|
||
© The Rockefeller University Press,
0021-9525/1999//973 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 145, Number 5,
, 1999 973-978
Regular Articles |
Direct Membrane Insertion of Voltage-dependent Anion-selective Channel Protein Catalyzed by Mitochondrial Tom20
Insertion of newly synthesized proteins into or across the mitochondrial outer membrane is initiated by import receptors at the surface of the organelle. Typically, this interaction directs the precursor protein into a preprotein translocation pore, comprised of Tom40. Here, we show that a prominent β-barrel channel protein spanning the outer membrane, human voltage- dependent anion-selective channel (VDAC), bypasses the requirement for the Tom40 translocation pore during biogenesis. Insertion of VDAC into the outer membrane is unaffected by plugging the translocation pore with a partially translocated matrix preprotein, and mitochondria containing a temperature-sensitive mutant of Tom40 insert VDAC at the nonpermissive temperature. Synthetic liposomes harboring the cytosolic domain of the human import receptor Tom20 efficiently insert newly synthesized VDAC, resulting in transbilayer transport of ATP. Therefore, Tom20 transforms newly synthesized cytosolic VDAC into a transmembrane channel that is fully integrated into the lipid bilayer.
Key Words: voltage-dependent anion-selective channel porin Tom20 import mitochondria
Abbreviations used in this paper: DHFR, dihydrofolate reductase; GST, glutathione S-transferase; hTom20, human Tom20; LUVs, large unilamellar liposomes; MTX, methotrexate; pCOX Va, precytochrome oxidase subunit Va; PE, phosphatidylethanolamine; PE-pmbs, β-maleimidopropionic acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of PE; pOCT, preornithine carbamyl transferase; VDAC, voltage-dependent anion-selective channel.
Address correspondence to Gordon C. Shore, Department of Biochemistry, McIntyre Medical Sciences Building, McGill University, 3655 Drummond Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1Y6. Tel.: (514) 398-7282. Fax: (514) 398-7384. E-mail: shore{at}med.mcgill.ca
SORTING of newly synthesized proteins to specific organelles within the cell requires a mechanism to direct the protein to its correct location and to overcome the thermodynamic barrier imposed by the lipid bilayer during transmembrane translocation. Typically, recognition is provided by organelle-specific receptors and translocation is mediated by a transbilayer machinery that includes a pore complex through which the polypeptide can move (Schatz and Dobberstein, 1996). In the case of mitochondria, both the outer and inner membranes are competent for protein translocation and achieve this by distinct translocation machineries (Hauke and Schatz, 1997; Neupert, 1997; Pfanner and Meijer, 1997). A complex of receptors embedded in the outer membrane (Tom20, Tom22, Tom37, and Tom70) mediates recognition of all known proteins destined for internalization into the organelle. After binding to the receptor complex, the preprotein moves into a translocation apparatus comprised of the predicted channel, Tom40, and the ancillary proteins, Tom5, Tom6, and Tom7. Recent reconstitution of functional protein translocation in synthetic lipid bilayers faithfully recapitulates this process and suggests the existence of a transbilayer water-filled pore as the polypeptide translocator (Hill et al., 1998; Kunkele et al., 1998).
Mitochondrial preproteins that contain hydrophobic membrane-spanning segments are likely arrested and released from the translocation pore into the surrounding lipid bilayer during the translocation process. Such a mechanism is well documented in the ER (Rapoport et al., 1996). Indeed, hydrophobic sequences analogous to ER stop-transfer and signal-anchor sequences have been identified as topogenic sequences that trigger protein integration into the mitochondrial outer membrane (Nguyen et al., 1988; Li and Shore, 1992; McBride et al., 1992). In contrast, little is understood about β-barrel proteins, prototypically represented by the bacterial porins (Weiss et al., 1991), which lack uniformly hydrophobic domains, but whose overall amphiphilic character permits integration of almost the complete protein structure into the bilayer to form a transmembrane channel. Such a porin exists as an abundant 30-kD voltage-dependent anion-selective channel (VDAC)1 in the mitochondrial outer membrane of all eukaryotes examined (Colombini et al., 1996; Mannella, 1997). It is comprised of a 12- to 13-strand barrel (Colombini et al., 1987; Stanley et al., 1995) that provides the major pathway for transport of metabolites, including ATP, through the membrane (Rostovtseva and Colombini, 1997; Lee et al., 1998). Coordinated regulation of this outer membrane channel with those in the inner membrane may play an important role in mitochondria function and signaling, including events contributing to the mitochondrial involvement in apoptosis (Green and Reed, 1998).
