![]()
|
|
||||||||
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 280, Issue 15, 15456-15463, April 15, 2005
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

¶||


From the
Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, the ¶Rowe Program in Genetics, and the
Department of Nutrition, University of California at Davis, Davis, California 95616
Received for publication, October 27, 2004 , and in revised form, February 4, 2005.
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
zrt3 that was defective in release of stored zinc from vacuoles, we found that ZIP7 was able to decrease the level of accumulated zinc and in the meantime to increase the nuclear/cytoplasmic labile zinc level in the ZIP7-expressing zrt3 mutant. We showed that the protein expression of ZIP7 was repressed under zinc-rich condition, whereas there were no effects of zinc on ZIP7 gene expression and intracellular localization. Neither did zinc deficiency affect the intracellular distribution of ZIP7 in mammalian cells. Our study demonstrates that ZIP7 is a functional zinc transporter that acts by transporting zinc from the Golgi apparatus to the cytoplasm of the cell. | INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Zinc homeostasis is maintained by a diverse array of zinc transporters through zinc uptake, intracellular sequestration, restoration, and export (4, 5). Uptake of zinc from the lumen of the small intestine or from the blood circulation of the body is achieved by the members of the ZRT1- and IRT1-like protein (ZIP)1 family (6). The ZIP proteins are predicted to have eight transmembrane domains with an intracellular histidine-rich loop between transmembrane domains 3 and 4. The loop region of the ZIP protein may play important role in zinc binding as mutations of these histidine residues in the loop region destroyed zinc transport activity of these ZIP proteins (6). So far, fourteen mammalian members of the ZIP family have been identified through mouse and human genome analyses (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Conversely, zinc efflux is accomplished by the members of the ZnT proteins (zinc transporter) (5). The ZnT proteins are predicted to have six transmembrane domains with a histidine-rich loop between transmembrane domains 4 and 5. This histidine-rich loop of the ZnT proteins may perform similar functions to the one in ZIP proteins.
Within the ZnT family, the ZnT1 protein is involved in zinc efflux from the cell, whereas other ZnT proteins (ZnT27) are engaged in subcellular zinc sequestration when zinc is abundant (5). The outcome of the ZnT protein function is to reduce the cytoplasmic zinc concentrations to avoid zinc toxicity when zinc is in excess. On the other hand, the ZIP members are essential for an increase of the cytoplasmic zinc concentrations by enhancement of zinc uptake or release of stored zinc from subcellular compartments to the cytoplasm of the cell when zinc is deficient (6). Indeed, yeast ZRT1 and ZRT2 as well as mammalian ZIP15 proteins have been demonstrated to function in zinc uptake (715). Although a yeast zinc transporter, ZRT3, was reported to mediate the release of the intracellular compartmentalized zinc into the cytoplasm of the yeast cell (16), the mammalian counterpart is still not known. To identify a possible mammalian zinc transporter(s) that functions in transporting zinc from subcellular compartments to the cytoplasm of the cell, we performed a prediction analysis for subcellular localization of fourteen mammalian members of the ZIP family based on their amino acid sequences using the online PSORT II (www.psort.org) program. Among the fourteen mammalian members of the ZIP family, ZIP6 and ZIP7 were predicted to have more than a 50% probability to be localized on the membranes of intracellular organelles. In addition, the likelihood that ZIP6 and ZIP7 resided on the plasma membrane of the cell was less than 20%.
The mouse ZIP7 (Ke4) gene was discovered while characterizing genes in the major histocompatibility complex on chromosome 17 (17). Human ZIP7 (HKE4), the human homologue, was mapped to the HLA class II region on chromosome 6 (18). The mouse ZIP7 protein has been shown to suppress the iar1 mutant phenotype when it was expressed in the Arabidopsis iar1 mutant plant (19). The IAR1 gene in Arabidopsis encodes a protein with similarity to members of the ZIP family. Null mutations in the iar1 gene of Arabidopsis led to suppression of the inhibitory effects of several IAA (indole 3-acetic acid)-amino acid conjugates. It was speculated that the IAR1 protein is a metal transporter to carry metal ions (zinc and/or copper) out of intracellular compartments to the cytoplasm of the plant cell (19). The human ZIP7-V5 recombinant protein was detected intracellularly in transient-transfected CHO (Chinese hamster ovarian) cells. Moreover, expression of the ZIP7-V5 fusion protein in CHO cells led to an increase of the intracellular free zinc ions, measured with Newport Green, a zinc-specific fluorescent dye (20).
The ZIP6 gene (LIV-1) was isolated in an effort to identify the estrogen-regulated genes in a human breast cancer cell line, ZR-75-1 (21). The mRNA expression of ZIP6 was upregulated about 4-fold in the presence of 10-8 M estradiol in culture medium (21). Immunofluorescent microscopy study of recombinant human ZIP6 indicated that ZIP6 was localized to the plasma membrane of CHO cells (22), which is in disagreement with the prediction of its cellular localization. The presence of a ubiquitin binding site in the ZIP6 protein may explain its predicted localization (22).
Here we describe the functional characterization of the endogenous ZIP7 protein in mammalian cells. Our study demonstrates that ZIP7 mRNA was abundantly expressed in both human and mouse tissues. The endogenous ZIP7 protein was localized in the Golgi apparatus, and the ZIP7 protein transported intracellular zinc from the Golgi apparatus to the cytoplasm of the cell. Overexpression of mouse ZIP7 alleviated compartmental zinc accumulation and resulted in an increased labile zinc pool in yeast zrt3 mutant cells (16). In addition, the protein expression of ZIP7 was repressed by zinc, and the gene expression of ZIP7 and the intracellular localization of ZIP7 were not affected by zinc availability.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Western Blot AnalysisThe mouse liver and brain tissues isolated from a C57BL/6J mouse were washed with 1x PBS, pH 7.4 and homogenized in a lysis buffer containing 1x PBS, pH 7.4, 1% Nonidet P40, 0.1% SDS, and 0.5% sodium deoxycholate. One mini proteinase inhibitor tablet (Roche Applied Science) and 56 µl of 100 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride was added into 10 ml of the lysis buffer just before use. The homogenized tissue was then heated at 100 °C for 5 min and centrifuged at 4 °C for 10 min. The supernatant was collected and quantified using the Bio-Rad protein assay reagents. 200 µg of protein extracts from liver and brain were separated on a 420% Tris-HCl gel (Bio-Rad) and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane (Bio-Rad).
RWPE1 cells were cultured in a keratinocyte serum-free medium supplemented with 5 ng/ml human recombinant EGF and 0.05 mg/ml bovine pituitary extract (Invitrogen) for 24 h at 37 °C. Cells were then treated with 0 or 75 µM ZnSO4 for another 24 h at 37 °C. Cells were harvested, and cell lysates were prepared as previously described (23). 100 µg of protein extracts were separated on a 420% Tris-HCl gel and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane.
The bacterial lysates containing the GST-ZIP7 fusion protein or the GST protein alone were prepared according to the manufacturer's instructions (Amersham Biosciences). 1 µg of the bacterial lysates was loaded to each well of a 420% Tris-HCl gel and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane.
The ZIP7 protein was detected as described previously (23) using an affinity-purified anti-ZIP7 antibody (1:400 dilution) followed by a peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody (1:2,5001:20,000) (Pierce). ZIP7 was visualized using a SuperSignal west femto kit (Pierce) and an Alpha Innotech Gel Documentation system (Alpha Innotech). The GST-ZIP7 fusion protein was visualized by an ECL kit (Amersham Biosciences), and the blot was subsequently exposed to film (Kodak).
AntibodiesRabbit anti-mouse ZIP7 antibody was raised against a synthetic peptide from amino acids of mouse ZIP7 (RRGGNTGPRDGPVKPQS) and affinity-purified (Pierce). The result from a BLAST search of the SWISSPORT data base indicated that this peptide is unique. The monoclonal anti-Myc antibody was purchased from Stressgen. The Alexa 488- or 594-conjugated goat anti-rabbit or anti-mouse antibodies were purchased from Molecular Probes. The peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-rabbit antibody was purchased from Pierce.
Cell Culture and Generation of Stable Cell LinesWI-38 (human lung fibroblast cells) and MCF-7 (human mammary gland epithelial cells) were cultured in a high glucose Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 100 units/ml penicillin G, and 0.1 mg/ml streptomycin (basal medium) (Invitrogen). RWPE1 (normal human prostate epithelial cells) was cultured in a keratinocyte serum-free medium supplemented with 5 ng/ml human recombinant epidermal growth factor and 0.05 mg/ml bovine pituitary extract (basal medium). K-562 (human erythroleukemia cells) was cultured in an Iscove's modified Dulbecco's medium containing 10% FBS, 4 mM L-glutamine, and 1.5 mg/ml sodium bicarbonate. CHO/FRT/ZnT7 cells were cultured in 1:1 DMEM/F12 (Ham) medium with 15 mM HEPES, 2.5 mM L-glutamine, 2 mg/ml pyridoxine hydrochloride, and 10% FBS (Invitrogen) (24). The mouse ZIP7-expressing cell line and the control cell line were generated by transfecting pcDNA3.1/ZIP7 or pcDNA3.1 (Invitrogen) into the ZnT7-expressing CHO cells using a Lipofectamine plus kit (Invitrogen). The stable cell lines were selected and maintained in 1:1 DMEM/F12 medium containing 0.1 mg/ml of hygromycin B and 0.6 mg/ml of G418 (Invitrogen).
PlasmidsThe EST clone, BG342480 [GenBank] , containing a full-length mouse ZIP7 ORF was purchased from ResGen (Invitrogen). The ZIP7 ORF sequence was PCR-amplified and cloned into the HindIII and XbaI sites of a yeast expression vector, pYES2 (Invitrogen). The resulting plasmid pY-ZIP7 was confirmed by sequencing and used for transformation of yeast mutant stains. The mammalian ZIP7-expressing plasmid, pHM6/ZIP7, was constructed by insertion of the ZIP7 ORF cDNA sequence into the HindIII and EcoRI sites of pHM6 vector (Roche Applied Science). The plasmid was confirmed by sequencing and used for generation of a stable ZnT7/ZIP7-co-expressing CHO cell line. The yeast ZRE-lacZ reporter plasmid used in this study was kindly provided by Dr. David Eide at the University of Wisconsin (16). The bacterial GST-ZIP7 fusion protein-expressing plasmid, pGEX/ZIP7, was constructed by insertion of the ZIP7 ORF cDNA sequence into the EcoRI and XhoI sites of pGEX-4T-3 vector (Amersham Biosciences).
Immunofluorscent MicroscopyImmunofluorescent analysis was performed as previously described (23). WI-38, RWPE1, MCF-7, K-562, CHO/FRT/ZnT7, and CHO/FRT/ZnT7/ZIP7 cells were cultured in slide chambers for 48 h, fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde, and permeabilized with 0.4% saponin (Sigma). Where indicated, MCF-7 cells were treated with Brefeldin A (BFA, 5 µg/ml) for the indicated time prior to the fixation. In the study of the effect of zinc on the cellular localization of the ZIP7 protein, WI-38, and RWPE1 cells were treated with 0 or 75 µM ZnSO4 in serum-free DMEM (WI-38) or keratinocyte serum-free medium without supplements (RWPE1) for 2 h prior to fixation. In the study of the effect of intracellular zinc deficiency on the cellular distribution of ZIP7, WI-38 and RWPE1 cells were treated with 0 or 10 µM TPEN (N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine, Sigma) or 10 µM TPEN plus 75 µM ZnSO4 for 1 h before fixation (32). The cells were then stained with the polyclonal anti-ZIP7 (1:100 dilution) or monoclonal anti-Myc antibody (1:100 dilution for the ZIP7-Myc fusion protein) followed by Alexa 488- and 594-conjugated goat anti-rabbit or anti-mouse antibody (1:250 dilution), respectively. Photomicrographs were obtained by a Nikon Eclipse 800 microscope with a digital camera.
