Structural and functional characterization of the C-terminal transmembrane region of NBCe1-A

Abstract

NBCe1-A and AE1 both belong to the SLC4 HCO3- transporter family. The two transporters share 40% sequence homology in the C-terminal transmembrane region. In this study, we performed extensive substituted cysteine-scanning mutagenesis analysis of the C-terminal region of NBCe1-A covering amino acids Ala800-Lys967. Location of the introduced cysteines was determined by whole cell labeling with a membrane-permeant biotin maleimide and a membrane-impermeant 2-((5(6)-tetramethylrhodamine)carboxylamino) ethyl methanethiosulfonate (MTS-TAMRA) cysteine-reactive reagent. The results show that the extracellular surface of the NBCe1-A C-terminal transmembrane region is minimally exposed to aqueous media with Met858 accessible to both biotin maleimide and TAMRA and Thr926-Ala929 only to TAMRA labeling. The intracellular surface contains a highly exposed (Met813-Gly 828) region and a cryptic (Met887-Arg904) connecting loop. The lipid/aqueous interface of the last transmembrane segment is at Asp960. Our data clearly determined that the C terminus of NBCe1-A contains 5 transmembrane segments with greater average size compared with AE1. Functional assays revealed only two residues in the region of Pro 868-Leu967 (a functionally important region in AE1) that are highly sensitive to cysteine substitution. Our findings suggest that the C-terminal transmembrane region of NBCe1-A is tightly folded with unique structural and functional features that differ from AE1. © 2010 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.