐term net chloride secretion induced by AVP. Finally, it was observed that CFTR transcripts steady‐state level was significantly increased by AVP treatment. Besides the well‐documented short‐term effect of AVP on chloride transport, these results provide evidence that in RCCD1 cells, AVP induces a delayed increase in transepithelial net chloride secretion that is mediated by a Na+/K+/2Cl− co‐transporter and CFTR.

In a previous work, we predicted and demonstrated that the 29-42-residue fragment of beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta peptide) has in vitro capacities close to those of the tilted fragment of viral fusion proteins. We further demonstrated that apolipoprotein E2 and E3 but not apolipoprotein E4 can decrease the fusogenic activity of Abeta(29-42) via a direct interaction. Therefore, we suggested that this fragment is implicated in the neurotoxicity of Abeta and in the protective effects of apolipoprotein E in Alzheimer's disease. Because structurally related apolipoproteins do not interact with the Abeta C-terminal domain but inhibit viral fusion, we suggested that interactions existing between fusogenic peptides and apolipoproteins are selective and responsible for the inhibition of fusion. In this study, we simulated interactions of all amphipathic helices of apolipoproteins E and A-I with Abeta and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) fusogenic fragments by molecular modeling. We further calculated cross-interactions that do not inhibit fusion in vitro. The results suggest that interactions of hydrophobic residues are the major event to inhibit the fusogenic capacities of Abeta(29-42) and SIV peptides. Selectivity of those interactions is due to the steric complementarity between bulky hydrophobic residues in the fusogenic fragments and hydrophobic residues in the apolipoprotein C-terminal amphipathic helices.

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator is a cAMP-regulated chloride channel. We used molecular modelling to predict 3-D models for the CFTR membrane domain. Hydropathy and residue conservation in all CFTRs as well as in other proteins suggested that the membrane domain is a 12-helix bundle. If the domain is enclosing a channel for chloride, it could be made of five helices. We propose two structural models in which both lumenal and cytoplasmic entrances to the chloride pore have a ring of positively charged residues. The inner surface of the channel is covered with neutral polar plus one or two charged residues. Helices that are not directly involved in the chloride channel could organise to form a second channel; a dimeric symmetrical structure is proposed. Analysis raised interest for helix 5: this hydrophobic fragment is conserved in all CFTRs and aligns with segments present in several different ion channels and transporters. The existence of an FFXXFFXXF motif is proposed. Helix 5 could be an important domain of CFTRs. The models agree with available data from pathological mutations but does not account for the membrane insertion of a hydrophilic fragment of NBD1.

Among different ab initio approaches to calculate 3D-structures of proteins out of primary sequences, a few are using restricted dihedral spaces and empirical equations of energy as is OSIRIS. All those approaches were calibrated on a few proteins or fragments of proteins. To optimize the calculation over a larger diversity of structures, we need first to define for each sequence what are good conditions of calculations in order to choose a consensus procedure fitting most 3D-structures best. This requires objective classification of calculated 3D-structures. In this work, populations of avian and bovine pancreatic polypeptides (APP, BPP) and of calcium-binding protein (CaBP) are obtained by varying the rate of the angular dynamics of the second step of OSIRIS. Then, 3D-structures are clustered using a nonhierarchical method, SICLA, using rmsd as a distance parameter. A good clustering was obtained for four subpopulations of APP, BPP and CaBP. Each subpopulation was characterized by its barycenter, relative frequency and dispersion. For the three alpha-helix proteins, after the step 1 of OSIRIS, most secondary structures were correct but molecules have a few atomic contacts. Step 2, i.e., the angular dynamics, resolves those atomic contacts and clustering demonstrates that it generates subpopulations of topological conformers as the barycenter topologies show.

