A dominant mutant of occludin disrupts tight junction structure and function

1999 ◽  
Vol 112 (12) ◽  
pp. 1879-1888 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.D. Bamforth ◽  
U. Kniesel ◽  
H. Wolburg ◽  
B. Engelhardt ◽  
W. Risau
Keyword(s):  
Tight Junction ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Integral Membrane Protein ◽  
Epithelial Cell Line ◽  
Permeability Barrier ◽  
Cell Monolayers ◽  
Junction Protein ◽  
N Terminus ◽  
Freeze Fracture Electron Microscopy ◽  
And Function

The tight junction is the most apical intercellular junction of epithelial cells and forms a diffusion barrier between individual cells. Occludin is an integral membrane protein specifically associated with the tight junction which may contribute to the function or regulation of this intercellular seal. In order to elucidate the role of occludin at the tight junction, a full length and an N-terminally truncated murine occludin construct, both FLAG-tagged at the N terminus, were stably introduced into the murine epithelial cell line CSG 120/7. Both constructs were correctly targeted to the tight junction, as defined by colocalization with another tight junction protein, ZO-1. The construct lacking the N terminus and extracellular domains of occludin was found to exert a dramatic effect on tight junction integrity. Cell monolayers failed to develop an efficient permeability barrier, as demonstrated by low transcellular electrical resistance values and an increased paracellular flux to small molecular mass tracers. Furthermore, gaps were found to have been induced in the P-face associated tight junction strands, as visualized by freeze-fracture electron microscopy. These findings demonstrate an important role for the N-terminal half of occludin in tight junction assembly and maintaining the barrier function of the tight junction.

scholarly journals A Synthetic Peptide Corresponding to the Extracellular Domain of Occludin Perturbs the Tight Junction Permeability Barrier

1997 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 399-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Wong ◽  
Barry M. Gumbiner
Keyword(s):  
Epithelial Cell ◽  
Tight Junction ◽  
Adherens Junction ◽  
Extracellular Domain ◽  
Integral Membrane Protein ◽  
Epithelial Cell Line ◽  
Permeability Barrier ◽  
Junction Protein ◽  
Tight Junction Permeability

Occludin, the putative tight junction integral membrane protein, is an attractive candidate for a protein that forms the actual sealing element of the tight junction. To study the role of occludin in the formation of the tight junction seal, synthetic peptides (OCC1 and OCC2) corresponding to the two putative extracellular domains of occludin were assayed for their ability to alter tight junctions in Xenopus kidney epithelial cell line A6. Transepithelial electrical resistance and paracellular tracer flux measurements indicated that the second extracellular domain peptide (OCC2) reversibly disrupted the transepithelial permeability barrier at concentrations of < 5 μM. Despite the increased paracellular permeability, there were no changes in gross epithelial cell morphology as determined by scanning EM. The OCC2 peptide decreased the amount of occludin present at the tight junction, as assessed by indirect immunofluorescence, as well as decreased total cellular content of occludin, as assessed by Western blot analysis. Pulse-labeling and metabolic chase analysis suggested that this decrease in occludin level could be attributed to an increase in turnover of cellular occludin rather than a decrease in occludin synthesis. The effect on occludin was specific because other tight junction components, ZO-1, ZO-2, cingulin, and the adherens junction protein E-cadherin, were unaltered by OCC2 treatment. Therefore, the peptide corresponding to the second extracellular domain of occludin perturbs the tight junction permeability barrier in a very specific manner. The correlation between a decrease in occludin levels and the perturbation of the tight junction permeability barrier provides evidence for a role of occludin in the formation of the tight junction seal.

scholarly journals Participation of plasma membrane proteins in the formation of tight junction by cultured epithelial cells

1983 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 693-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
EB Griepp ◽  
WJ Dolan ◽  
ES Robbins ◽  
DD Sabatini
Keyword(s):  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Tight Junction ◽  
Messenger Rna ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Epithelial Cell Line ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Tight Junction Formation ◽  
Junction Formation ◽  
Spinner Culture

Measurements of the transepithelial electrical resistance correlated with freeze-fracture observations have been used to study the process of tight junction formation under various experimental conditions in monolayers of the canine kidney epithelial cell line MDCK. Cells derived from previously confluent cultures and plated immediately after trypsin- EDTA dissociation develop a resistance that reaches its maximum value of several hundred ohms-cm(2) after approximately 24 h and falls to a steady-state value of 80-150 ohms- cm(2) by 48 h. The rise in resistance and the development of tight junctions can be completely and reversibly prevented by the addition of 10 μg/ml cycloheximide at the time of plating, but not when this inhibitor is added more than 10 h after planting. Thus tight junction formation consists of separable synthetic and assembly phases. These two phases can also be dissociated and the requirement for protein synthesis after plating eliminated if, following trypsinization, the cells are maintained in spinner culture for 24 h before plating. The requirement for protein synthesis is restored, however, if cells maintained in spinner culture are treated with trypsin before plating. Actinomycin D prevents development of resistance only in monolayers formed from cells derived from sparse rather than confluent cultures, but new mRNA synthesis is not required if cells obtained from sparse cultures are maintained for 24 h in spinner culture before plating. Once a steady-state resistance has been reached, its maintenance does not require either mRNA or protein synthesis; in fact, inhibition of protein synthesis causes a rise in the resistance over a 30-h period. Following treatments that disrupt the junctions in steady- state monolayers recovery of resistance also does not require protein synthesis. These observations suggest that proteins are involved in tight junction formation. Such proteins, which do not turn over rapidly under steady-state conditions, are destroyed by trypsinization and can be resynthesized in the absence of stable cell-cell or cell-substratum contact. Messenger RNA coding for proteins involved in tight junction formation is stable except when cells are sparsely plated, and can also be synthesized without intercellular contacts or cell-substratum attachment.

scholarly journals The tight junction protein ZO-1 is concentrated along slit diaphragms of the glomerular epithelium.

1990 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 1255-1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Schnabel ◽  
J M Anderson ◽  
M G Farquhar
Keyword(s):  
Tight Junction ◽  
Rat Kidney ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Kidney Tissue ◽  
Slit Diaphragm ◽  
Kidney Cortex ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Junction Protein ◽  
Collecting Tubules ◽  
Lateral Cell

The foot processes of glomerular epithelial cells of the mammalian kidney are firmly attached to one another by shallow intercellular junctions or slit diaphragms of unknown composition. We have investigated the molecular nature of these junctions using an antibody that recognizes ZO-1, a protein that is specific for the tight junction or zonula occludens. By immunoblotting the affinity purified anti-ZO-1 IgG recognizes a single 225-kD band in kidney cortex and in slit diaphragm-enriched fractions as in other tissues. When ZO-1 was localized by immunofluorescence in kidney tissue of adult rats, the protein was detected in epithelia of all segments of the nephron, but the glomerular epithelium was much more intensely stained than any other epithelium. Among tubule epithelia the signal for ZO-1 correlated with the known fibril content and physiologic tightness of the junctions, i.e., it was highest in distal and collecting tubules and lowest in the proximal tubule. By immunoelectron microscopy ZO-1 was found to be concentrated on the cytoplasmic surface of the tight junctional membrane. Within the glomerulus ZO-1 was localized predominantly in the epithelial foot processes where it was concentrated precisely at the points of insertion of the slit diaphragms into the lateral cell membrane. Its distribution appeared to be continuous along the continuous slit membrane junction. When ZO-1 was localized in differentiating glomeruli in the newborn rat kidney, it was present early in development when the apical junctional complexes between presumptive podocytes are composed of typical tight and adhering junctions. It remained associated with these junctions during the time they migrate down the lateral cell surface, disappear and are replaced by slit diaphragms. The distribution of ZO-1 and the close developmental relationship between the two junctions suggest that the slit diaphragm is a variant of the tight junction that shares with it at least one structural protein and the functional property of defining distinctive plasmalemmal domains. The glomerular epithelium is unique among renal epithelia in that ZO-1 is present, but the intercellular spaces are wide open and no fibrils are seen by freeze fracture. The presence of ZO-1 along slit membranes indicates that expression of ZO-1 alone does not lead to tight junction assembly.

