Regulation of the human ether-a-gogo related gene (HERG) K+ channels by reactive oxygen species

Human ether-a-gogo related gene (HERG) K+ channels are key elements in the control of cell excitability in both the cardiovascular and the central nervous systems. For this reason, the possible modulation by reactive oxygen species (ROS) of HERG and other cloned K+ channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes has been explored in the present study. Exposure of Xenopus oocytes to an extracellular solution containing FeSO4 (25–100 μM) and ascorbic acid (50–200 μM) (Fe/Asc) increased both malondialdehyde content and 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescin fluorescence, two indexes of ROS production. Oocyte perfusion with Fe/Asc caused a 50% increase of the outward K+ currents carried by HERG channels, whereas inward currents were not modified. This ROS-induced increase in HERG outward K+ currents was due to a depolarizing shift of the voltage-dependence of channel inactivation, with no change in channel activation. No effect of Fe/Asc was observed on the expressed K+ currents carried by other K+ channels such as bEAG, rDRK1, and mIRK1. Fe/Asc-induced stimulation of HERG outward currents was completely prevented by perfusion of the oocytes with a ROS scavenger mixture (containing 1,000 units/ml catalase, 200 ng/ml superoxide dismutase, and 2 mM mannitol). Furthermore, the scavenger mixture also was able to reduce HERG outward currents in resting conditions by 30%, an effect mimicked by catalase alone. In conclusion, the present results seem to suggest that changes in ROS production can specifically influence K+ currents carried by the HERG channels.

Acylation stabilizes a protease-resistant conformation of protoporphyrinogen oxidase, the molecular target of diphenyl ether-type herbicides

Protein acylation is an important way in which a number of proteins with a variety of functions are modified. The physiological role of the acylation of cellular proteins is still poorly understood. Covalent binding of fatty acids to nonintegral membrane proteins is thought to produce transient or permanent enhancement of the association of the polypeptide chains with biological membranes. In this paper, we investigate the functional role for the palmitoylation of an atypical membrane-bound protein, yeast protoporphyrinogen oxidase, which is the molecular target of diphenyl ether-type herbicides. Palmitoylation stabilizes an active heat- and protease-resistant conformation of the protein. Palmitoylation of protoporphyrinogen oxidase has been demonstrated to occur in vivo both in yeast cells and in a heterologous bacterial expression system, where it may be inhibited by cerulenin leading to the accumulation of degradation products of the protein. The thiol ester linking palmitoleic acid to the polypeptide chain was shown to be sensitive to hydrolysis by hydroxylamine and also by the widely used serine-protease inhibitor phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride.

Rapid polyether cleavage via extracellular one-electron oxidation by a brown-rot basidiomycete

Fungi that cause brown rot of wood are essential biomass recyclers and also the principal agents of decay in wooden structures, but the extracellular mechanisms by which they degrade lignocellulose remain unknown. To test the hypothesis that brown-rot fungi use extracellular free radical oxidants as biodegradative tools, Gloeophyllum trabeum was examined for its ability to depolymerize an environmentally recalcitrant polyether, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), that cannot penetrate cell membranes. Analyses of degraded PEOs by gel permeation chromatography showed that the fungus cleaved PEO rapidly by an endo route. 13C NMR analyses of unlabeled and perdeuterated PEOs recovered from G. trabeum cultures showed that a major route for depolymerization was oxidative C—C bond cleavage, a reaction diagnostic for hydrogen abstraction from a PEO methylene group by a radical oxidant. Fenton reagent (Fe(II)/H2O2) oxidized PEO by the same route in vitro and therefore might account for PEO biodegradation if it is produced by the fungus, but the data do not rule out involvement of less reactive radicals. The reactivity and extrahyphal location of this PEO-degrading system suggest that its natural function is to participate in the brown rot of wood and that it may enable brown-rot fungi to degrade recalcitrant organopollutants.

The domain structure of protoporphyrinogen oxidase, the molecular target of diphenyl ether-type herbicides

Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (EC 1–3-3–4), the 60-kDa membrane-bound flavoenzyme that catalyzes the final reaction of the common branch of the heme and chlorophyll biosynthesis pathways in plants, is the molecular target of diphenyl ether-type herbicides. It is highly resistant to proteases (trypsin, endoproteinase Glu-C, or carboxypeptidases A, B, and Y), because the protein is folded into an extremely compact form. Trypsin maps of the native purified and membrane-bound yeast protoporphyrinogen oxidase show that this basic enzyme (pI > 8.5) was cleaved at a single site under nondenaturing conditions, generating two peptides with relative molecular masses of 30,000 and 35,000. The endoproteinase Glu-C also cleaved the protein into two peptides with similar masses, and there was no additional cleavage site under mild denaturing conditions. N-terminal peptide sequence analysis of the proteolytic (trypsin and endoproteinase Glu-C) peptides showed that both cleavage sites were located in putative connecting loop between the N-terminal domain (25 kDa) with the βαβ ADP-binding fold and the C-terminal domain (35 kDa), which possibly is involved in the binding of the isoalloxazine moiety of the FAD cofactor. The peptides remained strongly associated and fully active with the Km for protoporphyrinogen and the Ki for various inhibitors, diphenyl-ethers, or diphenyleneiodonium derivatives, identical to those measured for the native enzyme. However, the enzyme activity of the peptides was much more susceptible to thermal denaturation than that of the native protein. Only the C-terminal domain of protoporphyrinogen oxidase was labeled specifically in active site-directed photoaffinity-labeling experiments. Trypsin may have caused intramolecular transfer of the labeled group to reactive components of the N-terminal domain, resulting in nonspecific labeling. We suggest that the active site of protoporphyrinogen oxidase is in the C-terminal domain of the protein, at the interface between the C- and N-terminal domains.

2-Arachidonyl glyceryl ether, an endogenous agonist of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor

Two types of endogenous cannabinoid-receptor agonists have been identified thus far. They are the ethanolamides of polyunsaturated fatty acids—arachidonoyl ethanolamide (anandamide) is the best known compound in the amide series—and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol, the only known endocannabinoid in the ester series. We report now an example of a third, ether-type endocannabinoid, 2-arachidonyl glyceryl ether (noladin ether), isolated from porcine brain. The structure of noladin ether was determined by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and was confirmed by comparison with a synthetic sample. It binds to the CB1 cannabinoid receptor (Ki = 21.2 ± 0.5 nM) and causes sedation, hypothermia, intestinal immobility, and mild antinociception in mice. It binds weakly to the CB2 receptor (Ki > 3 μM).

Elevation of intracellular calcium by muscarinic receptor activation induces a block of voltage-activated rat ether-à-go-go channels in a stably transfected cell line.

We have studied the properties of r-eag voltage-activated potassium channels in a stably transfected human embryonic kidney cell line. It was found that r-eag channels are rapidly and reversibly inhibited by a rise in intracellular calcium from 30 to 300 nM. The inhibition does not appear to depend on the activity of calcium-dependent kinases and phosphatases. The effect of calcium on r-eag channel activity was studied in inside-out membrane patches. Calcium inhibited r-eag channel activity with a mean IC50 of 67 nM. Activation of muscarinic receptors, generating calcium oscillations in the transfected cells, induced a synchronous inhibition of r-eag mediated outward currents. This shows that calcium can mediate r-eag current inhibition following muscarinic receptor activation. The data indicate that r-eag channels are calcium-inhibitable voltage-activated potassium channels.