scholarly journals Oligomerization of green fluorescent protein in the secretory pathway of endocrine cells

2001 ◽  
Vol 360 (3) ◽  
pp. 645-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renu K. JAIN ◽  
Paul B. M. JOYCE ◽  
Miguel MOLINETE ◽  
Philippe A. HALBAN ◽  
Sven-Ulrik GORR
Keyword(s):  
Green Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Endocrine Cells ◽  
Secretory Pathway ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Secretory Granules ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Cysteine Residues ◽  
Reporter Protein ◽  
Regulated Secretory Pathway ◽  
Green Fluorescent

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is used extensively as a reporter protein to monitor cellular processes, including intracellular protein trafficking and secretion. In general, this approach depends on GFP acting as a passive reporter protein. However, it was recently noted that GFP oligomerizes in the secretory pathway of endocrine cells. To characterize this oligomerization and its potential role in GFP transport, cytosolic and secretory forms of enhanced GFP (EGFP) were expressed in GH4C1 and AtT-20 endocrine cells. Biochemical analysis showed that cytosolic EGFP existed as a 27kDa monomer, whereas secretory forms of EGFP formed disulphide-linked oligomers. EGFP contains two cysteine residues (Cys49 and Cys71), which could play a role in this oligomerization. Site-directed mutagenesis of Cys49 and Cys71 showed that both cysteine residues were involved in disulphide interactions. Substitution of either cysteine residue resulted in a reduction or loss of oligomers, although dimers of the secretory form of EGFP remained. Mutation of these residues did not adversely affect the fluorescence of EGFP. EGFP oligomers were stored in secretory granules and secreted by the regulated secretory pathway in endocrine AtT-20 cells. Similarly, the dimeric mutant forms of EGFP were still secreted via the regulated secretory pathway, indicating that the higher-order oligomers were not necessary for sorting in AtT-20 cells. These results suggest that the oligomerization of EGFP must be considered when the protein is used as a reporter molecule in the secretory pathway.

scholarly journals Oligomerization of green fluorescent protein in the secretory pathway of endocrine cells

2001 ◽  
Vol 360 (3) ◽  
pp. 645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renu K. JAIN ◽  
Paul B.M. JOYCE ◽  
Miguel MOLINETE ◽  
Philippe A. HALBAN ◽  
Sven-Ulrik GORR
Keyword(s):  
Green Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Endocrine Cells ◽  
Secretory Pathway ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Green Fluorescent

Determinants for chromogranin A sorting into the regulated secretory pathway are also sufficient to generate granule-like structures in non-endocrine cells

2009 ◽  
Vol 418 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hansruedi Stettler ◽  
Nicole Beuret ◽  
Cristina Prescianotto-Baschong ◽  
Bérengère Fayard ◽  
Laurent Taupenot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chromogranin A ◽  
Endocrine Cells ◽  
Secretory Pathway ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Secretory Granules ◽  
Peptide Hormone ◽  
Secretory Proteins ◽  
Cell Periphery ◽  
Granule Formation ◽  
Regulated Secretory Pathway

In endocrine cells, prohormones and granins are segregated in the TGN (trans-Golgi network) from constitutively secreted proteins, stored in concentrated form in dense-core secretory granules, and released in a regulated manner on specific stimulation. The mechanism of granule formation is only partially understood. Expression of regulated secretory proteins, both peptide hormone precursors and granins, had been found to be sufficient to generate structures that resemble secretory granules in the background of constitutively secreting, non-endocrine cells. To identify which segment of CgA (chromogranin A) is important to induce the formation of such granule-like structures, a series of deletion constructs fused to either GFP (green fluorescent protein) or a short epitope tag was expressed in COS-1 fibroblast cells and analysed by fluorescence and electron microscopy and pulse-chase labelling. Full-length CgA as well as deletion constructs containing the N-terminal 77 residues generated granule-like structures in the cell periphery that co-localized with co-expressed SgII (secretogranin II). These are essentially the same segments of the protein that were previously shown to be required for granule sorting in wild-type PC12 (pheochromocytoma cells) cells and for rescuing a regulated secretory pathway in A35C cells, a variant PC12 line deficient in granule formation. The results support the notion that self-aggregation is at the core of granule formation and sorting into the regulated pathway.

