title: Colonic epithelium-enriched protein A4 is a proteolipid that exhibits ion channel characteristics.
abstract: Expression of the human gene A4 is enriched in the colonic epithelium and is transcriptionally activated on differentiation of colonic epithelial cells in vitro (M. M. Oliva, T. C. Wu, and V. W. Yang. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 302: 183-192, 1993). A4 cDNA contains an open reading frame that predicts a polypeptide of 17 kDa. To determine the function of the A4 protein, we characterized its biochemical and physiological properties. Hydropathy analysis of deduced A4 amino acid sequence revealed four putative membrane-spanning alpha-helices. The hydrophobic nature of A4 was confirmed by its being extractable with organic solvents. Immunocytochemical studies of cells expressing A4 localized it to the endoplasmic reticulum. Moreover, A4 multimerized in vivo as determined by coimmunoprecipitation experiments. The four-transmembrane topology and biophysical characteristics of A4 suggest that it belongs to a family of integral membrane proteins called proteolipids, some of which multimerize to form ion channels. Subsequent electrophysiological studies of nuclei isolated from microinjected Xenopus laevis oocytes transiently expressing A4 showed the appearance of a 28-pS channel. Thus our studies indicate that A4 is a colonic epithelium-enriched protein localized to the endoplasmic reticulum and that, similar to other proteolipids, A4 multimerizes and exhibits characteristics of an ion channel.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Breitwieser
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: McLenithan
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Cortese
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Oliva
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Majewski
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Machamer
authors.forename: V W
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002451:Cell Compartmentation; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism; D004848:Epithelium / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000502:physiology*; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000378:metabolism; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D062792:MARVEL Domain-Containing Proteins; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D011510:Proteolipids / Q000502:physiology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012995:Solubility; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014982:Xenopus laevis
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D062792:MARVEL Domain-Containing Proteins; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C094765:PLP2 protein, human; D011510:Proteolipids; D011994:Recombinant Proteins