Localization and topology of ratp28, a member of a novel family of putative steroid-binding proteins.

We have cloned ratp28, a membrane protein from rat liver homologous to the previously described hpr6.6, a putative steroid-binding protein in humans. Ratp28 has a type II topology as determined by protease digestion experiments on intact and detergent-solubilized membranes. Subcellular fractionation by sucrose density centrifugation revealed a distribution for ratp28 identical to Bip as a marker for membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum. In these experiments no association was found with markers for Golgi or plasma membranes, indicating that ratp28 is localized to the endoplasmic reticulum.

Determination of cholesterol at the low picomole level by nano-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

A mass spectrometric method for the quantification of free cholesterol in cells and subcellular membranes is presented. The method is based on a simple one-step chemical derivatization of cholesterol to cholesterol-3-sulfate by a sulfur trioxide-pyridine complex. Quantification is performed by nano-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (nanoESI-MS/MS) using a stable isotope labeled internal standard. The determination of free cholesterol is demonstrated in about 250 cells of a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line. With this method a molar ratio of free cholesterol to total phospholipids of 0.34 mol/mol in CHO cells was determined. In a subcellular membrane fraction enriched in Golgi membranes, a molar ratio of free cholesterol to total phospholipids of 0.57 mol/mol was determined. The method should be of value for quantification of other sterols as demonstrated for ergosterol and stigmasterol.

A common motif of eukaryotic glycosyltransferases is essential for the enzyme activity of large clostridial cytotoxins.

A fragment of the N-terminal 546 amino acid residues of Clostridium sordellii lethal toxin possesses full enzyme activity and glucosylates Rho and Ras GTPases in vitro. Here we identified several amino acid residues in C. sordellii lethal toxin that are essential for the enzyme activity of the active toxin fragment. Exchange of aspartic acid at position 286 or 288 with alanine or asparagine decreased glucosyltransferase activity by about 5000-fold and completely blocked glucohydrolase activity. No enzyme activity was detected with the double mutant D286A/D288A. Whereas the wild-type fragment of C. sordellii lethal toxin was labeled by azido-UDP-glucose after UV irradiation, mutation of the DXD motif prevented radiolabeling. At high concentrations (10 mM) of manganese ions, the transferase activities of the D286A and D288A mutants but not that of wild-type fragment were increased by about 20-fold. The exchange of Asp270 and Arg273 reduced glucosyltransferase activity by about 200-fold and blocked glucohydrolase activity. The data indicate that the DXD motif, which is highly conserved in all large clostridial cytotoxins and also in a large number of glycosyltransferases, is functionally essential for the enzyme activity of the toxins and may participate in coordination of the divalent cation and/or in the binding of UDP-glucose.

Functional organization of the Golgi apparatus in glycosphingolipid biosynthesis. Lactosylceramide and subsequent glycosphingolipids are formed in the lumen of the late Golgi.

Biosynthesis of plasma membrane sphingolipids involves the coordinate action of enzymes localized to individual compartments of the biosynthetic secretory pathway of proteins. These stations include the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. Although a precise localization of all the enzymes that synthesize glycosphingolipids has not been achieved to date, it is assumed that the sequence of events in glycosphingolipid biosynthesis resembles that in glycoprotein biosynthesis, i.e. that early reactions occur in early stations (endoplasmic reticulum and cis/medial Golgi) of the pathway, and late reactions occur in late stations (trans Golgi/trans Golgi network). Using truncated analogues of ceramide and glucosylceramide that allow measurement of enzyme activities in intact membrane fractions, we have reinvestigated the localization of individual enzymes involved in glycosphingolipid biosynthesis and for the first time studied the localization of lactosylceramide synthase after partial separation of Golgi membranes as previously described (Trinchera, M., and Ghidoni, R. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 15766-15769). Here, we show that the reactions involved in higher glycosphingolipid biosynthesis, including lactosylceramide synthesis, all reside in the lumen of the late Golgi compartments from rat liver.

Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes utilize a synthetic truncated ceramide precursor for synthesis and secretion of truncated sphingomyelin.

Plasmodium falciparum is an intracellular parasite of human erythrocytes. Parasite development is accompanied by an increase of the phospholipid content of the infected erythrocyte, but it results in a selective decrease of sphingomyelin. We have studied sphingomyelin biosynthesis in infected erythrocytes using as substrate a synthetic radiolabelled ceramide precursor, truncated in both hydrophobic chains. Lysates of infected, unlike those of non-infected, erythrocytes contained sphingomyelin synthase activity, which therefore is of parasite origin. The enzyme activity was associated with a membrane fraction. In contrast to mammalian cells, the parasite did not synthesize detectable levels of glycosphingolipids. In intact infected erythrocytes the ceramide precursor was converted into a correspondingly truncated soluble sphingomyelin which was released into the medium at 37 degrees C. Release of truncated sphingomyelin was inhibited by low temperature (15 degrees C) but not by the fungal metabolite brefeldin A which, however, arrests protein export from the parasite. While membranes of mammalian cells, including the plasma membrane of non-infected erythrocytes, are impermeable to truncated sphingomyelin, the membrane of infected erythrocytes allowed passage of the molecule in both directions. The results obtained with the unicellular eukaryote used here as an experimental model are discussed in comparison with sphingomyelin synthesis and transport in mammalian cells.

Lactosylceramide is synthesized in the lumen of the Golgi apparatus.

Recently, synthesis of lactosylceramide has been described to occur on the cytosolic face of the Golgi [(1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 20907-20912]. The reactions following in the biosynthesis of higher glycosphingolipids are known to take place in the lumen of the Golgi. For our understanding of the functional organization of the multiglycosyltransferase system of glycosphingolipid synthesis in the Golgi, the knowledge of the topology of individual reactions is a prerequisite. We have developed a simple and quick assay system for sphingolipid biosynthesis and have obtained evidence that lactosylceramide is synthesized in the lumen of the Golgi. Because lactosylceramide is generated by galactosylation of glucosylceramide which, in turn, is synthesized from ceramide and UDP-Glc on the cytosolic surface of the Golgi apparatus, further efforts will be directed to the characterization of a glucosylceramide-translator in the Golgi membranes rather than a lactosylceramide-translocator.

Glucosylceramide is synthesized at the cytosolic surface of various Golgi subfractions.

In our attempt to assess the topology of glucosylceramide biosynthesis, we have employed a truncated ceramide analogue that permeates cell membranes and is converted into water soluble sphingolipid analogues both in living and in fractionated cells. Truncated sphingomyelin is synthesized in the lumen of the Golgi, whereas glucosylceramide is synthesized at the cytosolic surface of the Golgi as shown by (a) the insensitivity of truncated sphingomyelin synthesis and the sensitivity of truncated glucosylceramide synthesis in intact Golgi membranes from rabbit liver to treatment with protease or the chemical reagent DIDS; and (b) sensitivity of truncated sphingomyelin export and insensitivity of truncated glucosylceramide export to decreased temperature and the presence of GTP-gamma-S in semiintact CHO cells. Moreover, subfractionation of rat liver Golgi demonstrated that the sphingomyelin synthase activity was restricted to fractions containing marker enzymes for the proximal Golgi, whereas the capacity to synthesize truncated glucosylceramide was also found in fractions containing distal Golgi markers. A similar distribution of glucosylceramide synthesizing activity was observed in the Golgi of the human liver derived HepG2 cells. The cytosolic orientation of the reaction in HepG2 cells was confirmed by complete extractability of newly formed NBD-glucosylceramide from isolated Golgi membranes or semiintact cells by serum albumin, whereas NBD-sphingomyelin remained protected against such extraction.

The rate of bulk flow from the Golgi to the plasma membrane.