Here, we have examined the import pathway of VDAC. Tom20 plays a direct role in targeting newly synthesized VDAC for integration into the mitochondrial outer membrane. Import is blocked by Tom20 gene deletion in vivo (Sollner et al., 1989) and by competing anti-Tom20 antibodies in vitro (Ramage et al., 1993; Goping et al., 1995). Moreover, a direct physical interaction between VDAC and Tom20 has been observed (Schleiff et al., 1997). Consistent with this, targeting sequences that specify protein translocation into or across the outer membrane effectively compete for VDAC insertion into the outer membrane (Millar and Shore, 1996). We now demonstrate, however, that VDAC bypasses the requirement for the Tom40 preprotein translocation pore. Rather, Tom20 alone is capable of catalyzing direct insertion of this β-barrel protein into the membrane lipid bilayer.
| Materials and Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Recombinant Cytosolic Domain of Human Tom20
Recombinant glutathione S-transferase (GST)–human Tom20
1-29 (formerly named GST-
30hTom20), lacking the NH2-terminal transmembrane segment of hTom20, was expressed in TOPP2 cells and purified (Schleiff et al., 1997). Protein immobilized on glutathione-Sepharose 4B was washed and suspended in 20 mM NaPO4, pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 0.5 mM CaCl2, and incubated with 5 µg/ml thrombin for 18 h at 4°C, generating hTom20
1-29 with an extra gly residue at the NH2 terminus derived from the thrombin cleavage site. The mixture was passed through a Mono S HR 5/5 column and protein was eluted with a linear gradient (buffer A, 10 mM MES, pH 5.0; buffer B, 10 mM 3-cyclohexylamino-1-propane sulfonic acid, pH 10, 500 mM NaCl). Peak fractions containing hTom20
1-29 were resolved on a Superdex 200 column in 10 mM Hepes, pH 7.0, and 100 mM NaCl. Fractions containing the purified protein were dialyzed against the same buffer containing 5 mM DTT and the protein concentrated to 1.5 mg/ml.
Plasmid encoding GST-hTom20
1-29 was manipulated by standard recombinant DNA procedures to substitute cys at hTom20 codon position 100 with ser and to introduce ser-cys after gly at the thrombin cleavage site. The thrombin cleavage product, hTom20
1-29/N-GSC/C100S, was generated and purified as above.
Liposomes
Approximately 100 nm large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) (lipid composition: PC, phosphotidylcholine; PE, phosphotidylethanolamine; PI, phosphotidylinositol; PS, phosphotidylserine; PC/PE/PI/PS at molar ratios of 55:28:13:3 or PC/PE/PI/PS/PE-bmps at molar ratios of 54.5:27.5:13:3:1) were prepared in 170 mM sucrose, 20 mM Tris acetate, pH 7.0, and 2 mM CaCl2 (Shahinian and Silvius, 1995). LUVs containing β-maleimidopropionic acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of PE (PE-bmps) were incubated for 12 h at 4°C with hTom20
1-29/N-GSC/C100S (10-fold molar excess relative to PE-bmps; coupling efficiency, 85–95%) followed by two 30 min incubations with excess LUVs generated in medium lacking sucrose (100 mM NaCl, 20 mM Tris acetate, pH 7.0, and 2 mM CaCl2) to competitively remove unincorporated hTom20. Sucrose-loaded LUVs containing the covalently attached cytosolic domain of hTom20 were recovered by centrifugation at 50,000 x g for 60 min in a Beckman 75Ti rotor. They were used in protein import reactions (Goping et al., 1998) in place of mitochondria.