1-anilino-8-naphtalenesulfonate (ANS) is a hydrophobic dipole previously used to demonstrate that the proton for potassium exchange by the gastric HK-ATPase is electroneutral. In this paper, we demonstrate that ANS binds to gastric membranes and probes conformational changes of the HK-ATPase independently of any active H for K exchange. Conformational changes require the presence of potassium-valinomycin and are not triggered by sodium. Potassium effect is enhanced by ATP, in the presence and in the absence of magnesium and, by ADP, in the presence of magnesium. Labeling of the pig HK-ATPase K518 by fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate inhibits the enzyme activity and knocks out the ATP effect on ANS fluorescence. Scherring 28080 and the monoclonal antibody 95-111, two competitive inhibitors of K-activated ATPase dephosphorylation, do not modify K-effect on ANS fluorescence but inhibit ATP effects. This supports that ANS does not probe K-site between the H1–H2 loop. Treatment of gastric membranes with trypsin does not inhibit the ANS response to potassium but does inhibit the response to ATP. This suggests that the ATP site inducing the ANS response is cytoplasmic and the potassium site is intramembranous. Titration reveals that one mole of ANS interacts with one mole of ATPase. We suggest that ANS probes a hydrophobic potassium site of gastric ATPase and that addition of ATP and ADP-Mg embed that site.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were produced against gastric H,K-ATPase using a theoretical and experimental strategy based on prediction of linear epitopes by molecular modelling followed by production of anti-peptide antibodies. By analysing the alpha subunit sequence, we predicted several epitopes corresponding to amino acids K519-L533, E543-Y553 and S786-L798 and produced monoclonal antibodies HK519, HK543 and HK786. All three react against gastric H,K-ATPase in RaLISA, immunohistochemistry and Western blots demonstrating that they recognize the native and the SDS-denatured ionic pump and that the epitopes are located at the surface of the native ATPase. Antibody Kd are in the range 6-10x10(-8) M. Monoclonal antibody HK519 is a competitive inhibitor of ATP, in agreement with ATP binding to K519. Neither mAb 543, nor mAb 786 inhibit the ATPase activity. Monoclonal antibody 95111, whose epitope is mapped between residues C529 and E561, competes with mAb HK543 but not with the other two. We suggest that the 95111 epitope is overlapping or very close to the HK543-553 sequence. Induction of E1 conformer by binding FITC to K519 increases the number of mAb 95111 and mAb HK543 epitopes but not that of mAb 786, supporting the fact that the fragment E543-Y553 changes accessibility, maybe during the E1-E2 transconformation.

The fusion of some viruses (SIV, BLV, etc) to host cells implicates short fragments of the fusion protein that are asymmetric amphipathic helices in molecular modelling. The tilted orientation of these fragments at a water/lipid interface is directly related to their fusogenic capacity. On this basis, we have searched for fragments of sequences corresponding to ''viral fusion peptides'' in other proteins. We have developed a strategy to detect them from primary sequences. Many candidates were detected, especially in transmembrane areas of membranous proteins, in signal sequences and in globular proteins. We suggest that they are involved in the dynamics of lipid-protein interactions.

We developed an assay to detect wild-type CFTR in respiratory epithelial cells with the objective to evaluate the efficacy of DNA delivery during in vivo gene transfer. The method is based on the previous observation that the common delta F508-CFTR mutant does not reach the apical membrane as does the transgene product. We thus used a monoclonal antibody, MATG 1031, raised against the first extracellular loop sequence of the CFTR protein and an immunodetection protocol lacking premature fixation or permeabilization. Specificity of MATG 1031 for its epitope was controlled by immunoblotting. In HT29-19A, 184, CAPAN-1 human cell lines, and in respiratory primary cultures, staining with MATG 1031, examined by confocal scanning laser microscopy, appeared as small dots restricted to the apical surface. No such staining was observed in NIH-3T3 fibroblasts, in the cystic fibrosis cell line CFPAC-1 or in primary cultures from cystic fibrosis patients. Apical immunostaining with MATG 1031 was restored in CFPAC-1 cells cultured at a low temperature (30 degrees C) and in CFPAC-1 cells transfected with wild-type CFTR Recombinant CFTR was also recognized in CF respiratory cells lipotransfected with wild-type CFTR plasmid DNA MATG 1031 immunostaining was further investigated under blinded conditions in primary cultures derived from nasal curettage. In all the cell cultures examined, our protocol allowed discrimination between non-CF and CF cells. We propose that this method is convenient to detect apical CFTR and may be used to monitor in vivo gene transfer.