Zinquin StainingZinquin staining was performed using the pcDNA5/ZnT7 and pcDNA5/ZnT7/pHM6/ZIP7 stably transfected CHO cells. Cells were grown in slide chambers for 48 h and then treated with 75 µM ZnSO4 for 3 h in DMEM/F12 medium containing 10% chelex-treated FBS (Bio-Rad), 100 units/ml penicillin G, and 0.1 mg/ml streptomycin. After ZnSO4 treatment, cells were rinsed three times with 1x PBS (pH 7.4) and then incubated in fresh medium containing 5 µg/ml Zinquin ethyl ester (Dojindo) for 2 h. Cells were washed with 1x PBS (pH 7.4), fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde, and permeabilized with 0.4% saponin (Sigma). The ZnT7 and ZIP7 proteins were detected by anti-Myc and anti-ZIP7 antibodies, respectively. Alexa 488- or 594-conjugated goat anti-rabbit or anti-mouse antibody (1:250 dilution) was used to visualize the proteins. The blue fluorescence of ZnQ staining was visualized and photographed using a digital Nikon Eclipse 800 microscope with a C-9051 filter (Nikon).
Yeast Stains and Culture ConditionsThe yeast mutants of zinc homeostasis were from Dr. David Eide at the University of Wisconsin (
zrt1), Dr. D. Conklin at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (Dzrt3), and ResGen, Invitrogen (
zrc1 and
msc2). Yeast cells were grown in a synthetic defined medium (SD) supplemented with auxotrophic requirements containing either 2% glucose or 2% galactose/1% raffinose.
Measurement of
-Galactosidase Activity and Cell-associated Zinc ContentsYeast cells were harvested 6 h after growth in the inducible SD medium containing 2% galactose/1% raffinose. The
-galactosidase activity was measured as described previously (25). The total protein contents were determined by the Bio-Rad protein assay. The cell numbers were determined by measuring the absorbance of yeast cell suspensions at A600 and converting to cell number based on a standard curve. The cell-associated zinc was measured by a Vista AX Simultaneous ICP-AES (Varian) using a nitric acid digestion method (26).
Total RNA Isolation and cDNA SynthesisRWPE1 cells were grown in 100-mm plates for 24 h and then treated with either 0 or 75 µM ZnSO4 for 24 h before harvesting. The total RNA was purified by a micro total RNA purification kit (Invitrogen). The cDNA was synthesized from 3 µg of total RNA using the SuperScript Choice system (Invitrogen).
Quantitative RT-PCR AnalysiscDNA was diluted 2-fold, and 2 µl of cDNA was added to a quantitative PCR mixture containing corresponding primer pair and a FAM-labeled TaqMan probe (Applied Biosystems). The quantitative PCR reactions were performed on a PRISM® ABI 7900HT Sequence Detection System (Applied Biosystems) in triplicate, and the expression of
-actin (BACT) was used for normalization. The relative changes of gene expression in response to the ZnSO4 treatment was calculated using relative quantification as follows: 
Ct =
Ctq -
Ctcb; where Ct = the cycle number at which amplification rises above the background threshold,
Ct is the change in Ct between two test samples, for example, zinc-untreated and -treated samples; q is the target gene, and cb is the calibrator gene (the calibrator used in this study was BACT). Gene expression is then calculated as 2-
Ct (Applied Biosystems).
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
2.4 kb in the mRNA samples isolated from liver, kidney, spleen, heart, brain, small intestine, and lung. However, two similar intensive bands of ZIP7 at
2.2 kb and 2.5 kb were detected in all human tissues examined (Fig. 1). The two different ZIP7 transcripts may be generated by an alternative splicing event that occurred in the 5'-UTR region of ZIP7 as two groups of EST clones of ZIP7 differing in 302 bp in their 5'-UTR region have been found in the GenBankTM EST data base. The expression of ZIP7 was abundant in mouse liver and human heart, skeletal muscle, and placenta (Fig. 1). In addition, the mouse and human ZIP7 mRNAs were also detected in many cDNA libraries including embryo, mammary gland, ovary, uterus, cervix, testis, prostate, tongue, larynx, stomach, pancreas, bladder, eye, pituitary, bone, bone marrow, skin, and peripheral nervous system (UniGene Clusters Mm.18556 and Hs.278721). Taken together, the ZIP7 mRNA is ubiquitously expressed in mouse and human tissues.
