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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 283, Issue 4, 2307-2322, January 25, 2008
Premelanosome Amyloid-like Fibrils Are Composed of Only Golgi-processed Forms of Pmel17 That Have Been Proteolytically Processed in Endosomes*![]() ![]() 1![]() 2
From the
Received for publication, September 25, 2007 , and in revised form, November 7, 2007.
Melanin pigments are synthesized within specialized organelles called melanosomes and polymerize on intraluminal fibrils that form within melanosome precursors. The fibrils consist of proteolytic fragments derived from Pmel17, a pigment cell-specific integral membrane protein. The intracellular pathways by which Pmel17 accesses melanosome precursors and the identity of the Pmel17 derivatives within fibrillar melanosomes have been a matter of debate. We show here that antibodies that detect Pmel17 within fibrillar melanosomes recognize only the luminal products of proprotein convertase cleavage and not the remaining products linked to the transmembrane domain. Moreover, antibodies to the N and C termini detect only Pmel17 isoforms present in early biosynthetic compartments, which constitute a large fraction of detectable steady state Pmel17 in cell lysates because of slow early biosynthetic transport and rapid consumption by fibril formation. Using an antibody to a luminal epitope that is destroyed upon modification by O-linked oligosaccharides, we show that all post-endoplasmic reticulum Pmel17 isoforms are modified by Golgi-associated oligosaccharide transferases, and that only processed forms contribute to melanosome biogenesis. These data indicate that Pmel17 follows a single biosynthetic route from the endoplasmic reticulum through the Golgi complex and endosomes to melanosomes, and that only fragments encompassing previously described functional luminal determinants are present within the fibrils. These data have important implications for the site and mechanism of fibril formation.
Melanin pigments function in photoprotection in the skin and ocular development and visual acuity in the eye. They are synthesized and stored within specialized lysosome-related organelles of melanocytes and ocular pigment epithelia called melanosomes (1, 2). Melanosomes bearing brown and black melanins, or eumelanins, develop within melanocytes through four morphologically distinct stages. Stage I and II melanosomes lack melanins and are characterized by the progressive development of intraluminal fibrillar striations, upon which melanins are deposited as they are synthesized in stages III and IV. The fibrils likely serve to detoxify oxidative melanin intermediates and concentrate them for storage (in ocular pigment cells) or for transfer to keratinocytes (in epidermal melanocytes) (3). The fibrils resemble amyloid both morphologically and structurally (4). Thus, understanding the nature of their formation may help to decipher mechanisms controlling pathological amyloid biogenesis. The major biogenetic component of the melanosome fibrils is the pigment cell-specific protein, Pmel17 (also known as gp100 or SILV; referred to here as Pmel).3 Pmel is the only pigment cell-specific protein required for fibril formation, as its ectopic expression in non-pigment cells is sufficient to induce the formation of melanosome-like fibrils (5). Conversely, Pmel gene mutations are associated with hypopigmentation in several animal models (6-11), including silver mice (9) in which eumelanosomes are depleted of fibrils and altered in morphology (12). Pmel immunoreactivity is detected on fibrils in stage II melanosomes (13, 14), and Pmel fragments copurify with fibrils (15) or stage II melanosomes (16, 17) by subcellular fractionation. Finally, purified recombinant Pmel fragments produced in bacteria adopt a fibrillar conformation in vitro (4), suggesting that Pmel may be the sole component of the melanosome fibrils.
Although Pmel is clearly a critical component of melanosome fibrils, the mechanism by which Pmel adopts a fibrillar conformation in vivo remains unknown. To define this mechanism, it is critical to clearly understand Pmel biosynthetic trafficking within melanocytes to compartments in which fibrils form. Human Pmel is synthesized as a type I integral membrane protein with an N-terminal signal sequence, a large luminal domain, a single 24-residue membrane-spanning domain, and a 45-residue cytoplasmic domain (18-20). Four Pmel products with luminal domains of 525, 532, 567, and 574 residues result from alternatively spliced mRNAs (21-23), with the 567-residue form predominating in most melanocytic cells. As for other type I integral membrane proteins, the signal sequence is cleaved, and at least four core N-linked oligosaccharides are added to consensus attachment sites, presumably cotranslationally, in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) (5, 24). At least a fraction of Pmel traverses the Golgi complex, where some of the N-linked oligosaccharides are modified by resident mannosidases and glysosyltransferases to a complex form that is resistant to digestion in vitro by endoglycosidase H (EndoH) (5, 24) and where O-linked oligosaccharides are added, elaborated, and modified by sialic acid (25). At least a fraction of the mature form is cleaved into two fragments, referred to here as M
