scholarly journals Evidence for defects in membrane traffic in Paramecium secretory mutants unable to produce functional storage granules

1994 ◽  
Vol 124 (6) ◽  
pp. 893-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
MC Gautier ◽  
N Garreau de Loubresse ◽  
L Madeddu ◽  
L Sperling

The ciliated protozoan Paramecium has a regulated secretory system amenable to genetic analysis. The secretory storage granules, known as trichocysts, enclose a crystalline matrix with a genetically determined shape whose biogenesis involves proteolytic maturation of a family of precursor molecules into a heterogeneous set of small acidic polypeptides that crystallize within the maturing vesicles. We have developed an original pulse-chase protocol for monoxenic Paramecium cultures using radiolabeled bacteria to study the processing of trichocyst matrix proteins in wild-type and mutant cells. In wild-type cells, proteolytic processing is blocked in the presence of monensin and otherwise rapidly completed after approximately 20 min of chase, suggesting that the conversion occurs in the trans-Golgi and/or in small vesicles soon after sorting to the regulated pathway, probably before crystallization begins. In trichless mutant cells, which contain no visible trichocysts, secretory proteins are synthesized but not processed and we report constitutive secretion of the uncleaved precursor molecules. The mutation thus appears to affect sorting to the regulated pathway and should prove useful for analysis of the sorting machinery and of the relationship between sorting and proteolytic processing of secretory proteins. In mutants bearing misshapen trichocysts with poorly crystallized contents (tam33, tam38, stubbyA), the proteolytic processing of the trichocyst matrix proteins appears to be normal, while both pulse-chase and morphological data indicate that intracellular transport is perturbed, probably between ER and Golgi. Precursor molecules are present in the mutant trichocysts but not in wild-type trichocysts and may account for the defective crystallization. Our analysis of these mutants suggests that the temporal coordination of intracellular traffic plays a regulatory role in granule maturation.

1992 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.J. Shih ◽  
D.L. Nelson

We used polyclonal serum raised against mature trichocyst matrix proteins to detect their unprocessed precursors, a group of proteins (45-55 kDa) present in the whole-cell extract. These precursor proteins were partially purified from the soluble fraction of wild-type cells by ammonium sulfate precipitation and anion-exchange chromatography. Using monoclonal antibodies against each of four families of mature (processed) matrix proteins, we showed that each family was derived from a separate group of precursors. Our results also suggest that in three of four precursors, those in which the mature proteins consist of disulfide-linked heterodimers, intrachain disulfide bonds form before proteolytic processing. Purified precursors eluted from preparative SDS-gels were used to raise rabbit antiserum, which after preadsorption with mature processed proteins specifically recognized precursors, as judged by ELISA and immunoblots. In cross-sections of developing trichocysts, the anti-precursor serum after preadsorption no longer stained the central, paracrystalline region, but still stained the peripheral as well as the structureless region of the secretory granule. In trichocyst-developing mutants tl (trichless) and ftA (football A), the precursors for all four groups of mature proteins were present but their processing was affected: severely blocked in tl (which has no recognizable crystalline trichocyst matrix), and partially blocked in ftA (which has some abnormal trichocyst matrices with crystalline centers). These observations constitute further evidence that proteolytic processing of precursors occurs in parallel with crystallization.


1971 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Jamieson ◽  
George E. Palade

Our previous observations on the synthesis and transport of secretory proteins in the pancreatic exocrine cell were made on pancreatic slices from starved guinea pigs and accordingly apply to the resting, unstimulated cell. Normally, however, the gland functions in cycles during which zymogen granules accumulate in the cell and are subsequently discharged from it in response to secretogogues. The present experiments were undertaken to determine if secretory stimuli applied in vitro result in adjustments in the rates of protein synthesis and/or of intracellular transport. To this intent pancreatic slices from starved animals were stimulated in vitro for 3 hr with 0.01 mM carbamylcholine. During the first hour of treatment the acinar lumen profile is markedly enlarged due to insertion of zymogen granule membranes into the apical plasmalemma accompanying exocytosis of the granule content. Between 2 and 3 hr of stimulation the luminal profile reverts to unstimulated dimensions while depletion of the granule population nears completion. The acinar cells in 3-hr stimulated slices are characterized by the virtual complete absence of typical condensing vacuoles and zymogen granules, contain a markedly enlarged Golgi complex consisting of numerous stacked cisternae and electron-opaque vesicles, and possess many small pleomorphic storage granules. Slices in this condition were pulse labeled with leucine-3H and the route and timetable of intracellular transport assessed during chase incubation by cell fractionation, electron microscope radioautography, and a discharge assay covering the entire secretory pathway. The results showed that the rate of protein synthesis, the rate of drainage of the rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum (RER) compartment, and the over-all transit time of secretory proteins through the cells was not accelerated by the secretogogue. Secretory stimulation did not lead to a rerouting of secretory proteins through the cell sap. In the resting cell, the secretory product is concentrated in condensing vacuoles and stored as a relatively homogeneous population of spherical zymogen granules. By contrast, in the stimulated cell, secretory proteins are initially concentrated in the flattened saccules of the enlarged Golgi complex and subsequently stored in numerous small storage granules before release. The results suggest that secretory stimuli applied in vitro primarily affect the discharge of secretory proteins and do not, directly or indirectly, influence their rates of synthesis and intracellular transport.