| Results and Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
To address this question further, import of VDAC was examined using isolated yeast mitochondria containing a temperature-sensitive mutant of Tom40 (Kassenbrock et al., 1995). In contrast to control mitochondria, temperature-sensitive Tom40 mitochondria were incapable of importing the matrix preprotein form of cytochrome oxidase subunit Va (COX Va) at the nonpermissive temperature (37°C), as judged by the failure of pCOX Va to be processed by the mitochondria at 37°C (Fig. 1 C, lane 4), while processing of pCOX Va was observed at the permissive temperature of 23°C. In contrast to pCOX Va, membrane insertion of VDAC occurred at both 23 and 37°C (Fig. 1 C). The slight decrease in membrane insertion of VDAC at 37°C compared with 23°C was similar for both wild-type and temperature-sensitive Tom40 mitochondria (Fig. 1 C), suggesting that this difference was related to events other than the temperature-sensitive phenotype of Tom40.
The cytosolic domain of hTom20, hTom20
1-29, when included as a soluble entity in excess in the import reaction, inhibited import of pOCT (Fig. 1 A, lower panel, compare lanes 8 and 10), presumably because it sequestered the preprotein through direct protein interaction (Schleiff et al., 1997) and prevented transfer of the preprotein to the translocation machinery. hTom20
1-29 can also physically interact with VDAC (Schleiff et al., 1997). In distinct contrast to pOCT, however, hTom20
1-29 did not interfere with insertion of VDAC into the outer membrane. In fact, it had a slight stimulatory effect (Fig. 1 A, upper panel, compare lanes 8 and 10), suggesting that potential interactions between VDAC and hTom20
1-29 in the import reaction must be readily reversible. Moreover, the difference in response of pOCT and VDAC to hTom20
1-29 in the import reaction suggested a potential fundamental difference in the import pathways of the two proteins. However, the results also imply that a complex of VDAC and soluble hTom20
1-29 can make contact with the mitochondrial surface in vitro, a suggestion that is compatible with the observed binding of the cytosolic domain of hTom20 to lipid surfaces in vitro (Schleiff and Turnbull, 1998; Fig. 2 A).
|
1-29; the other cys located at codon position 100 was converted to ser. These changes did not influence the ability of the receptor to interact with either VDAC or pOCT in vitro (data not shown). The liposomes had a phospholipid composition similar to that of total mitochondrial outer membrane in rat liver (de Kroon et al., 1997). Under the conditions used for mitochondrial protein import reactions with VDAC synthesized in reticulocyte lysate such liposomes were found to efficiently insert the protein, as determined by acquired resistance to extraction at alkaline pH or with urea (Fig. 2 B, upper panel, lanes 2 and 3). Moreover, the resulting import product was resistant to treatment with trypsin (lane 4), reflective of VDAC in native membranes (Colombini et al., 1996; Mannella, 1997). LUVs bearing the hTom20 cytosolic domain did not translocate pOCT, as judged by the failure of pOCT to acquire resistance to trypsin (Fig. 2 B, lower panel), nor did they insert yTom70(1-29)DHFR, as judged by its extractability from liposomes with 7 M urea (not shown). Conversely, LUVs lacking the hTom20 cytosolic domain did not insert VDAC (Fig. 2 B, upper panel, lanes 6–8). Furthermore, VDAC that associated with LUVs lacking the hTom20 cytosolic domain exhibited facile interliposomal transfer (Fig. 2 C), indicating that this binding by VDAC was merely peripheral. As expected, VDAC that was inserted into the LUV lipid bilayer by the hTom20 cytosolic domain did not transfer to subsequently added protein-free LUVs. In contrast, pOCT that bound to LUVs containing the hTom20 cytosolic domain could subsequently transfer to protein-free LUVs, but slower than pOCT that bound to LUVs lacking hTom20 (
t1/2, 15 versus 1 min; Fig. 2 C). This finding is consistent with the ability of hTom20 to physically interact with pOCT (Schleiff et al., 1997). Moreover, the relatively slow dissociation of pOCT from the hTom20 cytosolic domain explains the ability of excess hTom20
1-29 to inhibit import of pOCT into mitochondria in vitro (Fig. 1 A). Finally, VDAC that had been inserted into LUVs by the hTom20 cytosolic domain was examined for its ability to transport a physiological substrate of this channel protein, ATP (Rostovtseva and Colombini, 1997; Lee et al., 1998). LUVs were loaded with [32P]ATP before the import reaction, and the subsequent release of ATP was measured at various times after the initiation of the reaction. Insertion of a single functional VDAC channel into the vesicle would be predicted to release encapsulated ATP. Release of radioactive ATP commenced immediately upon initiation of VDAC insertion into liposomes (Fig. 3). Egress of ATP was dependent on functional VDAC, inhibited by a known antagonist, NADH (Zizi et al., 1994), and required the presence of the hTom20 cytosolic domain on the liposome surface to integrate VDAC into the lipid bilayer. In contrast, the control protein pOCT did not stimulate ATP export from LUVs alone or LUVs with hTom20 (Fig. 3).