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV/CD26) belongs to a non-classical subfamily of serine-proteases. Sequence comparisons have identified Asp599, Ser624, Asp657, Asp702, and His734as highly conserved residues of mouse DPP IV. We previously reported the identification of Ser624, Asp702and His734as the catalytic triad of mouse DPP IV (David, F., Bernard, A. M., Pierres, M., and Marguet, D. (1993)J. Biol. Chem.268,17247–17252). Using site-directed mutagenesis, we have shown here that substitution of Asp599for Ala (D599A) specifically decreases the cell-surface expression of DPP IV in stably transfected mouse fibroblasts. The D599A mutant remained as a high mannose immature glycoprotein and was rapidly degraded. This retention/degradation process correlates with the generation of a β strand in the C-terminal region of DPP IV as shown by three dimensional computer modeling. Our results suggest that conserved residue Asp599is important for the proper folding, glycosylation and transport of mouse DPP IV.

Antibodies are powerful tools for studying the in situ localization and physiology of proteins. The prediction of epitopes by molecular modelling has been used successfully for the papilloma virus, and valuable antibodies have been raised [Müller et al. (1990) J. Gen. Virol., 71, 2709-2717]. We have improved the modelling approach to allow us to predict epitopes from the primary sequences of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator. The procedure involves searching for fragments of primary sequences likely to make amphipathic secondary structures, which are hydrophilic enough to be at the surface of the folded protein and thus accessible to antibodies. Amphipathic helices were predicted using the methods of Berzofsky, Eisenberg and Jähnig. Their hydrophobic-hydrophilic interface was calculated and drawn, and used to predict the orientation of the helices at the surface of the native protein. Amino acids involved in turns were selected using the algorithm of Eisenberg. Tertiary structures were calculated using 'FOLDING', a software developed by R. Brasseur for the prediction of small protein structures [Brasseur (1995) J. Mol. Graphics, in press]. We selected sequences that folded as turns with at least five protruding polar residues. One important property of antibodies is selectivity. To optimize the selectivity of the raised antibodies, each sequence was screened for similarity (FASTA) to the protein sequence from several databanks. Ubiquitous sequences were discarded. This approach led to the identification of 13 potential epitopes in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator: seven helices and six loops.

Gold particles were prepared, dried on grids and shadowed at 45° with a 1.2 nm platinum-carbon (Pt-C) film using the shadowing conditions previously described for the freeze-fracture of gastric parietal cell membranes. The particle diameters and the particle shadow widths and lengths were measured using an image analysis system. Statistical analysis of 2000 diameters, shadow widths and shadow lengths indicated that a homogenous population of particles had a normal frequency distribution of diameters (mean diameter 14.5 ± 1.5 nm) and that the Pt-C shadowing transformed that normal curve into a log-normal frequency distribution of shadow widths. The frequency distribution of shadow lengths was log-normal too. We conclude that a statistical partition of experimental frequency distributions of particle shadow widths and lengths of natural membranes to determine the number and parameters of individual components should involve log-normal subdistributions rather than normal ones.

In a previous work, resting and acid-secreting rabbit gastric mucosa were freeze-fractured and shadowed at 45° with Pt-C. The shadow widths of proteic particles of tubulovesicle and canaliculus membranes were measured and compared. It was concluded that the frequency distributions of widths are significantly different in resting and secreting membranes and that each distribution accounts for several subpopulations of homogenous particles. In the present study, an attempt is made to describe the experimental distributions as a mixture of those of two major proteins, say A and B and their aggregates (AA, AB and BB). The modelling, although simple, gave a very satisfactory statistical fit between observed and computed distributions. The comparison of parameters calculated from histamine and ranitidine experimental data further improves the fits and finally, component A accounts for 69% of the particles. Most replica of A particles are heart-shaped and the median shadow widths are 6.1 and 6.8 nm in canaliculus and tubulovesicles respectively. The component B accounts for 31% of the particles. They mainly appear as small barrels and the median shadow widths are 8.8 and 10.3 nm in canaliculus and tubulovesicles respectively. According to calculated parameters and observed particle replica, the onset of secretion does not change the relative ratio of proteins but changes their shapes. Component A should be the (H+, K+)ATPase whereas debate on the identity of B is wide open.