|
56 kDa was detected in the mouse tissues of liver and brain. These protein bands were not seen when preimmune serum were applied (data not shown). The apparent molecular mass of
56 kDa is consistent with the calculated molecular mass of mouse ZIP7 (
51 kDa).
|
88 kDa) in agreement with the predicted molecular mass of the GST-ZIP7 fusion protein (
81 kDa) was detected by the anti-ZIP7 antibody in the bacterial lysate containing the GST-ZIP7 fusion protein whereas no protein band was detected in the bacterial lysate containing the GST protein alone (Fig. 2b). Taken together, the results indicate that the newly synthesized anti-ZIP7 antibody specifically reacts with the ZIP7 protein. Localization of ZIP7 to the Golgi Apparatus in Mammalian CellsIntracellular zinc homeostasis is maintained by the physiological processes that include zinc uptake, subcellular organelle zinc sequestration and restoration, and zinc export. The members of the ZIP family have been demonstrated to be involved in zinc uptake and in the release of stored zinc into the cytoplasm of cells when zinc is deficient. In yeast, ZRT1 and ZRT2 function as zinc uptake proteins whereas ZRT3 functions as a zinc transporter to release stored zinc into the cytoplasm of the yeast cell. In mammalian cells, the ZIP15 proteins have been reported to function as zinc uptake proteins. However, the potential mammalian counterpart(s) of the yeast ZRT3 has not been identified. Previous studies from others demonstrated that the ZIP7-V5 fusion protein resided intracellularly in the transiently transfected CHO cells (20). In order to determine the precise subcellular localization of the endogenous ZIP7 in mammalian cells, human cells including human lung fibroblasts (WI-38), human prostate epithelial cells (RWPE1), human erythroleukemia cells (K-562), and human mammary gland epithelial cells (MCF-7) were examined using immunofluorescent microscopy analysis. As shown in Fig. 3a, the majority of the anti-ZIP7 antibody-stained fluorescence clustered at the perinuclear regions of WI-38, RWPE1, K-562, and MCF-7 cells. This subcellular localization of ZIP7 resembles that of GM130 (cis-Golgi matrix protein), a Golgi marker (27). These results suggested that ZIP7 was localized to the Golgi apparatus. To confirm the localization of ZIP7 in the Golgi apparatus, we treated the cultured MCF-7 with BFA, a fungal macrocyclic lactone known to disrupt the Golgi apparatus, prior to immunofluorescent staining. As shown in Fig. 3b, the perinuclear staining of ZIP7 in the MCF-7 cells (panel A) diffused into the cytoplasm and formed a network staining pattern after 30 min of treatment (panel B). Removal of BFA after 30 min of treatment followed by the incubation of cells in the fresh medium for an hour restored the normal localization of ZIP7 (panel C), strongly suggesting that ZIP7 is associated with Golgi apparatus.
|
|
-galactosidase gene is under the control of the ZREs (16). When the nuclear/cytoplasmic labile zinc pool is low, the transcriptional activity of Zap1p is up-regulated, resulting in a higher
-galactosidase activity. The zrt3 mutant cells bearing both ZRE-lacZ reporter plasmid and ZIP7-expressing plasmid or a vector control were grown in a standard minimal medium (SD) overnight and then grown in an inducible minimal medium containing 2% galactose/1% raffinose for 6 h. The cells were then harvested, and the
-galactosidase activity was determined. As shown in Fig. 5a, a higher
-galactosidase activity was observed in the control zrt3 mutant cells, and the enzyme activity was suppressed by adding 100 µM ZnCl2 into the culture medium. The expression of ZIP7 in the zrt3 mutant cells resulted in 95% decrease of
-galactosidase activity compared with that in the control yeast zrt3 mutant cells. Addition of zinc into the culture medium did not further suppress the expression of the ZRE-lacZ gene in the ZIP7-expressing zrt3 mutant cells (Fig. 5a).