scholarly journals Disruption of a Receptor-Mediated Mechanism for Intracellular Sorting of Proinsulin in Familial Hyperproinsulinemia

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 1856-1867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Savita Dhanvantari ◽  
Fu-Sheng Shen ◽  
Tiffany Adams ◽  
Christopher R. Snell ◽  
ChunFa Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Endocrine Cells ◽  
Secretory Pathway ◽  
Secretory Granules ◽  
Dominant Negative ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Dominant Negative Mutant ◽  
Sorting Receptor ◽  
Intracellular Sorting ◽  
Regulated Secretory Pathway ◽  
Interfering Rna

Abstract In familial hyperproinsulinemia, specific mutations in the proinsulin gene are linked with a profound increase in circulating plasma proinsulin levels. However, the molecular and cellular basis for this disease remains uncharacterized. Here we investigated how these mutations may disrupt the sorting signal required to target proinsulin to the secretory granules of the regulated secretory pathway, resulting in the unregulated release of proinsulin. Using a combination of molecular modeling and site-directed mutagenesis, we have identified structural molecular motifs in proinsulin that are necessary for correct sorting into secretory granules of endocrine cells. We show that membrane carboxypeptidase E (CPE), previously identified as a prohormone-sorting receptor, is essential for proinsulin sorting. This was demonstrated through short interfering RNA-mediated depletion of CPE and transfection with a dominant negative mutant of CPE in a β-cell line. Mutant proinsulins found in familial hyperproinsulinemia failed to bind to CPE and were not sorted efficiently. These findings provide evidence that the elevation of plasma proinsulin levels found in patients with familial hyperproinsulinemia is caused by the disruption of CPE-mediated sorting of mutant proinsulins to the regulated secretory pathway.

scholarly journals Single-Molecule Imaging and Computational Microscopy Approaches Clarify the Mechanism of the Dimerization and Membrane Interactions of Green Fluorescent Protein

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohua Wang ◽  
Kai Song ◽  
Yang Li ◽  
Ling Tang ◽  
Xin Deng
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Dynamics ◽  
Green Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Hydrophobic Interactions ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Single Amino Acid ◽  
Single Mutation ◽  
Functional Protein ◽  
Green Fluorescent

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is widely used as a biomarker in living systems; however, GFP and its variants are prone to forming low-affinity dimers under physiological conditions. This undesirable tendency is exacerbated when fluorescent proteins (FP) are confined to membranes, fused to naturally-oligomeric proteins, or expressed at high levels in cells. Oligomerization of FPs introduces artifacts into the measurement of subunit stoichiometry, as well as interactions between proteins fused to FPs. Introduction of a single mutation, A206K, has been shown to disrupt hydrophobic interactions in the region responsible for GFP dimerization, thereby contributing to its monomerization. Nevertheless, a detailed understanding of how this single amino acid-dependent inhibition of dimerization in GFP occurs at the atomic level is still lacking. Single-molecule experiments combined with computational microscopy (atomistic molecular dynamics) revealed that the amino group of A206 contributes to GFP dimer formation via a multivalent electrostatic interaction. We further showed that myristoyl modification is an efficient mechanism to promote membrane attachment of GFP. Molecular dynamics-based site-directed mutagenesis has been used to identify the key functional residues in FPs. The data presented here have been utilized as a monomeric control in downstream single-molecule studies, facilitating more accurate stoichiometry quantification of functional protein complexes in living cells.

