Chromogranin B (secretogranin I) promotes sorting to the regulated secretory pathway of processing intermediates derived from a peptide hormone precursor.

Chromogranin B (CgB, secretogranin I) is a widespread constituent of neuroendocrine secretory granules whose function is unknown. To determine whether CgB affects the sorting of peptide hormone and neuropeptide precursors to secretory granules, we overexpressed CgB in AtT-20 cells, which exhibit an only moderate capacity to sort proopiomelanocortin and proteolytic fragments derived therefrom. In mock-transfected AtT-20 cells, a substantial proportion of newly synthesized proopiomelanocortin and its two primary proteolytic products generated in the trans-Golgi network, the N-terminal 23-kDa fragment containing adrenocorticotropin and the C-terminal beta-lipotropin fragment, was secreted via the constitutive pathway. Two- to three-fold overexpression of CgB markedly reduced the constitutive secretion of the 23-kDa fragment, but not beta-lipotropin and tripled the amount of adrenocorticotropin generated and stored in secretory granules. Our results indicate the existence of neuroendocrine-specific helper proteins which promote the sorting from the trans-Golgi network to secretory granules of certain processing intermediates derived from peptide hormone and neuropeptide precursors and demonstrate that CgB functions as such.

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor subtype 3 in pancreatic islet cell secretory granules revisited.

It has been reported that the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor subtype 3 is expressed in islet cells and is localized to both insulin and somatostatin granules [Blondel, O., Moody, M. M., Depaoli, A. M., Sharp, A. H., Ross, C. A., Swift, H. & Bell, G. I. (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91, 7777-7781]. This subcellular localization was based on electron microscope immunocytochemistry using antibodies (affinity-purified polyclonal antiserum AB3) directed to a 15-residue peptide of rat inositol trisphosphate receptor subtype 3. We now show that these antibodies cross-react with rat, but not human, insulin. Accordingly, the anti-inositol trisphosphate receptor subtype 3 (AB3) antibodies label electron dense cores of mature (insulin-rich) granules of rat pancreatic beta cells, and rat granule labeling was blocked by preabsorption of the AB3 antibodies with rat insulin. The immunostaining of immature, Golgi-associated proinsulin-rich granules with AB3 antibodies was very weak, indicating that cross-reactivity is limited to the hormone and not its precursor. Also, the AB3 antibodies labeled pure rat insulin crystals grown in vitro but failed to stain crystals grown from pure human insulin. By immunoprecipitation, the antibodies similarly displayed a higher affinity for rat than for human insulin. We could not confirm the labeling of somatostatin granules using AB3 antibodies.

Nonclathrin coat protein gamma, a subunit of coatomer, binds to the cytoplasmic dilysine motif of membrane proteins of the early secretory pathway.

Coatomer, a cytosolic heterooligomeric protein complex that consists of seven subunits [alpha-, beta-, beta'-, gamma-, delta-, epsilon-, and zeta-COP (nonclathrin coat protein)], has been shown to interact with dilysine motifs typically found in the cytoplasmic domains of various endoplasmic-reticulum-resident membrane proteins [Cosson, P. & Letourneur, F. (1994) Science 263, 1629-1631]. We have used a photo-cross-linking approach to identify the site of coatomer that is involved in binding to the dilysine motifs. An octapeptide corresponding to the C-terminal tail of Wbp1p, a component of the yeast N-oligosaccharyltransferase complex, has been synthesized with a photoreactive phenylalanine at position -5 and was radioactively labeled with [125I]iodine at a tyrosine residue introduced at the N terminus of the peptide. Photolysis of isolated coatomer in the presence of this peptide and immunoprecipitation of coatomer from photo-cross-linked cell lysates reveal that gamma-COP is the predominantly labeled protein. From these results, we conclude that coatomer is able to bind to the cytoplasmic dilysine motifs of membrane proteins of the early secretory pathway via its gamma-COP subunit, whose complete cDNA-derived amino acid sequence is also presented.