|
Finally, we examined the effect of overexpression of ZIP7 in the zrt3 mutant on cell growth. We found that the ZIP7-expressing
zrt3 cells grew slower than the control in the inducible minimal medium (Fig. 6). Interestingly, the growth of the ZIP7-expressing
zrt3 cells was completely inhibited by 1 mM zinc whereas the growth of the control cells was not affected. The growth inhibition of the ZIP7-expressing
zrt3 cells in the presence of 1 mM zinc did not result from the fortuitous effect of overexpression of the ZIP7 protein as overexpression of ZIP7 in the zrt1, zrc1, and msc2 mutant cells (7, 2931) had no effect on growth of these cells cultured in the medium with or without zinc added (Fig. 6).
|
79 kDa) compared with the mouse ZIP7 protein in the brain tissue (
56 kDa), suggesting that the ZIP7 protein may be post-translationally modified in RWPE1 cells. Tissue-specific post-translational modifications were previous seen in other zinc transporter proteins, such as, ZnT6 and ZnT7 (23, 24).
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
56 kDa, which is consistent with the calculated molecular mass of ZIP7. The human ZIP7 protein may be post-translationally modified because its apparent molecular weight was greater than the calculated molecular mass in human prostate cells. The ZIP proteins have been implicated to play roles in raising the cytoplasmic zinc by transporting zinc out of the intracellular compartments. We showed that the endogenous ZIP7 protein was localized in the Golgi apparatus of mammalian lung fibroblasts, human erythroleukemia cells, mammary epithelia, and prostate epithelia. The ZIP7 protein was able to negate the zinc accumulation in the Golgi apparatus caused by overexpression of ZnT7 in CHO cells. Moreover, overexpression of ZIP7 in the yeast zrt3 mutant that is defective in release of stored zinc from vacuoles to the cytoplasm led to an increase of the nuclear/cytoplasmic labile zinc pool and at the same time leading to a decrease of the total cell-associated zinc content. The effects of ZIP7 on the zrt3 mutant was specific as there was no effect on the nuclear/cytoplasmic labile zinc pool when the ZIP7 protein was expressed in other yeast mutants of zinc homeostasis including
zrt1,
zrc1, and
msc2 (data not shown). These findings strongly indicate that ZIP7 is a zinc transporter involved in translocation of zinc from the Golgi apparatus into the cytoplasm of the cell. Although the zinc transporter (ZRT3) functioning in the release of compartmentalized zinc into the cytoplasm of the cell has been described in yeast, this is the first description of such a transporter in the mammalian cell. Our study also indicates that zinc is important for the normal function of the Golgi apparatus. Constitutive overexpression of ZIP7 in mammalian cells, such as CHO cells, disturbed cell function as it was evidenced by gradual loss of the ZIP7-expressing cells and increase of non-ZIP7-expressing cells under the normal culture conditions in the stable ZIP7-expressing CHO cells and the ZnT7/ZIP7-co-expressing CHO cells (data not shown). In addition, although overexpression of ZIP7 alleviated the zinc accumulation phenotype of the yeast zrt3 mutant, it made the zrt3 mutant zinc sensitive. We speculate that in the ZIP7-expressing zrt3 mutant cells, the compartmentalized zinc was constitutively exported into the cytoplasm. The depletion of zinc from the intracellular compartments including the Golgi apparatus and vacuoles and the down-regulation of the zrc1 gene caused by the increased cytoplasmic zinc concentration made the ZIP7-expressing zrt3 mutant cells sensitive to the environment zinc (29, 30). Moreover, no effect of ZIP7 on the growth of zrt1, zrc1, and msc2 mutant cells was observed, supporting that the higher labile zinc pool and/or depletion of zinc from intracellular organelles may be the causes for the slow growth of the ZIP7-expressing zrt3 mutant cells.