Although these aspects of Pmel biosynthesis are well accepted, the proposed fate of the majority of Pmel has remained controversial (3, 31, 32). Two different fates have been proposed. One model posits that fibril formation initiates on the internal membranes of multivesicular endosomes, subsequent to Pmel traversing the secretory pathway, including the Golgi complex, and accessing the early endosomal system (3, 26). This model assumes that all Pmel isoforms that exit the ER are processed by Golgi enzymes and cleaved by a proprotein convertase, such that only processed forms of the luminal M
The second model posits that the majority of Pmel is targeted directly from the ER to immature stage I melanosomes, bypassing the Golgi complex (16). This model, stemming initially from a literal interpretation of the 1969 conclusion by Maul (35), was based on subcellular fractionation results in which full-length Pmel, bearing EndoH-sensitive core N-linked oligosaccharides, was identified in fractions enriched in fibrillar stage II melanosomes (16, 17). Epitope mapping studies by Yasumoto et al. (28) assigned antibody reactivity to monoclonal antibodies HMB50 and NKI-beteb, both well established to identify stage II melanosomes by immunoelectron microscopy (14, 15, 36), to membrane-proximal regions of the luminal domain that should be absent in M
Many of the data supporting the second model are based on subcellular fractionation, the results of which might reflect impurities in isolated fractions. Several conclusions, however, seem incompatible with the first model, including the following: (i) the epitope reactivity of several of the antibodies; (ii) the inferred detection of Pmel isoforms modified by some Golgi oligosaccharide transferases but not others; and (iii) the overlap of epitopes for immature Pmel isoforms with stage II melanosomes by IFM. Here we present data that counter these conclusions and suggest that the data supporting them might warrant reevaluation. We show that immature forms of Pmel are found only in pre-Golgi compartments of melanocytic cells and that stage II melanosomes harbor only Golgi-modified Pmel fragments that are derived from M
Chemicals and Antibodies—All chemicals were obtained from Sigma or Thermo Fisher Scientific (Fremont, CA) unless stated otherwise. The following mAbs were used: HMB45, HMB50, and NKI-beteb to human Pmel were purchased from LabVision/Thermo Fisher Scientific (Fremont, CA); XD5.A11 to human leukocyte antigen class II β chains (40) and TA99 (also called mel-5) anti-Tyrp1 (41) were produced in-house from hybridomas originally purchased from American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA); mAb G1/93 to ERGIC-53 (42) was from Axxora (San Diego) or a kind gift of H. P. Hauri (University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland); mAb 3126 to calnexin was from Chemicon (Temecula, CA); and anti-tubulin was from Sigma. The following polyclonal anti-peptide antibodies were prepared in-house and affinity-purified as described previously: Pep13h to the C-terminal 14 residues of human Pmel (14) (identical to Pep13h generated by Kushimoto et al. (16)); Pmel-N to the N-terminal 17 residues of human Pmel (15, 23); and Pmel-I to residues 326-344 of human Pmel (23). Rabbit anti-Tac to human interleukin-2 receptor chain (43) or pre-immune serum was used as a negative control. Rabbit anti-LAMP-1 was purchased from Affinity BioReagents (Golden, CO). Cell Culture and Transfections—MNT-1 human melanoma cells (44) and HeLa cells were cultured as described previously (5, 14). CHO-K1 and ldlD14 cells (45) were obtained with the kind permission of Dr. Monty Krieger (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge) from American Type Culture Collection and were cultured in Ham's F-12 medium (Invitrogen) supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum (Hyclone, Logan, UT) and penicillin/streptomycin (Invitrogen). HeLa cells were transfected using FuGENE 6 reagent (Roche Diagnostics) according to manufacturer's instructions with 2 µg of total plasmid DNA per well in a 6-well dish or 10 µg of DNA in a 10-cm dish. For IFM experiments, cells were transfected with 100 ng of specific DNA and 1.9 µg of empty pCI vector per well of a 6-well dish. In most experiments cells were analyzed 2 days post-transfection. CHO-K1 and ldlD14 cells were transfected using TransIT-CHO or CHO Mojo reagents (Mirus Bio Corp., Madison, WI) according to manufacturer's instructions with 100 ng of specific DNA and 1.9 µg of empty pCI vector per well of a 6-well dish. Cells were analyzed 2-3 days post-transfection. For IFM experiments, MNT-1, CHO-K1, and ldlD14 cells were plated on ethanol-washed glass coverslips treated with Matrigel (BD Biosciences).