Neurosecretory vesicles can be hybrids of synaptic vesicles and secretory granules.

We have investigated the relationship of the so-called small dense core vesicle (SDCV), the major catecholamine-containing neurosecretory vesicle of sympathetic neurons, to synaptic vesicles containing classic neurotransmitters and secretory granules containing neuropeptides. SDCVs contain membrane proteins characteristic of synaptic vesicles such as synaptophysin and synaptoporin. However, SDCVs also contain membrane proteins characteristic of certain secretory granules like the vesicular monoamine transporter and the membrane-bound form of dopamine beta-hydroxylase. In neurites of sympathetic neurons, synaptophysin and dopamine beta-hydroxylase are found in distinct vesicles, consistent with their transport from the trans-Golgi network to the site of SDCV formation in constitutive secretory vesicles and secretory granules, respectively. Hence, SDCVs constitute a distinct type of neurosecretory vesicle that is a hybrid of the synaptic vesicle and the secretory granule membranes and that originates from the contribution of both the constitutive and the regulated pathway of protein secretion.

Large secretory structures at the cell surface imaged with scanning force microscopy.

Scanning force microscopy was used to image rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cell surfaces under different stimulation conditions that either permit or inhibit secretion. Cross-linking the surface IgE receptors with dinitrophenol-conjugated bovine serum albumin initiates secretion in RBL cells with concomitant spreading of the cell body. Structures at the cell surface approximately 1.5 microns in diameter relate to secretion both spatially and temporally. The position of these surface pits and their sizes suggest that they may be related to the dense-core granules positioned along the cytoskeletal filaments in detergent-extracted, unactivated RBL cell processes. Topographic scanning force microscopy images of RBL cell surfaces at 2, 5, and 35 min after activation show that these structures persist and change in cross-sectional profile with time after activation. These structures may be related to the membrane retrieval mechanism of cells after intense stimulation.

Identification of a second homolog of N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein that is expressed in the nervous system and secretory tissues of Drosophila.

N-Ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein (NSF) is an ATPase known to have an essential role in intracellular membrane transport events. Recently, cDNA clones encoding a Drosophila melanogaster homolog of this protein, named dNSF, were characterized and found to be expressed in the nervous system. We now report the identification of a second homolog of NSF, called dNSF-2 within this species and report evidence that this ubiquitous and widely utilized fusion protein belongs to a multigene family. The predicted amino acid sequence of dNSF-2 is 84.5% identical to dNSF (hereafter named dNSF-1), 59% identical to NSF from Chinese hamster, and 38.5% identical to the yeast homolog SEC18. The highest similarity was found in a region of dNSF-2 containing one of two ATP-binding sites; this region is most similar to members of a superfamily of ATPases. dNSF-2 is localized to a region between bands 87F12 and 88A3 on chromosome 3, and in situ hybridization techniques revealed expression in the nervous system during embryogenesis and in several imaginal discs and secretory structures in the larvae. Developmental modulation of dNSF-2 expression suggests that quantitative changes in the secretory apparatus are important in histogenesis.

Identification of endothelin 1 and big endothelin 1 in secretory vesicles isolated from bovine aortic endothelial cells.

Vesicles containing endothelin 1 (ET-1) were isolated from bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) by fractionation of homogenates on sucrose density gradients by ultracentrifugation. The vesicles were localized at the 1.0/1.2 M sucrose interface using a specific anti-ET-1-(16-21) RIA. Identification of ET-1 and big ET-1 in this fraction was confirmed by HPLC analysis combined with RIA. Morphological examination of the ET-1-enriched fraction by electron microscopy identified clusters of vesicles approximately 100 nm in diameter. Immunostaining of ultrathin cryosections prepared from the vesicle fraction for ET-1 or big ET-1 showed clusters of 15-nm gold particles attached to or within vesicles. Immunofluorescence staining of whole BAECs using a specific ET-1-(16-21) IgG purified by affinity chromatography revealed punctate granulation of the cell cytoplasm viewed under light microscopy. This distinct pattern of staining was shown by confocal light microscopy to be intracellular. Immunofluorescence staining of whole cells with a polyclonal antiserum for big ET-1-(22-39) showed a defined perinuclear localization of precursor molecule. Hence, several different approaches have demonstrated that ET-1 and big ET-1 are localized within intracellular vesicles in BAECs, suggesting that these subcellular compartments are an important site for processing of big ET-1 by endothelin-converting enzyme.

