title: Visualization and trafficking of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter in living cholinergic cells.
abstract: The present experiments investigated the trafficking of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) tagged with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in living cholinergic cells (SN56). The EGFP-VAChT chimera was located in endosomal-like compartments in the soma of SN56 cells, and it was also targeted to varicosities of neurites. In contrast, EGFP alone in cells was soluble in the cytoplasm. The C-terminal cytoplasmic tail of VAChT has been implicated in targeting of VAChT to synaptic vesicles; thus, we have examined the role of the C-terminal region in the trafficking to varicosities. A C-terminal fragment tagged with EGFP appeared to be selectively accumulated in varicosities when expressed in SN56 cells. Interestingly, the protein was not freely soluble in the cytosol, and it presented a punctate pattern of expression. However, EGFP-C terminus did not present this peculiar pattern of expression in a nonneuronal cell line (HEK 293). Moreover, the C-terminal region of VAChT did not seem to be essential for VAChT trafficking, as a construct that lacks the C-terminal tail was, similar to EGFP-VAChT, partially targeted to endocytic organelles in the soma and sorted to varicosities. These experiments visualize VAChT for the first time in living cells and suggest that there might be multiple signals that participate in trafficking of VAChT to sites of synaptic vesicle accumulation.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica-Imunologia, ICB, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kushmerick
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: V F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Prado
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Prado
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004705:Endocytosis / Q000502:physiology*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents / Q000378:metabolism; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D051379:Mice; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods*; D009447:Neuroblastoma; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D010957:Plasmids; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013572:Synaptic Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism*; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D050494:Vesicular Acetylcholine Transport Proteins; D033921:Vesicular Transport Proteins
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C493459:SLC18A3 protein, human; C493460:Slc18a3 protein, mouse; D050494:Vesicular Acetylcholine Transport Proteins; D033921:Vesicular Transport Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins