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 ◽  
...  

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.

1998 ◽  
Vol 332 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter ARVAN ◽  
David CASTLE

Secretory granules are specialized intracellular organelles that serve as a storage pool for selected secretory products. The exocytosis of secretory granules is markedly amplified under physiologically stimulated conditions. While granules have been recognized as post-Golgi carriers for almost 40 years, the molecular mechanisms involved in their formation from the trans-Golgi network are only beginning to be defined. This review summarizes and evaluates current information about how secretory proteins are thought to be sorted for the regulated secretory pathway and how these activities are positioned with respect to other post-Golgi sorting events that must occur in parallel. In the first half of the review, the emerging role of immature secretory granules in protein sorting is highlighted. The second half of the review summarizes what is known about the composition of granule membranes. The numerous similarities and relatively limited differences identified between granule membranes and other vesicular carriers that convey products to and from the plasmalemma, serve as a basis for examining how granule membrane composition might be established and how its unique functions interface with general post-Golgi membrane traffic. Studies of granule formation in vitro offer additional new insights, but also important challenges for future efforts to understand how regulated secretory pathways are constructed and maintained.


2001 ◽  
Vol 360 (3) ◽  
pp. 645-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renu K. JAIN ◽  
Paul B. M. JOYCE ◽  
Miguel MOLINETE ◽  
Philippe A. HALBAN ◽  
Sven-Ulrik GORR

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.


1987 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 659-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
T L Burgess ◽  
C S Craik ◽  
L Matsuuchi ◽  
R B Kelly

The mouse anterior pituitary tumor cell line, AtT-20, targets secretory proteins into two distinct intracellular pathways. When the DNA that encodes trypsinogen is introduced into AtT-20 cells, the protein is sorted into the regulated secretory pathway as efficiently as the endogenous peptide hormone ACTH. In this study we have used double-label immunoelectron microscopy to demonstrate that trypsinogen colocalizes in the same secretory granules as ACTH. In vitro mutagenesis was used to test whether the information for targeting trypsinogen to the secretory granules resides at the amino (NH2) terminus of the protein. Mutations were made in the DNA that encodes trypsinogen, and the mutant proteins were expressed in AtT-20 cells to determine whether intracellular targeting could be altered. Replacing the trypsinogen signal peptide with that of the kappa-immunoglobulin light chain, a constitutively secreted protein, does not alter targeting to the regulated secretory pathway. In addition, deletion of the NH2-terminal "pro" sequence of trypsinogen has virtually no effect on protein targeting. However, this deletion does affect the signal peptidase cleavage site, and as a result the enzymatic activity of the truncated trypsin protein is abolished. We conclude that neither the signal peptide nor the 12 NH2-terminal amino acids of trypsinogen are essential for sorting to the regulated secretory pathway of AtT-20 cells.


2004 ◽  
Vol 279 (19) ◽  
pp. 20242-20249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Beuret ◽  
Hansruedi Stettler ◽  
Anja Renold ◽  
Jonas Rutishauser ◽  
Martin Spiess

The formation of secretory granules and regulated secretion are generally assumed to occur only in specialized endocrine, neuronal, or exocrine cells. We discovered that regulated secretory proteins such as the hormone precursors pro-vasopressin, pro-oxytocin, and pro-opiomelanocortin, as well as the granins secretogranin II and chromogranin B but not the constitutive secretory protein α1-protease inhibitor, accumulate in granular structures at the Golgi and in the cell periphery in transfected COS-1 fibroblast cells. The accumulations were observed in 30–70% of the transfected cells expressing the pro-hormones and for virtually all of the cells expressing the granins. Similar structures were also generated in other cell lines believed to be lacking a regulated secretory pathway. The accumulations resembled secretory granules morphologically in immunofluorescence and electron microscopy. They were devoid of markers of the endoplasmic reticulum, endosomes, and lysosomes but in part stained positive for the trans-Golgi network marker TGN46, consistent with their formation at the trans-Golgi network. When different regulated proteins were coexpressed, they were frequently found in the same granules, whereas α1-protease inhibitor could not be detected in accumulations formed by secretogranin II, demonstrating segregation of regulated from constitutive secretory proteins. In pulse-chase experiments, significant intracellular storage of secretogranin II and chromogranin B was observed and secretion of retained secretogranin II was stimulated with the calcium ionophore A23187. The results suggest that expression of regulated cargo proteins is sufficient to generate structures that resemble secretory granules in the background of constitutively secreting cells, supporting earlier proposals on the mechanism of granule formation.


1985 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 639-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
T L Burgess ◽  
C S Craik ◽  
R B Kelly

The exocrine protein rat anionic trypsinogen has been expressed and is secreted from the murine anterior pituitary tumor cell line AtT-20. We examined which secretory pathway trypsinogen takes to the surface of this endocrine-derived cell line. The "constitutive" pathway externalizes proteins rapidly and in the absence of an external stimulus. In the alternate, "regulated" pathway, proteins are stored in secretory granules until the cells are stimulated to secrete with 8-Br-cAMP. On the basis of indirect immunofluorescence localization, stimulation of release, and subcellular fractionation, we find that trypsinogen is targeted into the regulated secretory pathway in AtT-20 cells. In contrast, laminin, an endogenous secretory glycoprotein, is shown to be secreted constitutively. Thus it appears that the transport apparatus for the regulated secretory pathway in endocrine cells can recognize not only endocrine prohormones, but also the exocrine protein trypsinogen, which suggests that a similar sorting mechanism is used by endocrine and exocrine cells.