A truncated analog of the backbone of sphingomyelin and glycolipids was synthesized. This truncated C8C8 ceramide was soluble in water (but was still able to cross cell membranes) and was utilized by the Golgi apparatus of living cells to produce water-soluble truncated phospholipids and glycolipids that were then secreted into the medium. Sphingomyelin is synthesized in a proximal (likely the cis) Golgi compartment. At 37 degrees C in CHO cells, the sphingomyelin analog is secreted with a half time of about 10 min. With this rate of bulk flow, no special signal is needed to pass through the Golgi to the plasma membrane. At 30 degrees C the half time of secretion of a lumenal ER marker is about 18 min, and that of the truncated sphingomyelin is about 14 min. Comparison of these rates sets an upper limit of about 4 min for half of the ER to be drained into the proximal Golgi at 30 degrees C.

Sphingomyelin is synthesized in the cis Golgi.

We have employed in vitro a truncated ceramide analogue with 8 carbon atoms in the sphingosine and the fatty acyl residue, each, to investigate the activity of various membrane fractions to synthesize truncated sphingomyelin. This shortened ceramide readily diffuses through membranes and therefore can easily find access to the lumina of intact organelles. Sphingomyelin synthase activity resides in the Golgi apparatus, and after sucrose density gradient centrifugation of Golgi-enriched fractions sphingomyelin synthesis follows a cis Golgi marker enzyme.

Slow structural changes shown by the 3-nitrotyrosine-237 residue in pig heart [Tyr(3NO2)237] lactate dehydrogenase.

1. The pKa of the phenolic hydroxy group of the Tyr(3NO2)-237 residue in pig heart [Tyr(3NO2)237]lactate dehydrogenase is 7.2 in the apoenzyme, 7.4 in the enzyme-NADH complex and 7.8 in the enzyme-NADH-oxamate complex. The alkaline shift from apoenzyme to ternary complex is ascribed to the approach of the Glu-107 residue during the movement of the polypeptide loop residues 98-110. 2. The affinities of the nitrated enzyme for NADH and for oxamate (in the presence of NADH) are slightly less than those of the native enzyme. The turnover number for the nitrated enzyme in the pyruvate-to-lactate direction is about 0.75 of the value for the native enzyme. 3. Temperature-jump relaxation experiments of the enzyme saturated with NADH but fractionally saturated with oxamate are interpreted to show that the pKa of the nitrotyrosine residue responds to a protein rearrangement after oxamate binds to the binary enzyme-NADH complex. 4. Transient-kinetic experiments show the environment of the Tyr(3NO2)-237 residue in the enzyme-NADH-pyruvate complex of the steady state to be similar to that in the enzyme-NADH-oxamate inhibitor complex.

[Effects of phalloidin in liver cells: binding, morphological changes, and elimination (author's transl)]. / Wirkung von Phalloidin Auf Leberzellen:Bindung, Strukturveränderung und Elimination.

1. The uptake, binding and elimination of phalloidin in liver is compared in adult (180 to 240 g) and "baby" (17 to 19 days old) rats in vivo and in vitro. 2. In both groups there is no relation between the concentration of the poison in the liver and the toxicity. 3. Although baby rats show a significantly higher tolerance against phalloidin than the adult animals, the concentration of the poison in the liver of baby rats is higher, and the elimination is significantly slower than in adult rats. 4. The very tight binding and concentration of phalloidin in the liver is explained by an extremely low dissociation constant. 5. Furthermore, the morphological differences between the poisoning of the liver cells in the entire organ and of isolated liver cells are discussed.

[Somatotropin, antidot against phalloidin (author's transl)]. / Somatotropin, Antidot gegen Phalloidin.

1. Somatotropin protects rats against a lethal dose of phalloidin (1.3 mg/kg). 2. Scanning electron microscopy has shown that 2 hours after phalloidin injection the liver from a somatotropin-pretreated rat is not significantly different to that from an untreated rat. Phalloidin alone caused complete destruction of the structure of the liver lobules. 3. Somatotropin does not prevent phalloidin uptake by the liver but slows down elimination. 4. The findings are discussed with respect to their therapeutic possibilities as somatropin protects rats against death also after phalloidin poisoning.