Expression Plasmids—Human Pmel (long form, hPmel17-l) and Pmel-s (human Pmel17-s or short form) in the pCI vector (Promega, Madison, WI) have been described (23). Deletion mutants Metabolic Labeling and Immunoprecipitation—Cells were metabolically labeled with [35S]methionine/cysteine and chased essentially as described (46). Briefly, cells were released from dishes by trypsinization or treatment with PBS, 5 mM EDTA, washed, and then preincubated in suspension in methionine/cysteine-free Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 5% dialyzed fetal bovine serum for 30 min at 37 °C. Cells were then labeled with EasyTag EXPRESS35S Protein Labeling Mix (PerkinElmer Life Sciences) for 30 min, pelleted, and either incubated in chase medium (Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 3 mM methionine, and 3 mM cystine) or directly washed in PBS (for 0 chase). For tunicamycin treatment, cells were pre-treated with 2 µg/ml (2.4 µM) tunicamycin (Calbiochem) for 60 min at 37 °C prior to labeling, and tunicamycin was included in both labeling and chase media. Control cells were treated with equal volumes of dimethyl sulfoxide without tunicamycin. Cell pellets were resuspended in Triton lysis buffer (Tris-buffered saline, pH 7.4, 1% Triton X-100 with proteinase inhibitors), pre-cleared with protein A- or protein G-Sepharose (GE Healthcare), and immunoprecipitated with antibody prebound to protein A- or protein G-Sepharose. Sepharose pellets were washed, eluted with SDS-PAGE sample buffer, and fractionated by SDS-PAGE along with 14C-labeled markers purchased from GE Healthcare; gels were prepared with 10% acrylamide in most experiments. Dried gels were analyzed by PhosphorImager analysis (GE Healthcare) using ImageQuant software (GE Healthcare). For reimmunoprecipitation, primary immunoprecipitates were eluted by two sequential rounds of boiling in 1% (w/v) SDS, 5 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 0.5 M Tris, pH 6.8. Eluates were treated with 20 mM iodoacetamide on ice for 20 min and then diluted 10-fold with Triton lysis buffer, and equal aliquots were subjected to secondary immunoprecipitations exactly as detailed above.
Glycosidase Treatments—Immunoprecipitates were treated directly with endoglycosidases after a final wash with phosphate-buffered saline. Denaturation buffer (0.5% (w/v) SDS, 40 mM dithiothreitol, 2 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 50 µg/ml leupeptin) was added to protein A-agarose pellets, and the samples were heated to 100 °C for 10 min. After cooling on ice, samples were either mock-treated or treated with endoglycosidases. EndoH (Endo Hf, New England Biolabs, Ipswitch, MA) and protein N-glycanase F (PNGase F; New England Biolabs) only treatments were according to the manufacturer's instructions, except that EndoH digestions included 1% Nonidet P-40 in the buffer. Treatment with PNGase F and neuraminidase or with PNGase F and "O-glycosidases" were done using the glycoprotein deglycosylation kit from Calbiochem. Briefly, incubations were done for 4-16 h at 37 °C in 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, containing 1% (w/v) Triton X-100 using N-glycanase F and Arthrobacter ureafaciens Immunoblotting—Western blotting was done as described (46). Briefly, whole cell lysates prepared from equal numbers of different cells were prepared by heating cells to 100 °C for 10 min in SDS-PAGE sample buffer. Samples were fractionated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to polyvinylidene fluoride membranes (Millipore, Billerica, MA), and membranes were blocked and probed with primary antibodies diluted in buffer containing 5% milk. Bound antibody was detected with the use of alkaline-phosphatase-conjugated goat anti-rabbit or anti-mouse antibodies (Jackson ImmunoResearch, West Grove, PA), ECF detection system (GE Healthcare), and PhosphorImager analysis with ImageQuant software (GE Healthcare). Immunofluorescence Microscopy—Cells grown on coverslips were fixed with 2-6% formaldehyde in PBS for 15-30 min and then permeabilized with saponin and labeled with primary and fluorochrome-conjugated secondary antibodies as described (47). Most experiments used Alexa488- and Alexa594-conjugated goat anti-mouse and anti-rabbit secondary antibodies (Molecular Probes/Invitrogen). In experiments comparing labeling by two monoclonal antibodies, we used isotype-specific secondary antibodies (HMB45 is IgG1; HMB50 is IgG2a; and NKI-beteb is IgG2b) purchased from Jackson ImmunoResearch and conjugated to Alexa488 or Alexa594 using labeling kits from Molecular Probes/Invitrogen. Cells were analyzed on a Leica Microsystems DM IRBE microscope (Bannockburn, IL), and digital images at different z planes, separated by 0.2-µm steps, were captured using a Hamamatsu ORCA camera (Malvern, PA) and Improvision OpenLab software (Lexington, MA). Images were deconvolved using the OpenLab Volume Deconvolution module. Most images shown are deconvolved images of either a single z plane or a merged image of three to four deconvolved z planes. Final images were processed using Adobe Photoshop software (San Jose, CA).