Bronchiolar nonciliated secretory (Clara) cells: source of guanylin in the mammalian lung.

The peptide guanylin, which has recently been isolated from the intestine, is involved in the regulation of fluid secretion in the intestinal epithelium by activation of guanylate cyclase C, the putative guanylin receptor. Since the latter protein is also expressed in airway epithelia, we investigated the lung of three mammalian species for the presence and cellular localization of guanylin by immunoblot (Western blot) analyses and light and electron microscopical immunocytochemistry. In Western blots of bovine, guinea pig, and rat lung extracts, three different guanylin antisera directed against the midportion and against the C terminus of the precursor molecule identified a peptide band corresponding to the apparent molecular mass of guanylin. Localization studies in the lung revealed that guanylin is exclusively confined to nonciliated secretory (Clara) cells in the lining of distal conducting airways. The presence of guanylin in the lung and particularly its specific localization to Clara cells indicate that these cells may play a pivotal role in the local (paracrine) regulation of electrolyte/water transport in airway epithelia.

A study of plasma stability in microwave cavities by a frequency-shift analog.

"Prepared for the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, Headquarters Air Research and Development Command, under contract AF 04 (647)-309, Thermonuclear Propulsion Research."

Radial flow behavior of artificial recharge from surface cavities,

Bibliography: p. 53.

Diseases of the ear, nose, and throat and their accessory cavities. A condensed text-book.

The colored plates are accompanied by leaves with explanatory letterpress.

Diseases of the chest, throat and nasal cavities ..

Mode of access: Internet.

D-Tyrosine as a chiral precusor to potent inhibitors of human nonpancreatic secretory phospholipase A(2) (IIa) with antiinflammatory activity

Few reported inhibitors of secretory phospholipase A(2) enzymes inhibit the IIa human isoform (hnpsPLA(2)-IIa) noncovalently at submicromolar concentrations. Herein, the simple chiral precursor D-tyrosine was derivastised to give a series of potent new inhibitors of hnpsPLA(2)-IIa. A 2.2-Angstrom crystal structure shows an inhibitor bound in the active site of the enzyme, chelated to a Ca2+ ion through carboxylate and amide oxygen atoms, H bonded through an amide NH group to His48, with multiple hydrophobic contacts and a T-shaped aromatic-group-His6 interaction. Antiinflammatory activity is also demonstrated for two compounds administered orally to rats.

Whole genome analysis reveals a high incidence of non-optimal codons in secretory signal sequences of Escherichia coli

Translational pausing may occur due to a number of mechanisms, including the presence of non-optimal codons, and it is thought to play a role in the folding of specific polypeptide domains during translation and in the facilitation of signal peptide recognition during see-dependent protein targeting. In this whole genome analysis of Escherichia coli we have found that non-optimal codons in the signal peptide-encoding sequences of secretory genes are overrepresented relative to the mature portions of these genes; this is in addition to their overrepresentation in the 5'-regions of genes encoding non-secretory proteins. We also find increased non-optimal codon usage at the 3' ends of most E. coli genes, in both non-secretory and secretory sequences. Whereas presumptive translational pausing at the 5' and 3' ends of E. coli messenger RNAs may clearly have a general role in translation, we suggest that it also has a specific role in sec-dependent protein export, possibly in facilitating signal peptide recognition. This finding may have important implications for our understanding of how the majority of non-cytoplasmic proteins are targeted, a process that is essential to all biological cells. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.