Visualization of transcytosis in MDCK cells using laser scanning confocal microscopy

Author(s):  
Greg Martin ◽  
Rohit Cariappa ◽  
Ann L. Hubbard

The plasma membrane of polarized epithelial cells is composed of two structurally and functionally distinct domains -- the apical and basolateral -- that also differ in molecular composition. The routes followed by integral membrane proteins from their site of synthesis to their site of function varies between different kinds of epithelia. Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells deliver plasma membrane proteins directly to the correct domain, while polarized hepatocytes deliver all newly synthesized plasma membrane proteins initially to the basolateral membrane, then retrieve and redirect the apical membrane proteins. We are studying the targeting signals and delivery routes of DPPIV, a single transmembrane protein whose destination is the apical domain in polarized epithelial cells.DPPIV transfected into MDCK cells is delivered to the basolateral plasma membrane after long (13hr) treatment with Brefeldin A (BFA). After BFA’s removal these molecules are retrieved from the basolateral membrane and transcytosed to the apical plasma membrane. This protocol provides a useful model for studies of the indirect route of protein sorting in polarized epithelial cells, since DPPIV at the basolateral surface can be labeled with specific antibody and then subsequently followed in living cells.

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian C. Fields ◽  
Shelby M. King ◽  
Elina Shteyn ◽  
Richard S. Kang ◽  
Heike Fölsch

Polarized epithelial cells coexpress two almost identical AP-1 clathrin adaptor complexes: the ubiquitously expressed AP-1A and the epithelial cell–specific AP-1B. The only difference between the two complexes is the incorporation of the respective medium subunits μ1A or μ1B, which are responsible for the different functions of AP-1A and AP-1B in TGN to endosome or endosome to basolateral membrane targeting, respectively. Here we demonstrate that the C-terminus of μ1B is important for AP-1B recruitment onto recycling endosomes. We define a patch of three amino acid residues in μ1B that are necessary for recruitment of AP-1B onto recycling endosomes containing phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate [PI(3,4,5)P3]. We found this lipid enriched in recycling endosomes of epithelial cells only when AP-1B is expressed. Interfering with PI(3,4,5)P3 formation leads to displacement of AP-1B from recycling endosomes and missorting of AP-1B–dependent cargo to the apical plasma membrane. In conclusion, PI(3,4,5)P3 formation in recycling endosomes is essential for AP-1B function.


1999 ◽  
Vol 145 (5) ◽  
pp. 1089-1102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela L. Tuma ◽  
Catherine M. Finnegan ◽  
Ji-Hyun Yi ◽  
Ann L. Hubbard

The architectural complexity of the hepatocyte canalicular surface has prevented examination of apical membrane dynamics with methods used for other epithelial cells. By adopting a pharmacological approach, we have documented for the first time the internalization of membrane proteins from the hepatic apical surface. Treatment of hepatocytes or WIF-B cells with phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors, wortmannin or LY294002, led to accumulation of the apical plasma membrane proteins, 5′-nucleotidase and aminopeptidase N in lysosomal vacuoles. By monitoring the trafficking of antibody-labeled molecules, we determined that the apical proteins in vacuoles came from the apical plasma membrane. Neither newly synthesized nor transcytosing apical proteins accumulated in vacuoles. In wortmannin-treated cells, transcytosing apical proteins traversed the subapical compartment (SAC), suggesting that this intermediate in the basolateral-to-apical transcytotic pathway remained functional. Ultrastructural analysis confirmed these results. However, apically internalized proteins did not travel through SAC en route to lysosomal vacuoles, indicating that SAC is not an intermediate in the apical endocytic pathway. Basolateral membrane protein distributions did not change in treated cells, uncovering another difference in endocytosis from the two domains. Similar effects were observed in polarized MDCK cells, suggesting conserved patterns of phosphoinositide 3-kinase regulation among epithelial cells. These results confirm a long-held but unproven assumption that lysosomes are the final destination of apical membrane proteins in hepatocytes. Significantly, they also confirm our hypothesis that SAC is not an apical endosome.


2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 2059-2068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Henry ◽  
David R. Sheff

Rab8 is a monomeric GTPase that regulates the delivery of newly synthesized proteins to the basolateral surface in polarized epithelial cells. Recent publications have demonstrated that basolateral proteins interacting with the μ1-B clathrin adapter subunit pass through the recycling endosome (RE) en route from the TGN to the plasma membrane. Because Rab8 interacts with these basolateral proteins, these findings raise the question of whether Rab8 acts before, at, or after the RE. We find that Rab8 overexpression during the formation of polarity in MDCK cells, disrupts polarization of the cell, explaining how Rab8 mutants can disrupt basolateral endocytic and secretory traffic. However, once cells are polarized, Rab8 mutants cause mis-sorting of newly synthesized basolateral proteins such as VSV-G to the apical surface, but do not cause mis-sorting of membrane proteins already at the cell surface or in the endocytic recycling pathway. Enzymatic ablation of the RE also prevents traffic from the TGN from reaching the RE and similarly results in mis-sorting of newly synthesized VSV-G. We conclude that Rab8 regulates biosynthetic traffic through REs to the plasma membrane, but not trafficking of endocytic cargo through the RE. The data are consistent with a model in which Rab8 functions in regulating the delivery of TGN-derived cargo to REs.


2004 ◽  
Vol 286 (2) ◽  
pp. F363-F369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sertac N. Kip ◽  
Emanuel E. Strehler

Plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPases (PMCAs) are a ubiquitous system for the expulsion of Ca2+ from eukaryotic cells. In tight monolayers of polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells representing a distal kidney tubule model, PMCAs are responsible for about one-third of the vectorial Ca2+ transport under resting conditions, with the remainder being provided by the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger. Vitamin D3 (VitD) is known to increase PMCA expression and activity in Ca2+-transporting tissues such as the intestine, as well as in osteoblasts and Madin-Darby bovine kidney epithelial cells. We found that VitD upregulated the expression of the PMCAs (mainly PMCA4b) in MDCK cell lysates at the RNA and protein level in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, VitD caused a decrease of the PMCAs in the apical plasma membrane fraction and a concomitant increase of the pumps in the basolateral membrane. Functional studies demonstrated that transcellular 45Ca2+ flux from the apical-to-basolateral compartment was significantly enhanced by VitD. These findings demonstrate that VitD is a positive regulator of the PMCAs in MDCK epithelial cells. The correlation of decreased apical/increased basolateral expression of the PMCAs with an increase in transcellular Ca2+ flux from the apical (urine) toward the basolateral (blood) compartment indicates the physiological relevance of VitD function in kidney tubular Ca2+ reabsorption.


1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (8) ◽  
pp. 2271-2277 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Colomer ◽  
M.J. Rindler ◽  
A.W. Lowe

Exocrine cells are epithelial cells in which secretory granules undergo fusion with the apical plasma membrane upon secretagogue stimulation. Several apical plasma membrane proteins have been found in secretory granules in cells from pancreas and salivary glands raising the possibility that incorporation into secretory granules followed by exocytosis of the granules accounts for their insertion into the apical plasma membrane. To test this hypothesis, we have expressed the influenza hemagglutinin (HA) in pancreatic AR42J cells, which make zymogen-like granules upon incubation with dexamethasone. The influenza virus HA is known to be specifically targeted to the apical plasma membrane of epithelial cells that lack a regulated pathway and is also known to be excluded from secretory granules in virally-infected pituitary AtT20 cells. Localization of the protein by immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that it accumulated at the plasma membrane of the transfected AR42J cells. HA was not observed in the amylase-rich secretory granules. By immunolabeling of ultrathin cryosections of the transfected cells, HA was also found exclusively on the cell surface, with label over secretory granules not exceeding that seen in control, untransfected cells. In addition, in cell fractionation experiments performed on radiolabeled AR42J cell transformants, HA was not detectable in the secretory granule fractions. These results indicate that HA is not efficiently stored in mature secretory granules and is likely to reach the cell surface via constitutive transport pathways.


1988 ◽  
Vol 107 (5) ◽  
pp. 1707-1715 ◽  
Author(s):  
J E Bergmann ◽  
P J Fusco

Using monoclonal antibodies and indirect immunofluorescence microscopy, we investigated the distribution of the M protein in situ in vesicular stomatitis virus-(VSV) infected MDCK cells. M protein was observed free in the cytoplasm and associated with the plasma membrane. Using the ts045 mutant of VSV to uncouple the synthesis and transport of the VSV G protein we demonstrated that this distribution was not related to the presence of G protein on the cell surface. Sections of epon-embedded infected cells labeled with antibody to the M protein and processed for indirect horseradish peroxidase immunocytochemistry revealed that the M protein was associated specifically with the basolateral plasma membrane. The G and M proteins of VSV have therefore evolved features which bring them independently to the basolateral membrane of polarized epithelial cells and allow virus to bud specifically from that membrane.


2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3797-3807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard H. Gu ◽  
Xiaohong Wu ◽  
Bruno Giros ◽  
Marc G. Caron ◽  
Michael J. Caplan ◽  
...  

When expressed in epithelial cells, dopamine transporter (DAT) was detected predominantly in the apical plasma membrane, whereas norepinephrine transporter (NET) was found in the basolateral membrane, despite 67% overall amino acid sequence identity. To identify possible localization signals responsible for this difference, DAT–NET chimeras were expressed in MDCK cells and localized by immunocytochemistry and transport assays. The results suggested that localization of these transporters in MDCK cells depends on their highly divergent NH2-terminal regions. Deletion of the first 58 amino acids of DAT (preceding TM1) did not change its apical localization. However, the replacement of that region with corresponding sequence from NET resulted in localization of the chimeric protein to the basolateral membrane, suggesting that the NH2-terminus of NET, which contains two dileucine motifs, contains a basolateral localization signal. Mutation of these leucines to alanines in the context of a basolaterally localized NET/DAT chimera restored transporter localization to the apical membrane, indicating that the dileucine motifs are critical to the basolateral localization signal embodied within the NET NH2-terminal region. However, the same mutation in the context of wild-type NET did not disrupt basolateral localization, indicating the presence of additional signals in NET directing its basolateral localization within the plasma membrane.


2001 ◽  
Vol 281 (6) ◽  
pp. C1889-C1897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Loffing-Cueni ◽  
Jan Loffing ◽  
Collin Shaw ◽  
Amilyn M. Taplin ◽  
Malu Govindan ◽  
...  

The ΔF508 mutation reduces the amount of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) expressed in the plasma membrane of epithelial cells. However, a reduced temperature, butyrate compounds, and “chemical chaperones” allow ΔF508-CFTR to traffic to the plasma membrane and increase Cl− permeability in heterologous and nonpolarized cells. Because trafficking is affected by the polarized state of epithelial cells and is cell-type dependent, our goal was to determine whether these maneuvers induce ΔF508-CFTR trafficking to the apical plasma membrane in polarized epithelial cells. To this end, we generated and characterized a line of polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells stably expressing ΔF508-CFTR tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP). A reduced temperature, glycerol, butyrate, or DMSO had no effect on 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-cAMP (CPT-cAMP)-stimulated transepithelial Cl− secretion across polarized monolayers. However, when the basolateral membrane was permeabilized, butyrate, but not the other experimental maneuvers, increased the CPT-cAMP-stimulated Cl− current across the apical plasma membrane. Thus butyrate increased the amount of functional ΔF508-CFTR in the apical plasma membrane. Butyrate failed to stimulate transepithelial Cl− secretion because of inhibitory effects on Cl− uptake across the basolateral membrane. These observations suggest that studies on heterologous and nonpolarized cells should be interpreted cautiously. The GFP tag on ΔF508-CFTR will allow investigation of ΔF508-CFTR trafficking in living, polarized MDCK epithelial cells in real time.


2007 ◽  
Vol 177 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josephine Sui-Yan Au ◽  
Claudia Puri ◽  
Gudrun Ihrke ◽  
John Kendrick-Jones ◽  
Folma Buss

In polarized epithelial cells, newly synthesized membrane proteins are delivered on specific pathways to either the apical or basolateral domains, depending on the sorting motifs present in these proteins. Because myosin VI has been shown to facilitate secretory traffic in nonpolarized cells, we investigated its role in biosynthetic trafficking pathways in polarized MDCK cells. We observed that a specific splice isoform of myosin VI with no insert in the tail domain is required for the polarized transport of tyrosine motif containing basolateral membrane proteins. Sorting of other basolateral or apical cargo, however, does not involve myosin VI. Site-directed mutagenesis indicates that a functional complex consisting of myosin VI, optineurin, and probably the GTPase Rab8 plays a role in the basolateral delivery of membrane proteins, whose sorting is mediated by the clathrin adaptor protein complex (AP) AP-1B. Our results suggest that myosin VI is a crucial component in the AP-1B–dependent biosynthetic sorting pathway to the basolateral surface in polarized epithelial cells.


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