Studies have indicated that the expression of the ZIP proteins responds to intracellular zinc concentrations (13, 3234). For example, the expression of ZIP4 is down-regulated under zinc excess conditions at transcriptional and post-translational levels (32, 33). Our study indicates that the expression of the ZIP7 protein was repressed 24 h after addition of zinc ions into the culture medium (Fig. 7b), which is consistent with regulatory patterns for the ZIP proteins by zinc. However, this protein level change was not apparent following 12 h of zinc treatment (Fig. 7, c and d). In addition, the mRNA expression of ZIP7 did not change under either zinc limiting or excess conditions (Fig. 7a), which is similar to that of ZIP5 (33). Furthermore, the subcellular localization of the ZIP7 protein was not regulated by the intracellular zinc availability (Fig. 7, c and d), suggesting that ZIP7 may be a constant resident of the Golgi apparatus. The observed patterns of regulation and localization of ZIP7 strongly support that ZIP7 plays a role in mobilizing zinc from the Golgi apparatus to the cytoplasm under zinc-limiting conditions.
Over the past a few years, numerous discoveries at the molecular level have given us an insight into the mechanism of how the mammalian cell maintains zinc homeostasis under different conditions. It has been demonstrated that in mammalian cells zinc is brought in by zinc uptake proteins including ZIP1, ZIP2, ZIP3, ZIP4, and ZIP5 when the level of cytoplasmic zinc decreases (9, 11, 1315). The available cytoplasmic zinc can then be used as cofactors for many metalloproteins. In the meantime, zinc is transported into the specialized vesicular compartments for protein synthesis, protein trafficking, neuronal signal transmission, secretion, and storage. These processes are accomplished by a series of ZnT proteins including ZnT2, ZnT3, ZnT4, ZnT5, ZnT6, and ZnT7 (23, 24, 3538). The zinc efflux protein, ZnT1, exports zinc out of the cell when the cytoplasmic zinc concentration rises (39, 40). Little is known about zinc release from storage into the cytoplasm for use when zinc is limited. The discovery that ZIP7 is involved in zinc export from the Golgi apparatus into the cytoplasm of the cell has advanced our knowledge of mammalian zinc homeostasis.
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
|| To whom correspondence should be addressed: Rowe Program in Genetics, UC Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616. Tel.: 530-754-5756; Fax: 530-754-6015; E-mail: lhuang{at}whnrc.usda.gov.
1 The abbreviations used are: ZIP, ZRT1- and IRT1-like protein; ZnT, zinc transporter; Zrt, zinc-regulated transporter; Zrc, zinc resistance-conferring; Msc2, meiotic sister-chromatid recombination; ORF, open reading frame; EST, expressed sequence tag; BFA, brefeldin A; FBS, fetal bovine serum; CHO, Chinese hamster ovary; WI-38, human lung fibroblast cells; MCF-7, human mammary gland epithelial cells; RWPE1, normal human prostate epithelial cells; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; ZRE, zinc-responsive element; TPEN, N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine; GFP, green fluorescent protein; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
B. Besecker, S. Bao, B. Bohacova, A. Papp, W. Sadee, and D. L. Knoell The human zinc transporter SLC39A8 (Zip8) is critical in zinc-mediated cytoprotection in lung epithelia Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol, June 1, 2008; 294(6): L1127 - L1136. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. J. Dainty, C. A. Kennedy, S. Watt, J. Bahler, and S. K. Whitehall Response of Schizosaccharomyces pombe to Zinc Deficiency Eukaryot. Cell, March 1, 2008; 7(3): 454 - 464. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. A. Colvin, A. I. Bush, I. Volitakis, C. P. Fontaine, D. Thomas, K. Kikuchi, and W. R. Holmes Insights into Zn2+ homeostasis in neurons from experimental and modeling studies Am J Physiol Cell Physiol, March 1, 2008; 294(3): C726 - C742. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. Huang, Y. Y. Yu, C. P. Kirschke, E. R. Gertz, and K. K. C. Lloyd Znt7 (Slc30a7)-deficient Mice Display Reduced Body Zinc Status and Body Fat Accumulation J. Biol. Chem., December 21, 2007; 282(51): 37053 - 37063. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. P Bressler, L. Olivi, J. H. Cheong, Y. Kim, A. Maerten, and D. Bannon Metal transporters in intestine and brain: their involvement in metal-associated neurotoxicities Human and Experimental Toxicology, March 1, 2007; 26(3): 221 - 229. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |