Determinants of Anion Permeation in the Second Transmembrane Domain of the Mouse Bestrophin-2 Chloride Channel

Bestrophins have been proposed to constitute a new family of Cl channels that are activated by cytosolic Ca. We showed previously that mutation of serine-79 to cysteine in mouse bestrophin-2 (mBest2) altered the relative permeability and conductance to SCN. In this paper, we have overexpressed various mutant constructs of mBest2 in HEK-293 cells to explore the contributions to anion selectivity of serine-79 and other amino acids (V78, F80, G83, F84, V86, and T87) located in the putative second transmembrane domain (TMD2). Residues selected for mutagenesis were distributed throughout TMD2, but mutations at all positions changed the selectivity. The effects on selectivity were rather modest. Replacement of residues 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 86, or 87 with cysteine had similar effects: the permeability of the channel to SCN relative to Cl (PSCN/PCl) was decreased three- to fourfold and the relative SCN conductance (GSCN/GCl) was increased five- to tenfold. Side chains at positions 78 and 80 appeared to be situated close to the permeant anion, because the electrostatic charge at these positions affected permeation in specific ways. The effects of charged sulfhydryl-reactive MTS reagents were the opposite in the V78C and F80C mutants and the effects were partially mimicked by substitution of F80 with charged amino acids. In S79T, switching from Cl to SCN caused slow changes in GSCN/GCl (τ = 16.6 s), suggesting that SCN binding to the channel altered channel gating as well as conductance. The data in this paper and other data support a model in which TMD2 plays an important role in forming the bestrophin pore. We suggest that the major determinant in anion permeation involves partitioning of the permeant anion into an aqueous pore whose structural features are rather flexible. Furthermore, anion permeation and gating may be linked.

Role of luminal anion and pH in distal tubule potassium secretion

Potassium secretory flux ( J K) by the distal nephron is regulated by systemic and luminal factors. In the present investigation, J K was measured with a double-barreled K+ electrode during paired microperfusion of superficial segments of the rat distal nephron. We used control solutions (100 mM NaCl, pH 7.0) and experimental solutions in which Cl− had been replaced with a less permeant anion and/or pH had been increased to 8.0. J K increased when Cl− was replaced by either acetate (∼37%), sulfate (∼32%), or bicarbonate (∼62%), and also when the pH of the control perfusate was increased (∼26%). The majority (80%) of acetate-stimulated J K was Ba2+sensitive, but furosemide (1 mM) further reduced secretion (∼10% of total), suggesting that K+-Cl− cotransport was operative. Progressive reduction in luminal Cl−concentration from 100 to 20 to 2 mM caused increments in J K that were abolished by inhibitors of K+-Cl− cortransport, i.e., furosemide and [(dihydroindenyl)oxy]alkanoic acid. Increasing the pH of the luminal perfusion fluid also increased J K even in the presence of Ba2+, suggesting that this effect cannot be accounted for only by K+ channel modulation of K+ secretion in the distal nephron of the rat. Collectively, these data suggest a role for K+-Cl− cotransport in distal nephron K+ secretion.

Anion Permeation in Ca2+-Activated Cl− Channels

Ca2+-activated Cl channels (ClCaCs) are an important class of anion channels that are opened by increases in cytosolic [Ca2+]. Here, we examine the mechanisms of anion permeation through ClCaCs from Xenopus oocytes in excised inside-out and outside-out patches. ClCaCs exhibited moderate selectivity for Cl over Na: PNa/PCl = 0.1. The apparent affinity of ClCaCs for Cl was low: Kd = 73 mM. The channel had an estimated pore diameter >0.6 nm. The relative permeabilities measured under bi-ionic conditions by changes in Erev were as follows: C(CN)3 > SCN > N(CN)2 > ClO4 > I > N3 > Br > Cl > formate > HCO3 > acetate = F > gluconate. The conductance sequence was as follows: N3 > Br > Cl > N(CN)2 > I > SCN > COOH > ClO4 > acetate > HCO3 = C(CN)3 > gluconate. Permeant anions block in a voltage-dependent manner with the following affinities: C(CN)3 > SCN = ClO4 > N(CN)2 > I > N3 > Br > HCO3 > Cl > gluconate > formate > acetate. Although these data suggest that anionic selectivity is determined by ionic hydration energy, other factors contribute, because the energy barrier for permeation is exponentially related to anion hydration energy. ClCaCs exhibit weak anomalous mole fraction behavior, implying that the channel may be a multi-ion pore, but that ions interact weakly in the pore. The affinity of the channel for Ca2+ depended on the permeant anion at low [Ca2+] (100–500 nM). Apparently, occupancy of the pore by a permeant anion increased the affinity of the channel for Ca2+. The current was strongly dependent on pH. Increasing pH on the cytoplasmic side decreased the inward current, whereas increasing pH on the external side decreased the outward current. In both cases, the apparent pKa was voltage-dependent with apparent pKa at 0 mV = ∼9.2. The channel may be blocked by OH− ions, or protons may titrate a site in the pore necessary for ion permeation. These data demonstrate that the permeation properties of ClCaCs are different from those of CFTR or ClC-1, and provide insights into the nature of the ClCaC pore.

