Kinetic Models of Secondary Active Transporters Burtscher, Verena; Schicker, Klaus; Freissmuth, Michael ...
International journal of molecular sciences,
10/2019, Volume:
20, Issue:
21
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Kinetic models have been employed to understand the logic of substrate transport through transporters of the Solute Carrier (SLC) family. All SLC transporters operate according to the alternate ...access model, which posits that substrate transport occurs in a closed loop of partial reactions (i.e., a transport cycle). Kinetic models can help to find realistic estimates for conformational transitions between individual states of the transport cycle. When constrained by experimental results, kinetic models can faithfully describe the function of a candidate transporter at a pre-steady state. In addition, we show that kinetic models can accurately predict the intra- and extracellular substrate concentrations maintained by the transporter at a steady state, even under the premise of loose coupling between the electrochemical gradient of the driving ion and of the substrate. We define the criteria for the design of a credible kinetic model of the SLC transporter. Parsimony is the guiding principle of kinetic modeling. We argue, however, that the level of acceptable parsimony is limited by the need to account for the substrate gradient established by a secondary active transporter, and for random order binding of co-substrates and substrate. Random order binding has consistently been observed in transporters of the SLC group.
The serotonin transporter (SERT/SLC6A4) is arguably the most extensively studied solute carrier (SLC). During its eponymous action - that is, the retrieval of serotonin from the extracellular space - ...SERT undergoes a conformational cycle. Typical inhibitors (antidepressant drugs and cocaine), partial and full substrates (amphetamines and their derivatives), and atypical inhibitors (ibogaine analogues) bind preferentially to different states in this cycle. This results in competitive or non-competitive transport inhibition. Here, we explored the action of
-formyl-1,3-bis (3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)-prop-2-yl-amine (ECSI#6) on SERT: inhibition of serotonin uptake by ECSI#6 was enhanced with increasing serotonin concentration. Conversely, the K
for serotonin was lowered by augmenting ECSI#6. ECSI#6 bound with low affinity to the outward-facing state of SERT but with increased affinity to a potassium-bound state. Electrophysiological recordings showed that ECSI#6 preferentially interacted with the inward-facing state. Kinetic modeling recapitulated the experimental data and verified that uncompetitive inhibition arose from preferential binding of ECSI#6 to the K
-bound, inward-facing conformation of SERT. This binding mode predicted a pharmacochaperoning action of ECSI#6, which was confirmed by examining its effect on the folding-deficient mutant SERT-PG
AA: preincubation of HEK293 cells with ECSI#6 restored export of SERT-PG
AA from the endoplasmic reticulum and substrate transport. Similarly, in transgenic flies, the administration of ECSI#6 promoted the delivery of SERT-PG
AA to the presynaptic specialization of serotonergic neurons. To the best of our knowledge, ECSI#6 is the first example of an uncompetitive SLC inhibitor. Pharmacochaperones endowed with the binding mode of ECSI#6 are attractive, because they can rescue misfolded transporters at concentrations, which cause modest transport inhibition.
The concentrative power of the transporters for dopamine (DAT), norepinephrine (NET), and serotonin (SERT) is thought to be fueled by the transmembrane Na
+
gradient, but it is conceivable that they ...can also tap other energy sources, for example, membrane voltage and/or the transmembrane K
+
gradient. We have addressed this by recording uptake of endogenous substrates or the fluorescent substrate APP
+
(4-(4-dimethylamino)phenyl-1-methylpyridinium) under voltage control in cells expressing DAT, NET, or SERT. We have shown that DAT and NET differ from SERT in intracellular handling of K
+
. In DAT and NET, substrate uptake was voltage-dependent due to the transient nature of intracellular K
+
binding, which precluded K
+
antiport. SERT, however, antiports K
+
and achieves voltage-independent transport. Thus, there is a trade-off between maintaining constant uptake and harvesting membrane potential for concentrative power, which we conclude to occur due to subtle differences in the kinetics of co-substrate ion binding in closely related transporters.
Electrophysiological recordings allow for monitoring the operation of proteins with high temporal resolution down to the single molecule level. This technique has been exploited to track either ion ...flow arising from channel opening or the synchronized movement of charged residues and/or ions within the membrane electric field. Here, we describe a novel type of current by using the serotonin transporter (SERT) as a model. We examined transient currents elicited on rapid application of specific SERT inhibitors. Our analysis shows that these currents originate from ligand binding and not from a long-range conformational change. The Gouy-Chapman model predicts that adsorption of charged ligands to surface proteins must produce displacement currents and related apparent changes in membrane capacitance. Here we verified these predictions with SERT. Our observations demonstrate that ligand binding to a protein can be monitored in real time and in a label-free manner by recording the membrane capacitance.
S4-based voltage sensors have three major conformations Villalba-Galea, Carlos A; Sandtner, Walter; Starace, Dorine M ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
11/2008, Volume:
105, Issue:
46
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Voltage sensors containing the charged S4 membrane segment display a gating charge vs. voltage (Q-V) curve that depends on the initial voltage. The voltage-dependent phosphatase (Ci-VSP), which does ...not have a conducting pore, shows the same phenomenon and the Q-V recorded with a depolarized initial voltage is more stable by at least 3RT. The leftward shift of the Q-V curve under prolonged depolarization was studied in the Ci-VSP by using electrophysiological and site-directed fluorescence measurements. The fluorescence shows two components: one that traces the time course of the charge movement between the resting and active states and a slower component that traces the transition between the active state and a more stable state we call the relaxed state. Temperature dependence shows a large negative enthalpic change when going from the active to the relaxed state that is almost compensated by a large negative entropic change. The Q-V curve midpoint measured for pulses that move the sensor between the resting and active states, but not long enough to evolve into the relaxed states, show a periodicity of 120°, indicating a 3₁₀ secondary structure of the S4 segment when determined under histidine scanning. We hypothesize that the S4 segment moves as a 3₁₀ helix between the resting and active states and that it converts to an α-helix when evolving into the relaxed state, which is most likely to be the state captured in the crystal structures.