1972 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Castle ◽  
James D. Jamieson ◽  
George E. Palade

Intracellular transport of secretory proteins has been studied in the parotid to examine this process in an exocrine gland other than the pancreas and to explore a possible source of less degraded membranes than obtainable from the latter gland. Rabbit parotids were chosen on the basis of size (2–2.5 g per animal), ease of surgical removal, and amylase concentration. Sites of synthesis, rates of intracellular transport, and sites of packaging and storage of newly synthesized secretory proteins were determined radioautographically by using an in vitro system of dissected lobules capable of linear amino acid incorporation for 10 hr with satisfactory preservation of cellular fine structure. Adequate fixation of the tissue with minimal binding of unincorporated labeled amino acids was obtained by using 10% formaldehyde-0.175 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) as primary fixative. Pulse labeling with leucine-3H, followed by a chase incubation, showed that the label is initially located (chase: 1–6 min) over the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and subsequently moves as a wave through the Golgi complex (chase: 16–36 min), condensing vacuoles (chase: 36–56 min), immature granules (chase: 56–116 min), and finally mature storage granules (chase: 116–356 min). Distinguishing features of the parotid transport apparatus are: low frequency of RER-Golgi transitional elements, close association of condensing vacuoles with the exit side of Golgi stacks, and recognizable immature secretory granules. Intracelular processing of secretory proteins is similar to that already found in the pancreas, except that the rate is slower and the storage is more prolonged.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1191-1199
Author(s):  
M Bernstein ◽  
F Kepes ◽  
R Schekman

When incubated at a restrictive temperature, Saccharomyces cerevisiae sec59 mutant cells accumulate inactive and incompletely glycosylated forms of secretory proteins. Three different secretory polypeptides (invertase, pro-alpha-factor, and pro-carboxypeptidase Y) accumulated within a membrane-bounded organelle, presumably the endoplasmic reticulum, and resisted proteolytic degradation unless the membrane was permeabilized with detergent. Molecular cloning and DNA sequence analysis of the SEC59 gene predicted an extremely hydrophobic protein product of 59 kilodaltons. This prediction was confirmed by reconstitution of the sec59 defect in vitro. The alpha-factor precursor, which was translated in a soluble fraction from wild-type cells, was translocated into, but inefficiently glycosylated within, membranes from sec59 mutant cells. Residual glycosylation activity of membranes of sec59 cells was thermolabile compared with the activity of wild-type membranes. Partial restoration of glycosylation was obtained in reactions that were supplemented with mannose or GDP-mannose, but not those supplemented with other sugar nucleotides. These results were consistent with a role for the Sec59 protein in the transfer of mannose to dolichol-linked oligosaccharide.


1989 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.R. Busch ◽  
B.H. Satir

In Paramecium, secretory proteins are packaged within membrane-bounded vesicles in a condensed form. This form expands when the proteins are released. We have now determined that a proton gradient is present in the secretory vesicles of living Paramecium. Acridine Orange, used as an in vivo indicator of acidic compartments, stained the secretory vesicles in both wild-type and mutant cells. Addition of the two agents that dissipate proton gradients (protonophores), namely, 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) and carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP), eliminated this staining. Washed cells re-established their intravesicular acidity. Effects of sodium azide on vesicular acidity suggest that proton transport in these vesicles involves an ATP-dependent mechanism.


1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2789-2803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir I. Titorenko ◽  
Richard A. Rachubinski

ABSTRACT Mutations in the SEC238 and SRP54 genes of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica not only cause temperature-sensitive defects in the exit of the precursor form of alkaline extracellular protease and of other secretory proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum and in protein secretion but also lead to temperature-sensitive growth in oleic acid-containing medium, the metabolism of which requires the assembly of functionally intact peroxisomes. The sec238A andsrp54KO mutations at the restrictive temperature significantly reduce the size and number of peroxisomes, affect the import of peroxisomal matrix and membrane proteins into the organelle, and significantly delay, but do not prevent, the exit of two peroxisomal membrane proteins, Pex2p and Pex16p, from the endoplasmic reticulum en route to the peroxisomal membrane. Mutations in the PEX1 and PEX6 genes, which encode members of the AAA family of N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein-like ATPases, not only affect the exit of precursor forms of secretory proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum but also prevent the exit of the peroxisomal membrane proteins Pex2p and Pex16p from the endoplasmic reticulum and cause the accumulation of an extensive network of endoplasmic reticulum membranes. None of the peroxisomal matrix proteins tested associated with the endoplasmic reticulum in sec238A,srp54KO, pex1-1, and pex6KO mutant cells. Our data provide evidence that the endoplasmic reticulum is required for peroxisome biogenesis and suggest that inY. lipolytica, the trafficking of some membrane proteins, but not matrix proteins, to the peroxisome occurs via the endoplasmic reticulum, results in their glycosylation within the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum, does not involve transport through the Golgi, and requires the products encoded by the SEC238, SRP54,PEX1, and PEX6 genes.


