Mammalian cell mutants resistant to a sphingomyelin-directed cytolysin. Genetic and biochemical evidence for complex formation of the LCB1 protein with the LCB2 protein for serine palmitoyltransferase.
Lysenin, a hemolytic protein derived from the earthworm Eisenia foetida, has a high affinity for sphingomyelin. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells exhibited a high cytolytic sensitivity to lysenin, but treatment with sphingomyelinase rendered the cells resistant to lysenin. Temperature-sensitive CHO mutant cells defective in sphingolipid synthesis were resistant to lysenin, and this lysenin resistance was suppressed by metabolic complementation of sphingolipids. Selection of lysenin-resistant variants from mutagenized CHO cells yielded two types of sphingomyelin-deficient mutants, both of which showed less lysenin binding capability than wild-type cells. One mutant strain was severely defective in sphingomyelin synthesis but not glycosphingolipid synthesis, and another strain (designated LY-B) was incapable of de novo synthesis of any sphingolipid species and had no activity of serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT; EC 2.3.1.50) catalyzing the first step of sphingolipid biosynthesis. LY-B cells lacked the LCB1 protein, a component of SPT, and transfection of LY-B cells with the hamster LCB1 cDNA restored both SPT activity and sphingolipid synthesis to the cells. Expression of an affinity peptide-tagged LCB1 protein in LY-B cells caused the endogenous LCB2 protein to adsorb to a tag affinity matrix. In addition, an anti-hamster LCB2 protein antibody co-immunoprecipitated both SPT activity and the wild-type LCB1 protein with the LCB2 protein. Thus, cell surface sphingomyelin is essential for lysenin-induced cytolysis, and lysenin is a useful tool for isolation of sphingomyelin-deficient mutants. Moreover, these results demonstrate that the SPT enzyme comprises both the LCB1 and LCB2 proteins.
Hanada
K
K
Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan. hanak@nih.go.jp
Hara
T
T
Fukasawa
M
M
Yamaji
A
A
Umeda
M
M
Nishijima
M
M
D000217:Acyltransferases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D006224:Cricetinae; D003603:Cytotoxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D011485:Protein Binding; D011506:Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D051102:Serine C-Palmitoyltransferase; D013108:Sphingomyelin Phosphodiesterase / Q000378:metabolism; D013109:Sphingomyelins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014118:Toxins, Biological
D003603:Cytotoxins; D011506:Proteins; D013109:Sphingomyelins; D014118:Toxins, Biological; C107040:lysenin; D000217:Acyltransferases; D051102:Serine C-Palmitoyltransferase; D013108:Sphingomyelin Phosphodiesterase