(Received for publication, July 24, 1995)
From the
Despite the presence of the multiple subunits (,
,
, and
) and their isoforms for
-aminobutyric acid, type
A (GABA
) receptors in mammalian brains, the
x
2
2 subtypes appear to be the prototype GABA
receptors sharing many properties with native neuronal receptors.
In order to gain insight into their subunit stoichiometry and
orientation, we prepared a tandem construct of the
6 and
2
subunit cDNAs where the carboxyl-terminal of
6 is linked to the
amino-terminal of
2 via a linker encoding 10 glutamine residues.
Transfection of human embryonic kidney 293 cells with the tandem
construct alone failed to induce GABA-dependent Cl
currents, but its cotransfection with the cDNA for
6 or
2, but not
2, led to the appearance of GABA currents which
were picrotoxin-sensitive and, in the case of
2 containing
receptors, responded to a benzodiazepine agonist, U-92330. The high
affinity GABA site, however, was detected with
[
H]muscimol binding in all combinations of the
receptor subunits, including the tandem construct alone or with the
2. No appreciable differences were found in their K
(2.5 nM) and B
values (1.4 pmol/mg of protein). These data
are consistent with the view that the polypeptides arising from the
tandem construct were expressed with the high affinity GABA site, but
unable to form GABA channels. The requirement of a specific monomeric
subunit (
6 or
2) for the tandem construct to express
Cl
currents supports a pentameric structure of
GABA
receptors consisting of two
6, two
2, and
one
2 for the
6
2
2 and three
6 and two
2
for the
6
2 subtype.
GABA(
)receptors, responsible for
inhibitory neurotransmission in mammalian brains, are ligand-gated
Cl
channels made of various subunits (
,
,
, and
)(1, 2, 3) . Each subunit
consists of several isoforms and contains four transmembrane-spanning
segments (M1 to
M4)(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) .
Despite the existence of the multiple subunits and their isoforms,
combinations of
x,
2, and
2 subunits produced
Cl
channels sharing many functional characteristics
with native neuronal receptors and displaying the ability to respond to
all the GABA
receptor ligands known
up-to-date(1, 3, 6, 7) . Such cloned
GABA
receptors have been proposed to be of pentameric
structure with M2 lining the pore in analogy with another member of the
four transmembrane ligand-gated channel family, acetylcholine
receptors(1, 2, 3) . Recent studies,
including immunoprecipitation with subunit specific antibodies, have
shown the presence of two
subunits per GABA
receptor (8, 9, 10, 11) . Further
experimental evidence is needed, however, about the stoichiometry of
the recombinant GABA
receptors of
x
2
2 and
their modes of association. One way to gain insight into this
structural issue is to predetermine the alignment of subunits via gene
fusion and to study such fused gene products. Similar approaches have
been successful with potassium channels made of their subunits in
concatameric or tandem linkages(12, 13) . In this
study we prepared a tandem construct of
6 and
2 subunit cDNAs
of the GABA
receptor where the carboxyl-terminal of the
6 cDNA is linked to the amino-terminal of the
2 cDNA via a
synthetic oligonucleotide encoding 10 glutamine residues. In order to
study their properties, the tandem construct alone or in combination of
the monomeric
6,
2, and
2 subunit cDNA was expressed in
human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293 cells). Also, recombinant
baculovirus carrying the tandem construct or monomeric subunits was
prepared for high level of expression in Sf-9 cells.
Figure 1:
Northern analysis and 3`-RACE assays
with mRNAs from HEK293 cells transfected with the tandem construct of
6 and
2 GABA
receptor subunit cDNAs. The cells
were grown to about 70% confluence in a 75-cm
culture flask
and incubated in the presence of the tandem construct of
6-
2
(8 µg) or with the cDNA for
2 (4 µg) and DOTAP (60 µl)
for 24 h. The cells were harvested 24 h later, and mRNAs were prepared
in the presence of guanidium thiocyanate following the standard
procedures. A, Northern blotting was carried out with nylon
membranes containing 10 µg of extracted mRNAs after resolution on a
1% agarose gel, following the vender-provided procedures. The
P-labeled probe for the
6 was prepared using PCR in
the presence of [
-
P]dCTP. The
6,
2, and
2 mRNAs were prepared in vitro using a
Promega transcription kit. B, 3`-RACE assays were carried out
using the kit from Life Technologies, Inc., the universal primer and
the
6 specific primer (a) or the
2-specific primer (b). The detailed information for the primers and PCR reaction
were described under ``Materials and
Methods.''
We examined whether GABA induces Cl
currents in HEK293 cells transfected with the GABA
receptor
cDNAs, using the whole cell patch clamp technique. In the cells
transfected with the tandem construct alone, no currents were detected
upon application of GABA at 1-20 µM (with more than
30 patches). If GABA
receptors are pentameric as proposed,
functional expression of the tandem construct of
6-
2 would
require the presence of monomeric subunits. Therefore, HEK293 cells
were transfected with the
6-
2 and one of the monomeric
subunits. Addition of
6 or
2, but not
2, led to the
appearance of GABA-induced whole cell currents, which were sensitive to
picrotoxin, a specific inhibitor of GABA
receptor
Cl
currents (Fig. 2). Moreover, a
benzodiazepine agonist, U-92330(19, 31) , enhanced
GABA currents by 136 ± 9% in the receptor made of
6-
2
plus
2, but had no effect on that made of
6-
2 plus
6 (0 ± 5%) (Fig. 2). The picrotoxin sensitivity and
the
2-dependent interaction with the benzodiazepine site ligand
have already been known in the
6
2 and
6
2
2
subtypes of GABA
receptors(16, 19, 31) . It should be also
noted that no GABA-induced Cl
currents were detected
in the whole cell patch with HEK293 cells (or Sf-9 cells) transfected
(or infected) with the subunit of
6,
2, or
2
alone(19, 31) . GABA dose-dependently increased
Cl
currents in the cells transfected with
6-
2 plus
6 or plus
2 (Fig. 3). Analysis of
the data with a logistic equation of E/E
=
[GABA]
/(K
+ [GABA]
) yielded a half-maximal GABA
concentration (K
) of 1.5 ± 0.1 and 1.5
± 0.3 in the
6-
2 plus
6 and the
6-
2
plus
2 receptors, respectively. The slope factor (
)
was 1.3 for both. These values are in the same range as that for the
6
2
2 subtype assembled with individual subunits, the K
of 1.7 ± 0.5 and
of 1.4.