|
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
Submitted: 21 January 1999
Revised: 20 April 1999
This work was financed by operating grants from the Medical Research Council and National Cancer Institute of Canada.
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Colombini M, Yeung CL, Tung J & Konig T. The mitochondrial outer membrane channel, VDAC, is regulated by a synthetic polyanion, Biochim Biophys Acta, 1987, 905, 279–286.[Medline]
Colombini M, Blachly DE & Forte M. VDAC, a channel in the outer mitochondrial membrane, Ion Channels, 1996, 4, 169–202.[Medline]
Daum G, Bohni PC & Schatz G. Import of proteins into mitochondria. Cytochrome b2and cytochrome c peroxidase are located in the intermembrane space of yeast mitochondria, J Biol Chem, 1982, 257, 13028–13033.
de Kroon A, Dolis D, Mayer A, Lill R & de Kruijff KB. Phospholipid composition of highly purified mitochondrial outer membranes of rat liver and Neurospora crassa. Is cardiolipin present in the mitochondrial outer membrane, Biochim Biophys Acta, 1997, 1325, 108–116.[Medline]
Eilers M & Schatz G. Binding of a specific ligand inhibits import of a purified precursor protein into mitochondria, Nature, 1986, 322, 228–232.[Medline]
Fujiki Y, Fowler S, Shio H, Hubbard AL & Lazarow P. Polypeptide and phospholipid composition of the membrane of rat liver peroxisomes: comparison with endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial membrane, J Cell Biol, 1982, 93, 103–110.
Goping IS, Millar DG & Shore GC. Identification of the human mitochondrial protein import receptor, huMas20p, FEBS Lett, 1995, 373, 45–50.[Medline]
Goping IS, Gross A, Lavoie JN, Nguyen M, Jemmerson R, Roth K, Korsmeyer SJ & Shore GC. Regulated targeting of BAX to mitochondria, J Cell Biol, 1998, 143, 207–215.
Green DR & Reed JC. Mitochondria and apoptosis, Science, 1998, 281, 1309–1312.
Haucke V & Schatz G. Import of proteins into mitochondria and chloroplasts, Trends Cell Biol, 1997, 7, 103–106.[Medline]
Hill K, Model K, Ryan MT, Dietmeimer K, Martin F, Wagner R & Pfanner N. Tom40 forms the hydrophilic channel of the mitochondrial import pore for preproteins, Nature, 1998, 395, 516–521.[Medline]
Kassenbrock CK, Gao GJ, Groom KR, Sulo P, Douglas MG & Martin NC. RPM2, independently of its mitochondrial RNAse Pfunction, suppresses an ISP42 mutant defective in mitochondrial import and is essential for normal growth, Mol Cell Biol, 1995, 15, 4763–4770.[Abstract]
Kunkele KP, Heins S, Dembowski M, Nargang FE, Benz R, Thieffry M, Walz J, Lill R, Nussberger S & Neupert W. The preprotein translocation channel of the outer membrane of mitochondria, Cell, 1998, 93, 1009–1019.[Medline]
Lee AC, Xu X, Blachly DE, Forte M & Colombini M. The role of yeast VDAC genes on the permeability of the mitochondrial outer membrane, J Membr Biol, 1998, 161, 173–181.[Medline]
Li JM & Shore GC. Reversal of the orientation of an integral protein of the mitochondrial outer membrane, Science, 1992, 256, 1815–1817.
Mannella CA. On the structure and gating mechanism of the mitochondrial channel, VDAC, J Bioenerg Biomembr, 1997, 29, 525–531.[Medline]
McBride HM, Millar DG, Li JM & Shore GC. A signal-anchor sequence selective for the mitochondrial outer membrane, J Cell Biol, 1992, 119, 1451–1457.