Loop diuretic and anion modification of NEM-induced K transport in human red blood cells

The thioalkylating agent N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) causes ouabain-insensitive K loss from human red blood cells. This K loss is inhibited when intracellular Cl is replaced by another permeant anion or when loop diuretics are placed in the incubation medium after NEM exposure. In this report, we have tested the possibility that Cl replacement or loop diuretics not only influence the transport of K induced by NEM but also the interaction of NEM with its target sulfhydryl group. This possibility was examined by replacing intracellular Cl or exposing the cells to loop diuretics before NEM exposure, then measuring K loss in a Cl medium free of loop diuretics. We found that such pretreatment with either Cl substitution or loop diuretics stimulated, rather than inhibited, NEM-induced K loss. This enhancement was not additive in that the increase in K loss induced by anion substitution was not increased further when loop diuretics were also present. These data suggest that anion substitution and loop diuretics enhance the interaction of NEM with its cellular target but inhibit the K loss induced by NEM.

The internal pH and membrane potential of the insulin-secretory granule

The membrane potential (ΔΨ) and the pH gradient (ΔpH) across the membrane of the insulin-secretory granule were determined in studies in vitro from the uptake of the permeant anion thio[14C]cyanate or the permeant base [14C]methylamine. Freshly prepared granules incubated in iso-osmotic medium containing sucrose and low concentrations of buffer salts exhibited an acidic internal pH and a ΔΨ positive inside. Addition of MgATP2− under these conditions did not alter the ΔpH, but produced a marked increase in the ΔΨ. Conversely, when a permeant anion was also included, ATP produced a marked increase in the ΔpH and a lesser increment in the ΔΨ. NH4+ salts reduced the ΔpH across granule membranes. In the presence of ATP this effect was accompanied by a reciprocal increase in the ΔΨ. A similar reciprocity was evident when nigericin was added together with K+ or on decreasing the medium pH, suggesting that these gradients were linked by a common electrogenic process. The effects of ATP were reversed by the protonophore carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone, the combination of valinomycin, nigericin and K+, and by the Mg2+-dependent ATPase inhibitor tributyltin. Uptakes of 14C-labelled tracer molecules were also markedly reduced by cryogenic disruption of the granule membrane or hypo-osmotic incubation conditions. These results were readily interpreted within a chemiosmotic hypothesis, which proposed that the insulin granules possess an inwardly-directed electrogenic proton-translocating Mg2+-dependent ATPase with the additional postulate that the membrane has a low proton permeability. The intragranular pH was estimated as being between 5 and 6 in vivo. Such a value corresponds to optimal conditions for the crystallization of zinc–insulin hexamers. Several other functions related to chemiosmotic processes within insulin granules, however, may be envisaged.

Effects of chloride substitutes on PAH transport by isolated perfused renal tubules

Effects of substituting isethionate, methyl sulfate, or thiocyanate for chloride on p-aminohippurate (PAH) transport by isolated perfused snake (Thamnophis spp.) distal-proximal renal tubules were studied. In the perfusate, isethionate or methyl sulfate substitution irreversibly depressed net PAH secretion and the apparent PAH permeability of the luminal membrane by about 60–80%, whereas thiocyanate substitution had no effect. In the bathing medium, isethionate substitution reversibly stimulated net PAH secretion by about 35% without changing the apparent permeability of the peritubular membrane to PAH (Pp); thiocyanate substitution reversibly inhibited net PAH secretion by about 45% without affecting Pp; and methyl sulfate substitution had no effect. With simultaneous substitutions in perfusate and bath, isethionate depressed net PAH secretion irreversibly, whereas thiocyanate had no effect. Effects on PAH transport were not simply the result of changes in transepithelial potential or of the changes in net transepithelial fluid movement. These data strengthen the concept that net PAH secretion involves different mediated steps at the peritubular and luminal membranes. Since these tubules are highly permeable to thiocyanate and poorly permeable to isethionate and methyl sulfate, the data suggest that the mediated step from cells to lumen does not require chloride in the lumen but does require a highly permeant anion.