Heterotrimeric G proteins (␣␥) mediate the majority of signaling pathways in mammalian cells. It is long held that G protein function is localized to the plasma membrane. Here we examined the spatiotemporal dynamics of G protein localization using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, fluorescence loss in photobleaching, and a photoswitchable fluorescent protein, Dronpa. Unexpectedly, G protein subunits shuttle rapidly (t1 ⁄ 2 < 1 min) between the plasma membrane and intracellular membranes. We show that consistent with such shuttling, G proteins constitutively reside in endomembranes. Furthermore, we show that shuttling is inhibited by 2-bromopalmitate. Thus, contrary to present thought, G proteins do not reside permanently on the plasma membrane but are constantly testing the cytoplasmic surfaces of the plasma membrane and endomembranes to maintain G protein pools in intracellular membranes to establish direct communication between receptors and endomembranes.Heterotrimeric G proteins are known to function on the cytosolic surface of the plasma membrane (PM) 2 in response to the stimulation of transmembrane receptors by most of the extracellular signals a mammalian cell senses (1-4). The PM localization of a G protein is facilitated by individual lipid modifications of the ␣ and ␥ subunits (5). Consistent with a model of G protein action on the PM, activated G protein subunits have been shown to modulate the functions of effectors such as adenylyl cyclase, phospholipase C, and ion channels which are also PM-localized (1-4). However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of G protein localization in a living cell has not been examined to determine whether G protein subunits are stably constrained to the PM. Although there is longstanding evidence for the existence of G protein subunits in intracellular membranes such as the Golgi complex and suggestions that they affect protein trafficking (6 -11), it has been unclear as to how they reach endomembranes and if they are native to these membranes or in transit to the PM.Here we used a variety of imaging methods on live cells with fluorescent protein-tagged G protein subunits including photoswitchable Dronpa (12) to observe G protein movement. A fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based G protein sensor was used to examine whether G proteins reside constitutively in the endomembranes. The results show that G protein subunits shuttle rapidly between the PM and endomembranes in cells in the basal state maintaining a pool of G proteins in the endomembranes. We show that the shuttling is likely diffusive and not vesicle-mediated. Furthermore, 2-bromopalmitate (2BP), an inhibitor of palmitoylation (13), inhibited shuttling, suggesting that it may be regulated by acylation.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Details of chemicals, expression constructs, cell lines, transfection, and treatment of cells are as in Saini et al. (41). Dronpa fluorescent proteins were introduced downstream of Gly-92 in␣ o as in the ␣ o -CFP construct that we have shown previously to possess normal...