Absence of orthogonal arrays in kidney, brain and muscle from transgenic knockout mice lacking water channel aquaporin-4

1997 ◽  
Vol 110 (22) ◽  
pp. 2855-2860 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.M. Verbavatz ◽  
T. Ma ◽  
R. Gobin ◽  
A.S. Verkman
Keyword(s):  
Cho Cells ◽  
Collecting Duct ◽  
Water Channel ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Orthogonal Arrays ◽  
Knock Out ◽  
Orthogonal Arrays Of Particles ◽  
Freeze Fracture Electron Microscopy ◽  
Knock Out Mice ◽  
And Function

Freeze-fracture electron microscopy (FFEM) of kidney collecting duct, muscle, astrocytes in brain, and other mammalian tissues has revealed regular square arrays of intramembrane particles called orthogonal arrays of particles (OAPs). Their possible role in membrane structure and transport have been proposed, and their absence or decrease has been noted in a variety of hereditary and acquired diseases. A transgenic mouse lacking water channel AQP4 was used to show that AQP4 is the OAP protein. FFEM was done on kidney, skeletal muscle, and brain from AQP4 wild-type [+/+], heterozygous [+/−] and knock-out [-/-] mice. The [-/-] mice did not express detectable AQP4 protein, but were grossly indistinguishable from [+/+] mice. FFEM was done on blinded samples of kidney, brain and muscle from 9 mice. In all 6 kidney samples from [+/+] and [+/−] mice, OAPs similar to those in AQP4-transfected CHO cells were found in basolateral membranes of collecting duct principal cells. In all muscle and brain samples from [+/+] and [+/−] mice, OAPs of identical ultrastructure to those in kidney were seen, but in smaller patch sizes. OAPs were not seen in any sample from [-/-] mice. Label-fracture analysis using a peptide-derived AQP4 polyclonal antibody showed immunogold labeling of OAPs in AQP4-expressing CHO cells. These studies provide direct evidence that AQP4 is required for formation of OAPs and is a component of OAPs, thus establishing the identity and function of OAPs.

Campylobacter jejuni inhibits the absorptive transport functions of Caco-2 cells and disrupts cellular tight junctions

Microbiology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 151 (7) ◽  
pp. 2451-2458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda MacCallum ◽  
Simon P. Hardy ◽  
Paul H. Everest
Keyword(s):  
Tight Junction ◽  
Tight Junctions ◽  
Campylobacter Jejuni ◽  
Fluid Transport ◽  
Cell Function ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Ussing Chambers ◽  
Cell Monolayers ◽  
Junction Protein

Caco-2 cells are models of absorptive enterocytes. The net transport of fluid from apical to basolateral surfaces results in ‘domes' forming in differentiated monolayers. Here, the effect of Campylobacter jejuni on this process has been examined. C. jejuni caused no changes in short-circuit current upon infection of Caco-2 cell monolayers in Ussing chambers. Thus, no active secretory events could be demonstrated using this model. It was therefore hypothesized that C. jejuni could inhibit the absorptive function of enterocytes and that this may contribute to diarrhoeal disease. C. jejuni infection of fluid-transporting (‘doming’) Caco-2 cells resulted in a significant reduction in dome number, which correlated with a decrease in tight junction integrity in infected monolayers, when measured as transepithelial electrical resistance. Defined mutants of C. jejuni also reduced dome numbers in infected monolayers. C. jejuni also altered the distribution of the tight junction protein occludin within cell monolayers. The addition to monolayers of extracellular gentamicin prevented these changes, indicating the contribution of extracellular bacteria to this process. Thus, tight junction integrity is required for fluid transport in Caco-2 cell monolayers as leaky tight junctions cannot maintain support of transported fluid at the basolateral surface of infected cell monolayers. Inhibition of absorptive cell function, changes in epithelial resistance and rearrangement of tight junctional proteins such as occludin represent a potential diarrhoeal mechanism of C. jejuni.

scholarly journals Connexin-Occludin Chimeras Containing the Zo-Binding Domain of Occludin Localize at Mdck Tight Junctions and Nrk Cell Contacts

1999 ◽  
Vol 146 (3) ◽  
pp. 683-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura L. Mitic ◽  
Eveline E. Schneeberger ◽  
Alan S. Fanning ◽  
James Melvin Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Tight Junction ◽  
Tight Junctions ◽  
Mdck Cells ◽  
Transmembrane Protein ◽  
Rat Kidney ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Binding Domain ◽  
Permeability Barrier ◽  
Cell Contacts ◽  
Cytoplasmic Proteins

