Role of cytoplasmic termini in sorting and shuttling of the aquaporin-2 water channel.

In mammals, the regulation of water homeostasis is mediated by the aquaporin-1 (AQP1) water channel, which localizes to the basolateral and apical membranes of the early nephron segment, and AQP2, which is translocated from intracellular vesicles to the apical membrane of collecting duct cells after vasopressin stimulation. Because a similar localization and regulation are observed in transfected Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cells, we investigated which segments of AQP2 are important for its routing to forskolin-sensitive vesicles and the apical membrane through analysis of AQP1-AQP2 chimeras. AQP1 with the entire COOH tail of AQP2 was constitutively localized in the apical membrane, whereas chimeras with shorter COOH tail segments of AQP2 were localized in the apical and basolateral membrane. AQP1 with the NH2 tail of AQP2 was constitutively localized in both plasma membranes, whereas AQP1 with the NH2 and COOH tail of AQP2 was sorted to intracellular vesicles and translocated to the apical membrane with forskolin. These data indicate that region N220-S229 is essential for localization of AQP2 in the apical membrane and that the NH2 and COOH tail of AQP2 are essential for trafficking of AQP2 to intracellular vesicles and its shuttling to and from the apical membrane.

Cell-biologic and functional analyses of five new Aquaporin-2 missense mutations that cause recessive nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.

Mutations in the Aquaporin-2 gene, which encodes a renal water channel, have been shown to cause autosomal nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI), a disease in which the kidney is unable to concentrate urine in response to vasopressin. Most AQP2 missense mutants in recessive NDI are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), but AQP2-T125M and AQP2-G175R were reported to be nonfunctional channels unimpaired in their routing to the plasma membrane. In five families, seven novel AQP2 gene mutations were identified and their cell-biologic basis for causing recessive NDI was analyzed. The patients in four families were homozygous for mutations, encoding AQP2-L28P, AQP2-A47V, AQP2-V71M, or AQP2-P185A. Expression in oocytes revealed that all these mutants, and also AQP2-T125M and AQP2-G175R, conferred a reduced water permeability compared with wt-AQP2, which was due to ER retardation. The patient in the fifth family had a G>A nucleotide substitution in the splice donor site of one allele that results in an out-of-frame protein. The other allele has a nucleotide deletion (c652delC) and a missense mutation (V194I). The routing and function of AQP2-V194I in oocytes was not different from wt-AQP2; it was therefore concluded that c652delC, which leads to an out-of-frame protein, is the NDI-causing mutation of the second allele. This study indicates that misfolding and ER retention is the main, and possibly only, cell-biologic basis for recessive NDI caused by missense AQP2 proteins. In addition, the reduced single channel water permeability of AQP2-A47V (40%) and AQP2-T125M (25%) might become of therapeutic value when chemical chaperones can be found that restore their routing to the plasma membrane.