Flow Cytometry—MNT-1 cells grown in 10-cm dishes were suspended using phosphate-buffered saline, 5 mM EDTA, and then washed first into medium and then into FACS buffer (FB: PBS, 5% fetal bovine serum, 0.5 mM EDTA). To detect cell surface molecules, cells were incubated on ice with primary rabbit antibodies (1-2 µg/ml) and mouse anti-tubulin (1:1000) diluted in FACS buffer for 30-60 min and then washed twice at 0 °C before subsequent incubation with Alexa488-conjugated anti-mouse Ig and phycoerythrin (PE)-conjugated anti-rabbit Ig. After washing twice at 4 °C, cells were either analyzed immediately or fixed with 2% formaldehyde prior to subsequent analysis. For internalization experiments, cells were incubated at 37 °C for 30 min in medium containing the same concentration of primary rabbit antibodies or NKI-beteb (1:500), HMB45 (1:50), or XD5.A11 (2 µg/ml). Cells were then fixed with 1% (w/v) formaldehyde in PBS for 15 min at room temperature. Cells were permeabilized by one wash with FB containing 0.5% saponin and then incubated with PE-conjugated anti-rabbit or anti-mouse Ig in the same buffer for 30 min on ice. After washing twice, cells were analyzed immediately or after a second fixation as above. For intracellular labeling, unlabeled cells were fixed and permeabilized as above before labeling with primary ( Electron Microscopy—MNT-1 cells were fixed with 0.2% (w/v) glutaraldehyde, 2% (w/v) paraformaldehyde, processed for cryosectioning, and immunogold labeled using protein A gold conjugated to 10- and 15-nm gold particles essentially as described previously (14). Cells were analyzed on a Philips TEM/CM120 transmission electron microscope (Eindoven, The Netherlands), and acquisitions were made with a Keen-View digital camera (Soft Imaging System, Germany).
Monoclonal Antibodies HMB50 and NKI-beteb Bind to the PKD Domain Contained within the M Fragment—Pmel is recognized by three widely used, commercially available monoclonal antibodies as follows: HMB45 (48-50), HMB50 (49, 50), and NKI-beteb (36). The epitope for HMB45 requires modification of linked oligosaccharides by sialic acid (25, 29, 30) and was recently mapped to a region of internal repeats (RPT) encompassed by M within the Pmel luminal domain (51) (see Fig. 1a). By contrast, the epitopes for HMB50 and NKI-beteb were mapped to a region encompassed by Mβ, downstream of M , by virtue of a reimmunoprecipitation assay (28; see below). To accurately localize the epitopes for these antibodies, we assessed their ability to recognize targeted Pmel deletion constructs expressed in HeLa cells. Immunoreactivity was compared with that of rabbit antibodies generated against specific peptide regions of Pmel (Table 1). Pmel constructs were generated bearing deletions within each of four luminal sub-domains (26) (Fig. 1a) as follows: an N-terminal region (NTR), a down-stream region homologous to a polycystic kidney disease-1 repeat (PKD), and RPT are all encompassed by M , and a Kringle-like domain (KLD) lies downstream of the proprotein convertase cleavage site (CS) and is thus encompassed by Mβ (only the C-terminal half of KLD was deleted, as constructs with more extensive KLD deletions were unstable and thus undetectable by any of the antibodies). In addition, CS, in which 468KR469 was altered to QQ to eliminate the CS (15), was analyzed to assess any requirement for proteolytic processing in antibody recognition. Each mutant and wild-type Pmel was expressed by transient transfection in HeLa cells, and cells were analyzed in three ways.
Cells were first analyzed by immunoprecipitation following metabolic pulse labeling with [35S]methionine/cysteine (Fig. 1, b and c). As expected, all constructs tested were immunoprecipitated by rabbit antibody Pep13h directed to a peptide encompassing the Pmel C terminus within the cytoplasmic domain. Similarly, all constructs except NTR were recognized by Pmel-N to the N terminus, and all constructs except RPT were recognized by Pmel-I directed to a peptide corresponding to residues 326-344 within the RPT region (Fig. 1, b and c). Importantly, whereas both HMB50 and NKI-beteb effectively immunoprecipitated constructs lacking RPT, CS, or KLD, neither antibody immunoprecipitated PKD above background levels (Fig. 1b). Both antibodies weakly immunoprecipitated NTR above background (Fig. 1c), suggesting that the primary determinant for both HMB50 and NKI-beteb lies in the PKD. Indeed, HMB50 and NKI-beteb also detect the Pmel PKD domain in the context of a chimeric protein lacking other Pmel-derived domains (data not shown). Moreover, both HMB50 and NKI-beteb bind to secreted forms of M that are released from the membrane-tethered Mβ fragment (see Fig. 2). Deletion of NTR likely reduces binding by these antibodies indirectly, perhaps by influencing PKD integrity. This would be consistent with variable effects of NTR deletion on the PKD-dependent localization of Pmel to internal membranes of multivesicular bodies (26, 51). Together, these experiments show that HMB50 and NKI-beteb recognize a region within the PKD but not within Mβ as previously reported (28).
To confirm and extend these results, transfected cells were analyzed by IFM. Cells expressing KLD (Fig. 1e), CS, or wild-type Pmel (data not shown) were recognized by all three monoclonal antibodies. Cells expressing RPT were recognized by NKI-beteb but not by HMB45 (Fig. 1e), confirming reactivity of HMB45 with the RPT region as reported previously (51). Consistent with the immunoprecipitation results, cells expressing PKD were recognized by HMB45 but not by NKI-beteb (Fig. 1e), confirming that NKI-beteb detects a determinant within PKD. Cells expressing NTR were recognized by all three antibodies using this technique (Fig. 1e), confirming that the NTR is not the primary determinant recognized by NKI-beteb. Note, however, that labeling was not as extensive for NKI-beteb as for HMB45, confirming that NTR deletion compromises the ability of these antibodies to detect the PKD. In all analyses, HMB50 showed identical reactivity to NKI-beteb (data not shown), indicating that it too recognizes an epitope within the PKD of human Pmel.
To confirm the determinant recognized by HMB45, lysates of transfected HeLa cells were analyzed by immunoblotting (Fig. 1d) because HMB45 can detect Pmel by this technique (29) but not by immunoprecipitation. Two additional Pmel variants were included in these analyses; Pmel-s is the product of the shortest of the natural splice variants of Pmel and lacks residues 373-414 within RPT of the longest form (23), and
Together, these studies demonstrate that HMB45, HMB50, and NKI-beteb detect epitopes contained within M
Pmel Antibodies Coimmunoprecipitate M
One anti-Pmel antibody showed a distinct pattern of recognition from the others in metabolic pulse/chase analysis of MNT-1 cells. Pmel-I, directed to residues 326-344, only detected the full-length, core-glycosylated "P1" form of Pmel in cell lysates and did not detect either the Golgi-modified, EndoH-resistant "P2" form, the post-Golgi cleavage products M and Mβ, or secreted M (Fig. 2e). Similarly, Pmel-I failed to reprecipitate M eluted from HMB50 or NKI-beteb (Fig. 2f). This indicates that Pmel-I only detects the precursor form of Pmel. Interestingly, the peptide to which Pmel-I was generated overlaps nearly completely with that required for HMB45 reactivity (Fig. 1d). Given that HMB45 reactivity also requires O-glycosylation and subsequent modification with sialic acid, we reasoned that Pmel-I reactivity might be ablated by O-glycosylation of the peptide, and thus should faithfully detect only unmodified Pmel. Experiments described below suggest that this is indeed the case.
Antibodies to Immature Forms of Pmel Do Not Detect Stage II Melanosomes—We and others have shown that HMB45, HMB50, and NKI-beteb detect striated stage II melanosomes by electron microscopy of pigmented melanocytes and melanoma cells (14, 15, 36), but that antibodies to the Pmel C terminus recognize neither stage II melanosomes (14) nor Pmel-containing fibrils in melanocytes or transfected HeLa cells (15). By contrast, Hearing and co-workers (16, 25, 28, 38) report that labeling by the Pmel mAbs in IFM analyses of MNT-1 cells overlaps that by antibodies to the C terminus and to a region encompassed by RPT that, like
To define the compartments in which Pmel is detected by these antibodies, we compared their overlap with markers of different compartments. We have shown previously by immunoelectron microscopy that Pep13h detects Pmel on Golgi membranes, the trans-Golgi network, and the limiting membrane of stage I melanosomes in MNT-1 cells (14), consistent with the perinuclear labeling observed by IFM (Fig. 3B, panels a-c) that overlapped significantly with Golgi markers. Interestingly, whereas Pmel-I does not label the perinuclear structures as extensively, the tubular network observed throughout the cell body overlapped significantly with both calnexin, a component of the ER quality control system (Fig. 4, a-c), and ERGIC-53, which concentrates primarily in ER-to-Golgi intermediates (Fig. 4, d-f). Consistent with the IFM analyses, electron microscopy analyses of immunogold-labeled cryosections of MNT-1 cells showed Pmel-I labeling over tubulovesicular membranes associated with one face of stacked Golgi cisternae (Fig. 5a), in which Pmel-I labeling showed significant overlap with ERGIC-53 or the KDEL receptor (KDEL-R, which also cycles between the ER and Golgi; Fig. 5, d-f). Additional labeling was observed on tubular membranes with morphological hallmarks of ER (Fig. 5, b and c). Some of these membranes lacked ribosomes, perhaps explaining the incomplete overlap of Pmel-I or Pep13h labeling with rough ER markers such as BiP and calnexin (here and see Ref. 16). Together, these data indicate that Pep13h and Pmel-I detect a significant cohort of Pmel that accumulates in the ER and pre-Golgi intermediates but that are not associated with fibrillar stage II melanosomes.
Only Golgi-modified Forms of Pmel Are Detected at the Cell Surface and Internalized—Full-length P1 Pmel or Pmel lacking O-linked oligosaccharides have been reported to copurify and colocalize with clathrin adaptors AP-1 and AP-2 in the cell periphery, supporting the existence of Pmel lacking Golgi modifications in pre-melanosomal compartments (25, 38). AP-2 is concentrated in clathrin-coated pits at the plasma membrane, where it facilitates endocytosis (39). Pmel undergoes rapid endocytosis in mouse melanocytes and transfected HeLa cells (12, 52). Thus, if immature forms of Pmel were indeed present in AP-2-containing structures, they should be detectable at the plasma membrane and subject to endocytosis. To test these predictions, we used quantitative flow cytometric assays. Surface Pmel was detected on MNT-1 cells in suspension by antibody labeling on ice. As shown in Fig. 6a and quantified in Fig. 6b, although
Detectable Pmel17 Fragments in Melanosomes Are O-Glycosylated and Modified by Sialic Acid—N- and/or O-linked glycans on mature forms of Pmel bear sialic acid residues that are required for HMB45 reactivity (29, 30). To better define the cohort of Pmel with such modifications, we tested the effect of a set of glycosidases on electrophoretic migration (by SDS-PAGE) and antibody reactivity of the different Pmel isoforms. Mobility changes induced by EndoH cleavage defined high mannose N-linked oligosaccharides that have not been modified by medial Golgi N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase. PNGase F cleavage defined N-linked oligosaccharides regardless of their state of modification. 2-3,6,8,9-Neuraminidase cleavage defined terminal sialic acid residues on either N- or O-linked oligosaccharide chains. Finally, cleavage by a combination of neuraminidase with β1,4-galactosidase, endo- -N-acetylgalactosaminidase, and β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (collectively referred to here as O-glycanases) defined a common form of O-linked oligosaccharide.
MNT-1 cells were metabolically labeled with [35S]methionine and chased for 1-2 h to accumulate labeled P1, P2, M
All other bands were predominantly EndoH-resistant. The Mr 28,000 Mβ band was reduced in Mr by 3,500 to Mβ'Fby PNGase F but not EndoH, consistent with a single N-linked glycan that is fully modified to the complex form in the Golgi. The lack of additional effects by neuraminidase or O-glycanases indicates that Mβ is not modified by at least conventional O-linked oligosaccharides. Both P2 and M were modestly reduced in Mr by EndoH but more dramatically by PNGase F (to P2'F and M 'F), consistent with 4 and 3 N-linked glycans, respectively, all but one of which are modified to the complex type. Additional treatment with neuraminidase increased the Mr, relative to PNGase F treatment alone, for both P2 and M (to P2'FN, M 'FN), reflecting loss of sialic acid residues from O-linked oligosaccharides and consequent decreased electrophoretic migration toward the cathode. Consistently, additional treatment with O-glycanases dramatically reduced the Mr of both P2 and M (to P2'FON and M 'FON). The changes in migration did not reflect a loss of enzyme activity within the mixtures, because identical results were observed when samples were treated consecutively with each enzyme rather than concomitantly (data not shown). No Pmel forms bearing only O-linked oligosaccharides without complex N-linked oligosaccharides were detected. These data indicate that post-ER forms of Pmel possess both complex-type N-linked glycans and sialylated O-linked glycans. Interestingly, the PNGase F- and O-glycanase-treated P2'FON continues to migrate slower than deglycosylated P1'H(Mr 125,000 for P2'FON, Mr 97,000 for P1'H in the experiment shown), suggesting that it retains additional post-ER modifications that are not removed by the O-glycanases used here.
What modifications are present on Pmel isoforms in melanosomes? HMB45 reacts predominantly with a series of bands with Mr
Glycosylation and Antibody Reactivity of Pmel in Cells That Lack O-Glycosylation—To confirm the relationship between Pmel O-glycosylation and epitope recognition by Pmel-I and HMB45, we exploited a variant CHO cell line, ldlD14. ldlD14 cells lack UDP-galactose- and UDP-N-acetylgalactose-4-epimerase activity (45), which under normal growth conditions are required to initiate O-glycosylation by generating sufficient cellular levels of UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine for transfer to target serine and threonine residues (53). Thus, these cells lack all O-glycosylated proteins under normal growth conditions (45). Wild-type CHO-KI (WT CHO) or ldlD14 cells were transfected with a Pmel expression vector and analyzed by IFM (Fig. 8, a-d) and immunoblotting (Fig. 8e). Punctate HMB45 reactivity is easily detected by IFM in Pmel-expressing CHO WT cells, but no reactivity is observed in ldlD14 cells at similar exposures (Fig. 8, a and c). By contrast, although only faint intracellular labeling (and background nuclear labeling) is observed in Pmel-expressing CHO WT cells with Pmel-I (only cells with high levels of expression show extensive reticular labeling characteristic of the ER in this cell type), extensive labeling of the cell surface and of small intracellular puncta is observed in ldlD14 cells with the same antibody (Fig. 8, b and d). Thus, when Pmel is not modified by O-glycosylation, the Pmel-I epitope is expressed later as well as early in the secretory pathway (although note that the puncta were less intense than the plasma membrane labeling, see below). Consistently, immunoblotting of lysates of Pmel-transfected cells with HMB45 reveals the expected Mr 40,000 band and a faint Mr 95,000 M band in CHO WT cells but no reactivity at all in ldlD14 cells (Fig. 8e, middle), despite equivalent detection of full-length P1 and cleaved Mβ fragments in both cell lysates by Pep13h (Fig. 8e, top). By contrast, immunoblotting of ldlD14 cell lysates with Pmel-I revealed a smear of reactivity from Mr <20,000 to 80,000 that was absent from lysates of either CHO WT or MNT-1 cells (Fig. 8e, bottom). These data confirm that HMB45 reactivity requires O-glycosylation and that Pmel-I reactivity is ablated by O-glycosylation. Interestingly, the HMB45-reactive bands in MNT-1 cell lysates were much more intense than those in CHO WT lysates, despite lower Pmel precursor expression detected by Pep13h. This suggests that fully processed Pmel fragments are less protected in CHO WT than in MNT-1. The lack of a similar band and the presence of a smear detected by Pmel-I in ldlD14 cells, consistent with the weak labeling by this antibody of intracellular puncta relative to the cell surface, suggests that even this minimal protection of the fragment requires O-glycosylation.
To determine whether Pmel bears modifications other than N- or O-linked glycosylation, transfected CHO WT and ldlD14 cells were analyzed by metabolic pulse/chase and immunoprecipitation analyses. As shown in Fig. 8f, Pmel matures to a high Mr P2 form and to cleaved M and Mβ forms by2hin both cell lines. However, the P2 and M forms migrate faster in ldlD14 than in CHO WT, consistent with a loss of mass contributed by O-linked glycans. Moreover, both bands show increased migration upon treatment with PNGase F in both cell types, but whereas the treated P2 and P1 bands in CHO WT cells remain distinct, the P2 and P1 bands from ldlD14 collapse into a single band. This indicates that removal of both O- and N-linked oligosaccharides eliminates the migration differences between the core glycosylated P1 form and the mature P2 form in CHO cells.
Pmel Trafficking Is Unaffected by Glycosylation—Although the HMB45 and Pmel-I reactivity of Pmel in ldlD14 cells was expected based on the data described in Figs. 2, 5, and 6, the processing of Pmel to M and Mβ fragments in these cells detected by immunoblotting with Pep13h (Fig. 8e, top) and by metabolic pulse/chase analysis (Fig. 8f) was surprising. Pmel cleavage to M and Mβ requires proprotein convertase activity in an acidic post-Golgi compartment (5, 15) and correlates with transport to multivesicular endosomes in HeLa cells (26). To determine whether Pmel trafficking requires O-glycosylation, Pmel localization was assessed in transfected ldlD14 cells by IFM using the O-glycosylation-insensitive NKI-beteb antibody. In CHO WT cells, Pmel was detected in vesicular structures throughout the cell body that were closely apposed to structures labeled for the lysosomal limiting membrane protein LAMP-1 (Fig. 9, a-c). This pattern is reminiscent of that observed for Pmel expressed in HeLa cells, in which Pmel localizes to the intraluminal membranes of multivesicular late endosomes (5, 26), suggesting that Pmel localizes similarly in CHO cells. LAMP-1-containing structures in ldlD14 cells were larger and more irregularly shaped than those in CHO WT cells (Fig. 9e), consistent with known functional requirements for O-glycosylation of lysosomal membrane proteins (54). In cells expressing moderate levels of Pmel, a cohort of NKI-beteb-reactive Pmel localized closely apposed to these LAMP-1-containing structures, although a significant cohort was found in separate punctate structures and the plasma membrane (Fig. 9, d-f). In cells overexpressing Pmel, a larger cohort of NKI-beteb-reactive Pmel colocalized with LAMP-1-containing structures, which were often more clustered in the perinuclear region and reduced in LAMP-1 content (Fig. 9, g-i). Together, these data suggest that Pmel reaches late endosomes/lysosomes in ldlD14 cells and might influence their physiology. This would imply that whereas O-glycosylation is required for stabilizing processed Pmel fragments derived from the RPT region, it is not required for transport of remaining Pmel fragments to late endosomal organelles.
If O-linked oligosaccharides are not necessary for transport, is there a requirement for N-linked oligosaccharides? To test this, MNT-1 cells were treated with tunicamycin, which inhibits transfer of core N-linked glycans from the dolichol-linked intermediate to asparagine acceptor sites on polypeptides. Because tunicamycin affects cell viability, transport was assessed indirectly by assaying for O-glycosylation and proteolytic maturation to M
Pmel17 is a critical component of the amyloid-like fibrils of melanosomes, but how it is delivered to melanosome precursors has been controversial. Here we combine epitope detection using different anti-Pmel antibodies with analyses of Pmel glycosylation, localization, and processing to show that only luminal products of post-Golgi-cleaved and Golgi-modified Pmel are detected in stage II melanosomes. Our data raise questions about the interpretation of previous results postulating the existence within these organelles of separate pools of Pmel, some of which lack Golgi modifications, and have important implications for the mechanism of Pmel fibril formation.
No Evidence for Immature Glycosylated Forms of Pmel or Precursors to Cleaved Products in Melanosomes—We have previously shown that post-Golgi cleavage of Pmel by a proprotein convertase is required to generate fibril-forming M
Most of the mature Pmel that can be detected by immunoblotting of subcellular fractions of melanocytic cells, representing the cohort present in melanosomes, consists of small fragments that are immunoreactive with HMB45 (12, 16). Careful scrutiny of the IFM data reveals important implications for the nature of these intermediates. Under strong fixation conditions, although all HMB50/NKI-beteb-labeled compartments were also labeled by HMB45, HMB45 detected a number of additional structures primarily in the cell periphery. We have made similar observations in mouse melanocytes expressing human Pmel, and HMB45, but not HMB50, detects a subset of stage III melanosomes by IEM in MNT-1 cells (Ref. 14).4 This suggests that as melanosomes mature, they lose immunoreactivity within the PKD domain earlier than within the RPT domain. Although proteolysis might account for sequential loss of Pmel fragments, epitope loss is more likely a consequence of masking by melanin (5, 14, 33). We thus speculate that the PKD becomes "buried" by melanin more rapidly during melanosome progression than the heavily glycosylated RPT domain, perhaps representing the primary site on which melanin intermediates begin to polymerize. Although full-length M
Interestingly, although HMB50 and NKI-beteb react with precursor forms of Pmel in the ER and Golgi by immunoprecipitation, they do not significantly label early secretory compartments by IFM analyses. We speculate that this is a consequence of the high epitope density of mature, polymerized, and antibody-reactive Pmel isoforms on fibrils relative to the predicted lower density within the ER and Golgi. Indeed, both antibodies are capable of detecting Pmel that is accumulated within the ER when it is depleted from later compartments (12). Confirmation of this speculation will require a more effective means of quantitatively extracting Pmel from fibrils to accurately assess its concentration within them.
Role of Glycosylation in Pmel Function—That Pmel harbors both N- and O-linked glycans is well accepted. Our data and those previously published (25) show that sialylated O-linked glycans are added to at least two distinct sites within the RPT domain, within regions spanning residues 328-344 and 393-414 (Fig. 10a). Although there is no consensus site for serine or threonine modification by the initial
Analyses of Pmel migration following deglycosylation with a combination of enzymes demonstrated two features of the heterogeneity of Pmel glycosylation. First, we detected no evidence for the existence of Pmel glycoforms bearing O-linked oligosaccharides with immature N-linked oligosaccharides. That such glycoforms exist was suggested by Valencia et al. (25) on the basis of the appearance of a rapidly migrating band reactive with the
A second feature of glycosylation heterogeneity revealed by our data is that in MNT-1 cells, treatment of the Golgi-modified P2 band with both PNGase F and O-glycanases failed to reduce Mr to that of PNGase F-treated immature P1. These data indicate that mature Pmel bears some modification that is resistant to the combination of O-glycanases used in these experiments. By contrast, in O-glycosylation-deficient ldlD14 cells, PNGase F treatment results in an identical Mr for P2 and P1. This indicates that at least in CHO cells, all of the modifications of mature Pmel can be accounted for by both O- and N-linked glycosylation. To reconcile these data, we speculate that the additional modifications observed in MNT-1 cells are a distinct class of O-glycans bearing linkages other than β1,4-linked galactose and/or β1,6-linked N-acetylglucosamine, such as
What function does glycosylation serve to Pmel? We show here that surprisingly, neither O-glycosylation nor N-glycosylation is required for biosynthetic folding and export from the ER or for downstream trafficking to endocytic compartments in which Pmel is cleaved by a proprotein convertase. On the other hand, the lack of accumulation of
* This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant R01 AR048155, The Institut Curie, and CNRS. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 Supported in part by NCI Training Grant T32-CA-009140 from the National Institutes of Health. 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 513 Stellar-Chance Laboratories, 422 Curie Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104-6100. Tel.: 215-898-3204; Fax: 215-573-4345; E-mail: marksm{at}mail.med.upenn.edu.
3 The abbreviations used are: Pmel, Pmel17; CS, proprotein convertase cleavage site; EndoH, endoglycosidase H; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; IFM, immunofluorescence microscopy; KLD, Kringle-like domain; NTR, N-terminal region; PE, phycoerythrin; PKD, polycystic kidney disease-1 repeat-like region; PNGase F, protein N-glycanase F; RPT, region of internal repeats; WT, wild-type; CHO, CHO-K1 cells; FACS, fluorescence-activated cell sorter; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; mAb, monoclonal antibody; ERGIC, ER-Golgi intermediate compartment.
4 D. Tenza, A. C. Theos, G. Raposo, and M. S. Marks, unpublished data.
We thank Monty Krieger for providing the CHO WT and ldlD14 cells, Hans Peter Hauri for the antibody to ERGIC-53, and Brenda Watt for critical reading of the manuscript.
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