Human organic anion transporter 3 (hOAT3) can operate as an exchanger and mediate secretory urate flux.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Renal secretion of organic anions is critically dependent on their basolateral uptake against the electrochemical gradient. Due to their localization, two transporters are likely involved, namely OAT1 and OAT3. While OAT1 as an exchanger clearly operates in the secretory direction, OAT3 in its previously supposed mode as a uniporter should move anionic substrates from cell to blood. It would thus dissipate gradients established by OAT1 of common OAT1/OAT3 substrates. In the present study we therefore reinvestigated the driving forces of human OAT3. METHODS: The human OAT3 obtained Xenopus laevis oocyte expression system, hOAT3-mediated transport of estrone sulfate (ES) and dicarboxylates was assayed for cis-inhibition and/or trans-stimulation in both the uptake and efflux direction. RESULTS: hOAT3-mediated efflux of glutarate (GA), can be significantly trans-stimulated by a variety of ions with high cis-inhibitory potency, including GA (282%), alpha-ketoglutarate (476%), p-aminohippurate (179%), and, most notably, urate (167%). Urate cis-inhibited ES uptake with an IC(50) close to normal serum urate concentrations. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that OAT3 does not represent a uniporter but operates as an organic ion%dicarboxylate exchanger similar to OAT1, and may mediate renal urate secretion.

CFTR: covalent modification of cysteine-substituted channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes shows that activation is due to the opening of channels resident in the plasma membrane.

Some studies of CFTR imply that channel activation can be explained by an increase in open probability (P(o)), whereas others suggest that activation involves an increase in the number of CFTR channels (N) in the plasma membrane. Using two-electrode voltage clamp, we tested for changes in N associated with activation of CFTR in Xenopus oocytes using a cysteine-substituted construct (R334C CFTR) that can be modified by externally applied, impermeant thiol reagents like [2-(trimethylammonium)ethyl] methanethiosulfonate bromide (MTSET+). Covalent modification of R334C CFTR with MTSET+ doubled the conductance and changed the I-V relation from inward rectifying to linear and was completely reversed by 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME). Thus, labeled and unlabeled channels could be differentiated by noting the percent decrease in conductance brought about by exposure to 2-ME. When oocytes were briefly (20 s) exposed to MTSET+ before CFTR activation, the subsequently activated conductance was characteristic of labeled R334C CFTR, indicating that the entire pool of CFTR channels activated by cAMP was accessible to MTSET+. The addition of unlabeled, newly synthesized channels to the plasma membrane could be monitored on-line during the time when the rate of addition was most rapid after cRNA injection. The addition of new channels could be detected as early as 5 h after cRNA injection, occurred with a half time of approximately 24-48 h, and was disrupted by exposing oocytes to Brefeldin A, whereas activation of R334C CFTR by cAMP occurred with a half time of tens of minutes, and did not appear to involve the addition of new channels to the plasma membrane. These findings demonstrate that in Xenopus oocytes, the major mechanism of CFTR activation by cAMP is by means of an increase in the open probability of CFTR channels.

Differential roles of viral RNA and cRNA in functional modulation of the influenza virus RNA polymerase.

The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of influenza virus is composed of three viral P proteins (PB1, PB2, and PA) and involved in both transcription and replication of the RNA genome. For the molecular anatomy of this multifunctional enzyme, we have established a simultaneous expression of three P proteins in cultured insect cells using recombinant baculoviruses. For purification of P protein complexes, the PA protein was expressed as a fusion with a histidine tag added at its N terminus. By using affinity chromatography, a complex consisting of the three P proteins was isolated from nuclear extracts of virus-infected cells. The affinity-purified 3P complex showed the activities of capped RNA binding, capped RNA cleavage, viral model RNA binding, model RNA-directed RNA synthesis, and polyadenylation of newly synthesized RNA. We conclude that a functional form of the viral RNA polymerase with the catalytic specificity of transcriptase is formed in recombinant baculovirus-infected insect cells. Using the viral RNA-free 3P complex, we found that the capped RNA cleavage takes place in the presence of vRNA but not of cRNA, indicating that the vRNA functions as a regulatory factor for the specificity control of viral RNA polymerase as well as a template for transcription. The structural elements of RNA directing the expression of RNA polymerase functions were analyzed using variant forms of the model RNA templates.