Transport Through the Secretory Pathway of VSVG Tagged With Green Fluorescent Protein: Role of Tubulovesicular Carriers and Microtubules

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. 139-140
Author(s):  
John Presley ◽  
Koret Hirschberg ◽  
Nelson Cole
Keyword(s):  
Green Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Membrane Transport ◽  
G Protein ◽  
Golgi Complex ◽  
Secretory Pathway ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Dynamic Properties ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Morphological Properties ◽  
Green Fluorescent

The ts045 mutant of VSV G protein has been used in numerous studies to identify biochemical and morphological properties of membrane transport, due to its reversible misfolding and retention in the ER at 40°C and ability to traffic out of the ER and into the Golgi complex upon temperature reduction to 32oC. The dynamic properties of membrane transport intermediates of the secretory pathway, including their lifetime and fate within cells, have not until now been explored due to the inability to follow transport in single living cells. Here, we attached green fluorescent protein to the cytoplasmic tail of VSV G protein in order to visualize ER-to-Golgi and Golgi-to-plasma membrane transport in living cells. VSVG-GFP expressed in Cos cells accumulated in the ER at 40°C and translocated to the Golgi complex when shifted to 32oC. Translocation of the protein was followed using time-lapse imaging of live cells on a confocal microscope. VSVG-GFP accumulated in tubulovesicular structures scattered throughout the cell upon shift from 40°C to 15°C for three hours.

scholarly journals Secretory-granule dynamics visualized in vivo with a phogrin–green fluorescent protein chimaera

1998 ◽  
Vol 333 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aristea E. POULI ◽  
Evaggelia EMMANOUILIDOU ◽  
Chao ZHAO ◽  
Christina WASMEIER ◽  
John C. HUTTON ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Green Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Pc12 Cells ◽  
Secretory Granule ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Secretory Granules ◽  
Dense Core ◽  
Β Cells ◽  
Green Fluorescent ◽  
Insulinoma Cells

To image the behaviour in real time of single secretory granules in neuroendocrine cells we have expressed cDNA encoding a fusion construct between the dense-core secretory-granule-membrane glycoprotein, phogrin (phosphatase on the granule of insulinoma cells), and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). Expressed in INS-1 β-cells and pheochromocytoma PC12 cells, the chimaera was localized efficiently (up to 95%) to dense-core secretory granules (diameter 200–1000 nm), identified by co-immunolocalization with anti-(pro-)insulin antibodies in INS-1 cells and dopamine β-hydroxylase in PC12 cells. Using laser-scanning confocal microscopy and digital image analysis, we have used this chimaera to monitor the effects of secretagogues on the dynamics of secretory granules in single living cells. In unstimulated INS-1 β-cells, granule movement was confined to oscillatory movement (dithering) with period of oscillation 5–10 s and mean displacement < 1 µm. Both elevated glucose concentrations (30 mM), and depolarization of the plasma membrane with K+, provoked large (5–10 µm) saltatory excursions of granules across the cell, which were never observed in cells maintained at low glucose concentration. By contrast, long excursions of granules occurred in PC12 cells without stimulation, and occurred predominantly from the cell body towards the cell periphery and neurite extensions. Purinergic-receptor activation with ATP provoked granule movement towards the membrane of PC12 cells, resulting in the transfer of fluorescence to the plasma membrane consistent with fusion of the granule and diffusion of the chimaera in the plasma membrane. These results illustrate the potential use of phogrin–EGFP chimeras in the study of secretory-granule dynamics, the regulation of granule–cytoskeletal interactions and the trafficking of a granule-specific transmembrane protein during the cycle of exocytosis and endocytosis.

scholarly journals Real-Time Imaging of the Axonal Transport of Granules Containing a Tissue Plasminogen Activator/Green Fluorescent Protein Hybrid