McBride HM, Goping IS & Shore GC. The human mitochondrial import receptor, hTom20p, prevents a cryptic matrix targeting sequence from gaining access to the protein translocation machinery, J Cell Biol, 1996, 134, 370–313.
Millar DG & Shore GC. Signal anchor sequence insertion into the outer mitochondrial membrane. Comparison with porin and the matrix targeting pathway, J Biol Chem, 1996, 271, 25823–25829.
Neupert W. Protein import into mitochondria, Annu Rev Biochem, 1997, 66, 863–917.[Medline]
Nguyen M, Bell AW & Shore GC. Protein sorting between mitochondrial membranes specified by position of the stop-transfer domain, J Cell Biol, 1988, 106, 1499–1505.
Pfanner N & Meijer M. The Tom and Tim machine, Curr Biol, 1997, 7, R100–R103.[Medline]
Ramage L, Junne T, Hahne K, Lithgow T & Schatz G. Functional cooperation of mitochondrial protein import receptors in yeast, EMBO (Eur Mol Biol Organ) J, 1993, 12, 4115–4123.[Medline]
Rapaport D, Kunkele KP, Dembowski M, Ahting U, Narang FE, Neupert W & Lill R. Dynamics of the Tom complex of mitochondria during binding and translocation of preproteins, Mol Cell Biol, 1998, 18, 5256–5262.
Rapoport T, Jungnickel AB & Kutay U. Protein transport across the eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum and bacterial inner membranes, Annu Rev Biochem, 1996, 65, 271–303.[Medline]
Rostovtseva T & Colombini M. VDAC channels mediate and gate the flow of ATP: implications for the regulation of mitochondrial function, Biophys J, 1997, 72, 1954–1962.[Medline]
Schatz G & Dobberstein B. Common principles of protein translocation across membranes, Science, 1996, 271, 1519–1526.[Abstract]
Schleiff E & Turnbull JL. Functional and structural properties of the mitochondrial outer membrane receptor Tom20, Biochemistry, 1998, 37, 13043–13051.[Medline]
Schleiff E, Shore GC & Goping IS. Interactions of the human mitochondrial protein import receptor, hTom20, with precursor proteins in vitro reveal pleiotropic specificities and different receptor domain requirements, J Biol Chem, 1997, 272, 17784–17789.
Shahinian S & Silvius JR. A novel strategy affords high-yield coupling of antibody Fab' fragments to liposomes, Biochim Biophys Acta, 1995, 1239, 157–167.[Medline]
Sheffield WP, Shore GC & Randall SK. Mitochondrial precursor protein. Effects of 70-kilodalton heat shock protein on polypeptide folding, aggregation, and import competence, J Biol Chem, 1990, 265, 11069–11076.
Smith M, Hicks S, Baker K & McCauley R. Rupture of the mitochondrial outer membrane impairs porin assembly, J Biol Chem, 1994, 269, 28460–28464.
Sollner T, Griffiths G, Pfaller R, Pfanner N & Neupert W. MOM19, an import receptor for mitochondrial precursor proteins, Cell, 1989, 59, 1061–1070.[Medline]
Stanley SJ, Dias A, D'Arcangelis D & Mannella CA. Peptide-specific antibodies as probes of the topography of the voltage gated channel of the mitochondrial outer membrane of Neurospora crassa. , J Biol Chem, 1995, 270, 16694–16700.
Vestweber D, Brunner J, Baker A & Schatz G. A 42K outer membrane protein is a component of the yeast mitochondrial protein import site, Nature, 1989, 341, 205–209.[Medline]
Weiss MS, Abele U, Weckesser J, Welte W, Schiltz E & Schultz GE. Molecular architecture and electrostatic properties of a bacterial porin, Science, 1991, 254, 1627–1630.
Xu X & Colombini M. Self-catalyzed insertion of proteins into phospholipid membranes, J Biol Chem, 1996, 271, 23675–23682.
Zizi M, Forte M, Blachly DE & Colombini M. NADH regulates the gating of VDAC, the mitochondrial outer membrane channel, J Biol Chem, 1994, 269, 1614–1616.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|