5'- and 3'-sequences of satellite tobacco necrosis virus RNA promoting translation in tobacco.

The RNA of satellite tobacco necrosis virus (STNV) is a monocistronic messenger that lacks both a 5' cap and a 3' poly(A) tail. The STNV trailer contains an autonomous translational enhancer domain (TED) that promotes translation in vitro by more than one order of magnitude when combined with the 5'-terminal 173 nt of STNV RNA. We now show that the responsible sequence within the 5' region maps to the first 38 nt of the STNV RNA. Mutational analysis indicated that the primary sequence of the STNV 5' 38 nt and TED is important for translation stimulation in vitro, but did not reveal a role for the complementarity between the two. Translation of chimeric STNV-cat RNAs in tobacco protoplasts showed that TED promotes translation in vivo of RNAs lacking a cap and/or a poly(A) tail. Similar to in vitro, TED-dependent translation in tobacco was stimulated further by the STNV 5' 38 nt.

The Thogoto orthomyxovirus cRNA promoter functions as a panhandle but does not stimulate cap snatching in vitro.

The cRNA promoter of Thogoto virus, a tick-borne orthomyxovirus, was investigated using an in vitro polymerase assay based on purified viral cores and synthetic oligoribonucleotides corresponding to the 3' and 5' ends of cRNA. In vitro polymerase activity relied on an interaction between the 3' and 5' ends of cRNA and was ApG primer-dependent. Mutational analysis of the promoter showed that interstrand base-pairing of residues 11 and 12 of the 3' promoter arm with residues 10 and 11 of the 5' promoter arm, respectively, was essential for polymerase activity. These data provide the first clear evidence for a cRNA panhandle in an orthomyxovirus. No evidence was obtained for the presence of a 5' or 3' hook structure in the cRNA promoter, and transcription could not be primed with rabbit globin mRNA or synthetic cap analogues. This demonstrates that cap snatching activity relies on the presence of the vRNA terminal sequences.

Classical swine fever virus: recovery of infectious viruses from cDNA constructs and generation of recombinant cytopathogenic defective interfering particles.

The 5'- and 3'-terminal sequences of the genomic RNA from classical swine fever virus (CSFV) were determined, and the resulting information was used for construction of full-length CSFV cDNA clones. After transfection of in vitro-transcribed RNA derived from a cDNA construct, infectious CSFV was recovered from porcine cells. To confirm the de novo generation of infectious CSFV from cloned DNA, a genetically tagged CSFV was constructed. In comparison with parental CSFV, the recombinant viruses were retarded in growth by about 1 order of magnitude. Introduction of a deletion by exchange of part of the full-length construct for corresponding cDNA fragments derived from the genomes of cytopathogenic CSFV defective interfering particles (DIs) (G. Meyers and H.-J. Thiel, J. Virol. 69:3683-3689. 1995) resulted in recovery of cytopathogenic DIs in the DI genomes is responsible for their cytopathogenicity. The established system will allow novel approaches to analysis of pestiviral molecular biology and in particular to elucidation of the molecular basis of attenuation and cytopathogenicity of these viruses.

An amino acid change in the non-structural NS2 protein of an influenza A virus mutant is responsible for the generation of defective interfering (DI) particles by amplifying DI RNAs and suppressing complementary RNA synthesis.

The mutated non-structural NS2 protein of an influenza A virus mutant, Wa-182, has been shown to be responsible for the production of defective interfering (DI) particles lacking the PA gene after a single cycle high-multiplicity infection. Using a subclone of Wa-182, A3/e-3, that inherited the Wa-182 phenotype but contained only a marginal amount of DI RNAs derived from the PA gene, we showed that replication of the PA genome RNA was suppressed primarily at the step of complementary RNA (cRNA) synthesis. On the other hand, the small amounts of DI RNA species present in the stock of A3/e-3 were shown to be replicated efficiently. These findings suggested that the suppression of cRNA synthesis of the PA gene was caused by preferential amplification of the DI RNAs. The suppression of PA gene cRNA synthesis subsequently resulted in suppression of both virion RNA synthesis and secondary transcription of the PA gene. Such aberrant replication of the PA gene was found to be attributable to an amino acid change in the NS2 protein at position 32, from isoleucine to threonine. These results suggest that the NS2 protein plays a role in promoting normal replication of the genomic RNAs by preventing the replication of short-length RNA species.