2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland P Kuiper ◽  
Gerard JM Martens

En route through the secretory pathway of neuroendocrine cells, prohormones pass a series of membrane-bounded compartments. During this transport, the prohormones are sorted to secretory granules and proteolytically cleaved to bioactive peptides. Recently, progress has been made in a number of aspects concerning secretory protein transport and sorting, particularly with respect to transport events in the early regions of the secretory pathway. In this review we will deal with some of these aspects, including: i) selective exit from the endoplasmic reticulum via COPII-coated vesicles and the potential role of p24 putative cargo receptors in this process, ii) cisternal maturation as an alternative model for protein transport through the Golgi complex, and iii) the mechanisms that may be involved in the sorting of regulated secretory proteins to secretory granules. Although much remains to be learned, interesting new insights into the functioning of the secretory pathway have been obtained.Key words: regulated secretory pathway, p24 family, vesicular transport, POMC, protein sorting, secretory granule, Xenopus laevis.


2000 ◽  
Vol 278 (2) ◽  
pp. E285-E292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kati Kokkonen ◽  
Heidi Vierimaa ◽  
Sari Bergström ◽  
Virpi Tervonen ◽  
Olli Arjamaa ◽  
...  

We used the secretion of the novel salmon cardiac peptide (sCP) as a model to examine the mechanisms of ventricular hormone release. Mechanical load increased dose dependently the secretion of immunoreactive sCP from isolated perfused salmon ventricle, with 3.3-fold increase when a load of 13 cmH2O was applied. Endothelin-1 (5 nmol/l) was also able to rapidly increase the secretion of sCP. The released peptide corresponded to the biologically active sCP-29, whereas the large ventricular storage consisted of pro-sCP-sized material. With the use of immunoelectron microscopy, a large number of granules containing immunoreactive sCP could be detected in salmon ventricle. As judged by RNA blot analysis, there was very active basal expression of the sCP gene in the ventricle, which was not increased by mechanical load of up to 2-h duration. Our results show that the ventricle actively expresses the gene of sCP, stores the prohormone in secretory granules, and releases the peptide in response to mechanical load and endothelin-1. Thus the salmon ventricle uses the regulated pathway to produce and release a hormone structurally related to the mammalian natriuretic peptides.


1992 ◽  
Vol 262 (2) ◽  
pp. G257-G266
Author(s):  
E. Sachs ◽  
J. D. Jamieson

The regulated secretory pathway comprises accelerated discharge of proteins in response to hormonal stimuli, their presence in secretory granules (SG), and a long intracellular residence time. Dexamethasone induction of AR42J results in an increase in granule content and responsiveness to cholecystokinin (CCK). We studied the effects of conditions implicated in sorting of secretory proteins into the regulated pathway using [35S]methionine pulse-chase protocols that examine transport of secretory proteins from the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER)----SG and specifically from the Golgi complex (GC)----SG. The latter uses a chase at 20 degrees C to allow accumulation of labeled proteins in the trans-Golgi, followed by a shift to 37 degrees C that initiates their transport to SG under test conditions. Quantitation of CCK-8-stimulated discharge of prestored amylase and of newly synthesized labeled proteins that have entered SG during the chase enables us to examine the effect of perturbants over selected parts of the pathway. The effects of acidic intracellular compartments, the cytoskeleton, protein synthesis, ATP, and temperature on pre- and post-Golgi entry of proteins into the regulated pathway were studied. NH4Cl, monensin, Na azide, incubation at 20 degrees C, and pertussis toxin retarded RER----SG transport without affecting amylase discharge. Only incubation with 20 mM NH4Cl or 1 microM monensin inhibited transfer of newly synthesized proteins from the late GC----SG. RER----Golgi or intra-Golgi transport thus appears to require ATP and possibly guanosine 5'-triphosphate (GTP)-binding proteins. Acidic compartments appear to be essential for sorting of secretory proteins from the GC----SG.


2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 1856-1867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Savita Dhanvantari ◽  
Fu-Sheng Shen ◽  
Tiffany Adams ◽  
Christopher R. Snell ◽  
ChunFa Zhang ◽  
...  

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.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brennan S. Dirk ◽  
Christopher End ◽  
Emily N. Pawlak ◽  
Logan R. Van Nynatten ◽  
Rajesh Abraham Jacob ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe regulated secretory pathway is a specialized form of protein secretion found in endocrine and neuroendocrine cell types. Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) is a pro-hormone that utilizes this pathway to be trafficked to dense core secretory granules (DCSGs). Within this organelle, POMC is processed to multiple bioactive hormones that play key roles in cellular physiology. However, the complete set of cellular membrane trafficking proteins that mediate the correct sorting of POMC to DCSGs remain unknown. Here, we report the roles of the phosphofurin acidic cluster sorting protein – 1 (PACS-1) and the clathrin adaptor protein 1 (AP-1) in the targeting of POMC to DCSGs. Upon knockdown of PACS-1 and AP-1, POMC is readily secreted into the extracellular milieu and fails to be targeted to DCSGs.


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