The diversity in solute carriers arose from evolutionary pressure. Here, we surmised that the adaptive search for optimizing the rate of substrate translocation was also shaped by the ambient ...extracellular and intracellular concentrations of substrate and co-substrate(s). We explored possible solutions by employing kinetic models, which were based on analytical expressions of the substrate uptake rate, that is, as a function of the microscopic rate constants used to parameterize the transport cycle. We obtained the defining terms for five reaction schemes with identical transport stoichiometry (i.e., Na
: substrate = 2:1). We then utilized an optimization algorithm to find the set of numeric values for the microscopic rate constants, which provided the largest value for the substrate uptake rate: The same optimized rate was achieved by different sets of numerical values for the microscopic rate constants. An in-depth analysis of these sets provided the following insights: (i) In the presence of a low extracellular substrate concentration, a transporter can only cycle at a high rate, if it has low values for both, the Michaelis-Menten constant (K
) for substrate and the maximal substrate uptake rate (V
). (ii) The opposite is true for a transporter operating at high extracellular substrate concentrations. (iii) Random order of substrate and co-substrate binding is superior to sequential order, if a transporter is to maintain a high rate of substrate uptake in the presence of accumulating intracellular substrate. Our kinetic models provide a framework to understand how and why the transport cycles of closely related transporters differ.
The reconstitution of secondary active transporters into liposomes shed light on their molecular transport mechanism. The latter are either symporters, antiporters or exchangers, which use the energy ...contained in the electrochemical gradient of ions to fuel concentrative uptake of their cognate substrate. In liposomal preparations, these gradients can be set by the experimenter. However, due to passive diffusion of the ions and solutes through the membrane, the gradients are not stable and little is known on the time course by which they dissipate and how the presence of a transporter affects this process. Gradient dissipation can also generate a transmembrane potential (V
). Because it is the effective ion gradient, which together with V
fuels concentrative uptake, knowledge on how these parameters change within the time frame of the conducted experiment is key to understanding experimental outcomes. Here, we addressed this problem by resorting to a modelling approach. To this end, we mathematically modeled the liposome in the assumed presence and absence of the sodium glucose transporter 1 (SGLT1). We show that 1) the model can prevent us from reaching erroneous conclusions on the driving forces of substrate uptake and we 2) demonstrate utility of the model in the assignment of the states of SGLT1, which harbor a water channel.
Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine 5-HT) is accumulated within nerve endings by the serotonin transporter (SERT), which terminates its extracellular action and provides cytoplasmic 5-HT for refilling of ...synaptic vesicles. SERT is the target for many antidepressant medications as well as psychostimulants such as cocaine and ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine). SERT belongs to the SLC6 family of ion-coupled transporters and is structurally related to several other transporter families. SERT was studied in the 1970s and 1980s using membrane vesicles isolated from blood platelets. These studies led to a proposed stoichiometry of transport that has been challenged by high-resolution structures of SERT and its homologues and by studies of SERT electrophysiology. Here, we review the original evidence alongside more recent structural and electrophysiological evidence. A self-consistent picture emerges with surprising insights into the ion fluxes that accompany 5-HT transport.
The dopamine transporter shapes dopaminergic neurotransmission by clearing extracellular dopamine and by replenishing vesicular stores. The dopamine transporter carries an endogenous binding site for ...Zn2+, but the nature of the Zn2+-dependent modulation has remained elusive: both, inhibition and stimulation of DAT have been reported. Here, we exploited the high time resolution of patch-clamp recordings to examine the effects of Zn2+ on the transport cycle of DAT: we recorded peak currents associated with substrate translocation and steady-state currents reflecting the forward transport mode of DAT. Zn2+ depressed the peak current but enhanced the steady-state current through DAT. The parsimonious explanation is preferential binding of Zn2+ to the outward facing conformation of DAT, which allows for an allosteric activation of DAT, in both, the forward transport mode and substrate exchange mode. We directly confirmed that Zn2+ dissociated more rapidly from the inward- than from the outward-facing state of DAT. Finally, we formulated a kinetic model for the action of Zn2+ on DAT that emulated all current experimental observations and accounted for all previous (in part contradictory) findings. Importantly, the model predicts that the intracellular Na+ concentration determines whether substrate uptake by DAT is stimulated or inhibited by Zn2+. This prediction was directly verified. The mechanistic framework provided by the current model is of relevance for the rational design of allosteric activators of DAT. These are of interest for treating de novo loss-of-function mutations of DAT associated with neuropsychiatric disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Background: Zn2+ was originally proposed to inhibit dopamine uptake by the dopamine transporter (DAT).
Results: Zn2+ depressed peak currents, and modulated steady state-currents through DAT in a manner dependent on internal Na+.
Conclusion: At physiological intracellular Na+, Zn2+ activates both the forward and exchange transport mode of DAT.
Significance: The action of Zn2+ is of interest for rescuing conformationally trapped DAT mutants.
PDF