1989 ◽  
Vol 109 (6) ◽  
pp. 2641-2652 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Rothblatt ◽  
R J Deshaies ◽  
S L Sanders ◽  
G Daum ◽  
R Schekman

Genes that function in translocation of secretory protein precursors into the ER have been identified by a genetic selection for mutant yeast cells that fail to translocate a signal peptide-cytosolic enzyme hybrid protein. The new mutants, sec62 and sec63, are thermosensitive for growth and accumulate a variety of soluble secretory and vacuolar precursors whose electrophoretic mobilities coincide with those of the corresponding in vitro translated polypeptides. Proteolytic sensitivity of precursor molecules in extracts of mutant cells confirms that polypeptide translocation is blocked. Some form of interaction among the SEC61 (Deshaies, R. J., and R. Schekman. 1987. J. Cell Biol. 105:633-645), SEC62 and SEC63 gene products is suggested by the observation that haploid cells containing any pair of the mutations are inviable at 24 degrees C and show a marked enhancement of the translocation defect. The translocation defects of two mutants (sec62 and sec63) have been reproduced in vitro. sec63 microsomes display low and thermolabile translocation activity for prepro-alpha-factor (pp alpha F) synthesized with a cytosol fraction from wild type yeast. These gene products may constitute part of the polypeptide recognition or translocation apparatus of the ER membrane. Pulse-chase analysis of the translocation-defective mutants demonstrates that insertion of pp alpha F into the ER can proceed posttranslationally.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1191-1199 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Bernstein ◽  
F Kepes ◽  
R Schekman

When incubated at a restrictive temperature, Saccharomyces cerevisiae sec59 mutant cells accumulate inactive and incompletely glycosylated forms of secretory proteins. Three different secretory polypeptides (invertase, pro-alpha-factor, and pro-carboxypeptidase Y) accumulated within a membrane-bounded organelle, presumably the endoplasmic reticulum, and resisted proteolytic degradation unless the membrane was permeabilized with detergent. Molecular cloning and DNA sequence analysis of the SEC59 gene predicted an extremely hydrophobic protein product of 59 kilodaltons. This prediction was confirmed by reconstitution of the sec59 defect in vitro. The alpha-factor precursor, which was translated in a soluble fraction from wild-type cells, was translocated into, but inefficiently glycosylated within, membranes from sec59 mutant cells. Residual glycosylation activity of membranes of sec59 cells was thermolabile compared with the activity of wild-type membranes. Partial restoration of glycosylation was obtained in reactions that were supplemented with mannose or GDP-mannose, but not those supplemented with other sugar nucleotides. These results were consistent with a role for the Sec59 protein in the transfer of mannose to dolichol-linked oligosaccharide.


2001 ◽  
Vol 114 (5) ◽  
pp. 875-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Vayssie ◽  
N. Garreau de Loubresse ◽  
L. Sperling

Paramecium trichocysts are voluminous secretory vesicles consisting of a spindle-shaped body surmounted by a tip that serves to anchor them at exocytotic sites in the plasma membrane. This constrained shape is conferred by the proteins stored in the vesicles, which form an insoluble three-dimensional crystalline array. The constituent polypeptides (Trichocyst Matrix Proteins, TMPs), which assemble during trichocyst biogenesis, are produced by proteolytic processing of soluble proproteins encoded by a large multigene family. In order to investigate the functional significance of the TMP multigene family, which assures the synthesis of a mixture of related polypeptides, we have designed synthetic genes for heterologous expression of three different mature polypeptides, which were used to obtain sequence-specific rabbit antisera. We used these antisera to carry out immunolocalization experiments with wild-type trichocysts at different stages of development and found that the trichocyst matrix consists of two concentric layers containing different TMPs, and that the assembly of each layer corresponds to a distinct phase of trichocyst growth. Examination of mutant trichocysts created by targeted gene silencing of different TMP genes showed that the layer containing the products of the silenced genes is specifically affected, as are all subsequently assembled parts of the structure, consistent with an ordered assembly pathway. This stepwise assembly is not controlled by differential sorting of the TMPs, as single and double label experiments provided evidence that the different TMPs are delivered together to post-Golgi vesicles and developing trichocysts. We present a model for trichocyst biogenesis in which TMP assembly is controlled by protein processing.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document