No abstract

The inhibitory glycine receptor (GlyR) in developing spinal neurones is internalized efficiently upon antagonist inhibition. Here we used surface labeling combined with affinity purification to show that homopentameric ␣1 GlyRs generated in Xenopus oocytes are proteolytically nicked into fragments of 35 and 13 kDa upon prolonged incubation. Nicked GlyRs do not exist at the cell surface, indicating that proteolysis occurs exclusively in the endocytotic pathway. Consistent with this interpretation, elevation of the lysosomal pH, but not the proteasome inhibitor lactacystin, prevents GlyR cleavage. Prior to internalization, ␣1 GlyRs are conjugated extensively with ubiquitin in the plasma membrane. Our results are consistent with ubiquitination regulating the endocytosis and subsequent proteolysis of GlyRs residing in the plasma membrane. Ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes thus may have a crucial role in synaptic plasticity by determining postsynaptic receptor numbers.The efficiency of synaptic transmission depends critically on a dense packing of neurotransmitter receptors in the postsynaptic membrane. At fast synapses, ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) 1 mediate the postsynaptic response. Different lines of evidence indicate that the distribution and density of LGICs in the plasma membrane are regulated tightly. In differentiating muscle fibers, the formation of a densely packed postsynaptic matrix of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) at the developing motor endplate requires restriction of gene expression to subsynaptic nuclei, efficient internalization and degradation of extrasynaptic receptors, synaptic clustering by rapsyn, and slowing of the turnover of synaptically accumulated nAChRs (1, 2). Inversely, muscle denervation (2) or blockade of neurotransmission by ␣-bungarotoxin (3) causes a loss of nAChRs from the postsynaptic membrane because of an increased rate of protein turnover (4). Because nAChR degradation occurs only after internalization and lysosomal targeting of the receptor protein (4, 5

The inhibitory glycine receptor is a member of the ligand-gated ion channel superfamily of neurotransmitter receptors, which are composed of homologous subunits with four transmembrane segments (M1-M4), each. Here, we demonstrate that the correct topology of the glycine receptor ␣1 subunit depends critically on six positively charged residues within a basic cluster, RFR-RKRR, located in the large cytoplasmic loop (designated M3-M4 loop) following the C-terminal end of M3. Neutralization of one or more charges of this cluster, but not of other charged residues in the M3-M4 loop, led to an aberrant translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum lumen of the M3-M4 loop. However, when two of the three basic charges located in the ectodomain linking M2 and M3 were neutralized, in addition to two charges of the basic cluster, endoplasmic reticulum disposition of the M3-M4 loop was prevented. We conclude that a high density of basic residues C-terminal to M3 is required to compensate for the presence of positively charged residues in the M2-M3 ectodomain, which otherwise impair correct membrane integration of the M3 segment.

A glutamate to alanine exchange at amino acid position 496 of the human P2X7 receptor was recently shown to be associated with a loss of function in human B lymphocytes in terms of ATP-induced ethidium+ uptake, Ba2+ influx, and induction of apoptosis (Gu BJ, Zhang WY, Worthington RA, Sluyter R, Dao-Ung P, Petrou S, Barden JA, and Wiley JS. J Biol Chem 276: 11135–11142, 2001). Here we analyzed the effect of the Glu496 to Ala exchange on the channel properties of the human P2X7 receptor expressed in Xenopus oocytes with the two-microelectrode voltage-clamp technique. The amplitudes of ATP-induced whole cell currents characteristic of functional expression, kinetic properties including ATP concentration dependence, and permeation behavior were not altered by this amino acid exchange. Also in HEK293 cells, the Ala496 mutant mediated typical P2X7 receptor-dependent currents like the parent Glu496 hP2X7 receptor. Because the function of the P2X7 receptor as an ATP-gated channel for small cations including Ba2+ remained unaffected by this mutation, we conclude that Glu496 plays a critical role in pore formation but does not determine the ion channel properties of the human P2X7 receptor.