title: Functional expression and characterization of the wild-type mammalian renal cortex sodium/phosphate cotransporter and an 215R mutant in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
abstract: The wild-type and an R215E mutant of the rat renal cortex sodium/phosphate cotransporter type 2 (NaPi-2) were functionally expressed in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain MB192, a cell line lacking the high-affinity endogenous H+/P(i) cotransporter. The expression of the mRNA molecules and corresponding proteins was confirmed by Northern and Western blot analysis, respectively. As detected by indirect immunofluorescence and antibody capture assay, both wild-type and mutant NaPi-2 proteins are expressed in the yeast plasma membrane in comparable amounts. In the presence of 5 microM phosphate, Na+ promotes phosphate uptake into yeast cells expressing the wild-type NaPi-2 with a K(0.5) of 5.6 +/- 1.1 mM. The maximum uptake of phosphate (649 +/- 30 pmol/10 min) is approximately 8-fold higher than the uptake obtained with nontransformed cells (76.8 +/- 8 pmol/10 min). Yeast cells expressing the R215E mutant of NaPi-2 accumulate 213 +/- 9 pmol of phosphate/10 min under the same conditions. The K(0.5) for the stimulation of phosphate uptake by Na+ is 4.2 +/- 0.8 mM for the R215E mutant and thus not significantly different from the value obtained with cells expressing the wild-type cotransporter. The reduced level of accumulation of phosphate in yeast cells expressing the R215E mutant is probably due to a reduction of the first-order rate constant k for phosphate uptake: while cells expressing wild-type NaPi-2 accumulate phosphate with a k of 0.06 min(-1), the rate for phosphate uptake into cells expressing the R215E mutant (k) is 0.016 min(-1) and therefore about 4-fold lower. In comparison, the rate for phosphate uptake into nontransformed cells (k) is 0.0075 min(-1). Phosphate uptake into yeast cells that express the wild-type NaPi-2 in the presence of 150 mM NaCl is promoted by extracellular phosphate with a K(0.5) of 45 +/- 4 microM. A phosphate-dependent phosphate accumulation is also observed with cells expressing the R215E mutant, but the K(0.5) is twice as high (86 +/- 5 microM) as that obtained with the wild-type cotransporter. We conclude that the yeast expression system is a useful tool for the investigation of structure-function relationships of the renal sodium/phosphate cotransporter and that (215)R, although not involved in Na+ recognition, is a part of the structure involved in phosphate recognition and considerably influences the rate of phosphate uptake by the NaPi-2 cotransporter.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Biochemie und Endokrinologie, Fachbereich Veterinärmedizin, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bernhardt
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schoner
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Breves
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scheiner-Bobis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000235:genetics*; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000235:genetics; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000378:metabolism; D007672:Kidney Cortex / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D010710:Phosphates / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism*; D050608:Sodium-Phosphate Cotransporter Proteins; D050610:Sodium-Phosphate Cotransporter Proteins, Type II; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D027981:Symporters
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D010710:Phosphates; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D050608:Sodium-Phosphate Cotransporter Proteins; D050610:Sodium-Phosphate Cotransporter Proteins, Type II; D027981:Symporters; D001120:Arginine; D012964:Sodium