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 2463-2476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janis E. Lochner ◽  
Mary Kingma ◽  
Samuel Kuhn ◽  
C. Daniel Meliza ◽  
Bryan Cutler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Green Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Plasminogen Activator ◽  
Axonal Transport ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Secretory Granules ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Growth Cones ◽  
Differentiated Cells ◽  
Tissue Plasminogen ◽  
Green Fluorescent

A hybrid protein, tPA/GFP, consisting of rat tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and green fluorescent protein (GFP) was expressed in PC12 cells and used to study the distribution, secretory behavior, and dynamics of secretory granules containing tPA in living cells with a neuronal phenotype. High-resolution images demonstrate that tPA/GFP has a growth cone-biased distribution in differentiated cells and that tPA/GFP is transported in granules of the regulated secretory pathway that colocalize with granules containing secretogranin II. Time-lapse images of secretion reveal that secretagogues induce substantial loss of cellular tPA/GFP fluorescence, most importantly from growth cones. Time-lapse images of the axonal transport of granules containing tPA/GFP reveal a surprising complexity to granule dynamics. Some granules undergo canonical fast axonal transport; others move somewhat more slowly, especially in highly fluorescent neurites. Most strikingly, granules traffic bidirectionally along neurites to an extent that depends on granule accumulation, and individual granules can reverse their direction of motion. The retrograde component of this bidirectional transport may help to maintain cellular homeostasis by transporting excess tPA/GFP back toward the cell body. The results presented here provide a novel view of the axonal transport of secretory granules. In addition, the results suggest that tPA is targeted for regulated secretion from growth cones of differentiated cells, strategically positioning tPA to degrade extracellular barriers or to activate other barrier-degrading proteases during axonal elongation.

A novel yellowish-green fluorescent protein from the marine copepod, Chiridius poppei, and its use as a reporter protein in HeLa cells

Gene ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 372 ◽  
pp. 18-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiromi Masuda ◽  
Yasuhiro Takenaka ◽  
Atsushi Yamaguchi ◽  
Satoshi Nishikawa ◽  
Hiroshi Mizuno
Keyword(s):  
Green Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Hela Cells ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Reporter Protein ◽  
Marine Copepod ◽  
Yellowish Green ◽  
Green Fluorescent

scholarly journals Development of a Functional Antibody by Using a Green Fluorescent Protein Frame as the Template

2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (14) ◽  
pp. 4126-4137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rongzhi Wang ◽  
Shuangshuang Xiang ◽  
Yonghui Zhang ◽  
Qiuyu Chen ◽  
Yanfang Zhong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Green Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Specific Antigen ◽  
Disease Diagnosis ◽  
Binding Activity ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Single Chain ◽  
High Affinity ◽  
Green Fluorescent ◽  
Complementarity Determining Region

ABSTRACTSingle-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies are widely used as diagnostic and therapeutic agents or biosensors for a majority of human disease. However, the limitations of the present scFv antibody in terms of stability, solubility, and affinity are challenging to produce by traditional antibody screening and expression formats. We describe here a feasible strategy for creating the green fluorescent protein (GFP)-based antibody. Complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3), which retains the antigen binding activity, was introduced into the structural loops of superfolder GFP, and the result showed that CDR3-inserted GFP displayed almost the same fluorescence intensity as wild-type GFP, and the purified proteins of CDR3 insertion showed the similar binding activity to antigen as the corresponding scFv. Among of all of the CDRs, CDR3s are responsible for antigen recognition, and only the CDR3a insertion is the best format for producing GFP-based antibody binding to specific antigen. The wide versatility of this system was further verified by introducing CDR3 from other scFvs into loop 9 of GFP. We developed a feasible method for rapidly and effectively producing a high-affinity GFP-based antibody by inserting CDR3s into GFP loops. Further, the affinity can be enhanced by specific amino acids scanning and site-directed mutagenesis. Notably, this method had better versatility for creating antibodies to various antigens using GFP as the scaffold, suggesting that a GFP-based antibody with high affinity and specificity may be useful for disease diagnosis and therapy.

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