Occludin is a transmembrane protein of the tight junction that functions in creating both an intercellular permeability barrier and an intramembrane diffusion barrier. Creation of the barrier requires the precise localization of occludin, and a distinct family of transmembrane proteins called claudins, into continuous linear fibrils visible by freeze-fracture microscopy. Conflicting evidence exists regarding the relative importance of the transmembrane and extracellular versus the cytoplasmic domains in localizing occludin in fibrils. To specifically address whether occludin's COOH-terminal cytoplasmic domain is sufficient to target it into tight junction fibrils, we created chimeras with the transmembrane portions of connexin 32. Despite the gap junction targeting information present in their transmembrane and extracellular domains, these connexin-occludin chimeras localized within fibrils when expressed in MDCK cells, as assessed by immunofluorescence and immunogold freeze-fracture imaging. Localization of chimeras at tight junctions depends on the COOH-terminal ZO-binding domain and not on the membrane proximal domain of occludin. Furthermore, neither endogenous occludin nor claudin is required for targeting to ZO-1–containing cell–cell contacts, since in normal rat kidney fibroblasts targeting of chimeras again required only the ZO-binding domain. These results suggest an important role for cytoplasmic proteins, presumably ZO-1, ZO-2, and ZO-3, in localizing occludin in tight junction fibrils. Such a scaffolding and cytoskeletal coupling function for ZO MAGUKs is analogous to that of other members of the MAGUK family.

scholarly journals Clostridium difficile Toxins Disrupt Epithelial Barrier Function by Altering Membrane Microdomain Localization of Tight Junction Proteins

2001 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 1329-1336 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Nusrat ◽  
C. von Eichel-Streiber ◽  
J. R. Turner ◽  
P. Verkade ◽  
J. L. Madara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clostridium Difficile ◽  
Tight Junction ◽  
Pseudomembranous Colitis ◽  
Paracellular Permeability ◽  
Etiologic Agent ◽  
Membrane Microdomains ◽  
Epithelial Cell Line ◽  
Rho Proteins ◽  
Membrane Microdomain ◽  
Junction Protein

ABSTRACT The anaerobic bacterium Clostridium difficile is the etiologic agent of pseudomembranous colitis. C. difficiletoxins TcdA and TcdB are UDP-glucosyltransferases that monoglucosylate and thereby inactivate the Rho family of GTPases (W. P. Ciesla, Jr., and D. A. Bobak, J. Biol. Chem. 273:16021–16026, 1998). We utilized purified reference toxins of C. difficile, TcdA-10463 (TcdA) and TcdB-10463 (TcdB), and a model intestinal epithelial cell line to characterize their influence on tight-junction (TJ) organization and hence to analyze the mechanisms by which they contribute to the enhanced paracellular permeability and disease pathophysiology of pseudomembranous colitis. The increase in paracellular permeability induced by TcdA and TcdB was associated with disorganization of apical and basal F-actin. F-actin restructuring was paralleled by dissociation of occludin, ZO-1, and ZO-2 from the lateral TJ membrane without influencing the subjacent adherens junction protein, E-cadherin. In addition, we observed decreased association of actin with the TJ cytoplasmic plaque protein ZO-1. Differential detergent extraction and fractionation in sucrose density gradients revealed TcdB-induced redistribution of occludin and ZO-1 from detergent-insoluble fractions constituting “raft-like” membrane microdomains, suggesting an important role of Rho proteins in maintaining the association of TJ proteins with such microdomains. These toxin-mediated effects on actin and TJ structure provide a mechanism for early events in the pathophysiology of pseudomembranous colitis.

Claudins create charge-selective channels in the paracellular pathway between epithelial cells

2002 ◽  
Vol 283 (1) ◽  
pp. C142-C147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar R. Colegio ◽  
Christina M. Van Itallie ◽  
Heather J. McCrea ◽  
Christoph Rahner ◽  
James Melvin Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistance ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Extracellular Domain ◽  
Inducible Promoter ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Solute Flux ◽  
Ionic Charge ◽  
Cell Monolayers ◽  
Charge Selectivity ◽  
Freeze Fracture Electron Microscopy

Epithelia separate tissue spaces by regulating the passage of ions, solutes, and water through both the transcellular and paracellular pathways. Paracellular permeability is defined by intercellular tight junctions, which vary widely among tissues with respect to solute flux, electrical resistance, and ionic charge selectivity. To test the hypothesis that members of the claudin family of tight junction proteins create charge selectivity, we assessed the effect of reversing the charge of selected extracellular amino acids in two claudins using site-directed mutagenesis. Claudins were expressed in cultured Madin-Darby canine kidney cell monolayers under an inducible promoter, and clones were compared with and without induction for transmonolayer electrical resistance and dilution potentials. Expression and localization of claudins were determined by immunoblotting, immunofluorescence microscopy, and freeze-fracture electron microscopy. We observed that substituting a negative for a positive charge at position 65 in the first extracellular domain of claudin-4 increased paracellular Na+ permeability. Conversely, substituting positive for negative charges at three positions in the first extracellular domain of claudin-15, singly and in combination, reversed paracellular charge selectivity from a preference for Na+ to Cl−. These results support a model where claudins create charge-selective channels in the paracellular space.

Structure, biochemistry, and assembly of epithelial tight junctions

1987 ◽  
Vol 253 (6) ◽  
pp. C749-C758 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Gumbiner
Keyword(s):  
Tight Junction ◽  
Tight Junctions ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Lateral Diffusion ◽  
Junctional Complex ◽  
Epithelial Cell Layer ◽  
Dependent Cell ◽  
Freeze Fracture Electron Microscopy ◽  
Dynamic Structures

The zonula occludens (ZO), also referred to as the tight junction, forms the barrier to the diffusion of molecules and ions across the epithelial cell layer through the paracellular space. The level of electrical resistance of the paracellular pathway seems to depend on the number of strands in the ZO observed by freeze-fracture electron microscopy (EM). The ZO also forms the boundary between the compositionally distinct apical and basolateral plasma membrane domains because it is a barrier to the lateral diffusion of lipids and membrane proteins that reside in the extracytoplasmic leaflet of the membrane bilayer. In contrast to its appearance in transmission EM, the tight junction is not a fusion between the outer membrane leaflets of neighboring cells. Rather it consists of protein molecules, including the newly discovered protein ZO-1 and probably others, which bring the plasma membranes into extremely close apposition so as to occlude the extracellular space. Very little is known about the assembly of tight junctions, but several kinds of evidence suggest that they are very dynamic structures. Other elements of the epithelial junctional complex including the zonula adherens (ZA), the Ca2+-dependent cell adhesion molecule uvomorulin, or L-CAM, and actin filaments of the cytoskeleton may participate in the assembly of the ZO.

HOCl effects on the tight junctions of rabbit tracheal epithelium

1996 ◽  
Vol 270 (2) ◽  
pp. L224-L231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Guo ◽  
M. Krumwiede ◽  
J. G. White ◽  
O. D. Wangensteen
Keyword(s):  
Tight Junction ◽  
Morphological Changes ◽  
Cell Damage ◽  
Freeze Fracture ◽  
Tracheal Epithelium ◽  
Epithelial Tissue ◽  
Laser Confocal Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Junction Protein ◽  
Before And After

We previously found that HOCl, produced from neutrophil products in infected airways, decreases electrical resistance (R) of rabbit tracheal epithelium. Interestingly, HOCl at 6 mM, a reasonable concentration in diseased airways, decreased R without apparent cell damage. This study sought to determine whether this noncytotoxic dose of HOCl causes morphological changes that correlate with the decrease in R. Excised rabbit tracheas were treated with 6 mM HOCl for 15 min, before and after which epithelial R was determined. Epithelial tissue was then fixed and prepared for transmission electron microscopy, immunofluorescent labeling of F-actin or the tight junction protein ZO-1, or freeze fracture to examine tight junction strands. HOCl treatment caused a 50% decrease in R. Electron micrographs showed no cell, cell membrane, or tight junction changes. By laser confocal microscopy, 6 mM HOCl did not affect the distribution of F-actin or ZO-1. However, morphometric analysis of freeze-fracture replicas showed that tight junction strand number was significantly decreased from 7.06 +/- 0.09 to 4.79 +/- 0.11 and junctional width was significantly decreased from 0.306 +/- 0.007 to 0.214 +/- 0.006 microns. These latter changes may have contributed to the observed decrease in epithelial R.

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