Figure 2:
Pharmacological characterizations of the
GABA-induced currents in the cells transfected with the 6-
2
in combination with
6 or
2 subunit cDNA. HEK293 cells were
grown on coverslips in a 36-mm culture dish to 70% confluence and
incubated with the mixture containing
6-
2 construct (4
µg) with 2 µg of
6 or
2 plasmids and DOTAP for 24 h.
GABA-induced Cl
currents were measured 24 h after
transfection in the whole cell patch clamp technique. The downward
deflection represents the efflux of Cl
upon
application of GABA at 1 µM at a holding potential of
-30 mV under a symmetrical Cl
gradient.
Picrotoxin (20 µM) and U-92330 (5 µM) were
dissolved in the extracellular solution containing GABA (1
µM) and were applied to the cells. The vertical
calibration bar represents 100 pA for the upper traces and 200 pA for the lower traces, and the horizontal bar
= 30 s.
Figure 3:
Dose-response profiles for GABA-induced
Cl currents in recombinant GABA
receptors. HEK293 cells transfected with the
6,
2, and
2
plasmids, or with the
6-
2 tandem construct plus
6 or
2 plasmids, as described in the legend of Fig. 2.
Cl
currents were induced by a 10-s pulse of GABA at
0.5-10 µM, and the peak amplitude was plotted as a
function of GABA concentrations. The data fit with a logistic equation
(see text). The data represent the mean ± S.E. from at least
three experiments.
Earlier electrophysiological and binding studies have shown that
properties of the receptors expressed in HEK293 cells or Sf-9 cells are
indistinguishable, but the latter, a high expression eucaryotic system,
is more reliable for radioactive ligand binding
experiments(18, 20) . Thus, Sf-9 cells were infected
with recombinant baculovirus carrying the tandem construct alone or in
combination with that for 6,
2, or
2 cDNA. Binding
experiments were carried out with [
H]muscimol and
[
H]Ro 15-4513, the ligands for high
affinity GABA site and the benzodiazepine site, respectively. The data
were analyzed with Scatchard analysis (Table 1, Fig. 4).
[
H]Muscimol binding was observed in all the cell
membranes, including the cells infected with
6-
2 alone or in
combination with one of the monomers. The K
value
for [
H]muscimol (the high affinity GABA site) was
2.5 ± 0.2, 2.6 ± 0.3, 2.7 ± 0.2, and 2.1 ±
0.2 nM for the receptors from
6-
2 alone or with
6,
2, or
2, respectively. Also, the maximal binding
level was not noticeably variable among those receptors, ranging from
1.6 to 1.2 pmol/mg of protein. Despite the high expression of the high
affinity GABA site, the Sf-9 cells expressing the
6-
2 alone
again failed to produce Cl
currents upon GABA (5
µM) application.
Figure 4:
Plots for
[H]muscimol binding. Binding was measured in the
membranes from the Sf-9 cells expressing the
6-
2 alone
(
) or with
2 subunit cDNA (
) using filtration
techniques as described under ``Materials and Methods'' The
data were fit with a one-site binding isotherm and were also shown in a
Scatchard analysis (inset). The data represent the average of
three measurements, and the binding parameters are shown in Table 1.
Binding of [H]Ro
15-4513 (a benzodiazepine site ligand) was observed only in the
membranes from the cells infected with
6-
2 with
2 as
expected (see above). The B
for the
benzodiazepine site ligand was similar to that for
[
H]muscimol, suggesting all the receptors
containing both the high affinity GABA site and benzodiazepine site.
In this study we have shown that expression of the tandem
construct of 6-
2 subunit cDNA alone failed to produce
Cl
currents in response to GABA application, but in
the presence of the monomeric subunit of
6 or
2 subunit, its
expression led to the appearance of GABA- and picrotoxin-sensitive
Cl
currents. This could be interpreted to mean that
the tandem construct alone forms receptors with only even-numbered
subunits, which are not functional (no chloride channels), but in the
presence of the monomeric subunit of
6 or
2, forms a
functional pentameric receptor with Cl
channels. This
interpretation led us to propose that the functional
receptor/Cl
channels may consist of two
6-
2
and one
6 or
2. Since these receptors displayed similar
functional and pharmacological properties with the monomeric
6
2
2 or
6
2 subtypes, we propose that the
6
2
2 subtype consists of two
6, two
2, and one
2 subunits and that the
6
2 subtype consists of three
6 and two
2 subunits. This proposal is in agreement with
earlier immunoprecipitation studies which indicated the presence of two
subunits in the
subtypes of cloned GABA
receptors(8, 9, 10, 11) . An
alternative interpretation of our results is that the functional
receptors of
6
2
2 would be made of one
6-
2 and
three monomeric
2, leading to one
6 subunit per receptor.
This is incompatible with the presence of two
subunits per
receptor already shown by the immunoprecipitation
studies(8, 9, 10, 11) .
We also
propose the orientation of the subunits in the 6
2
2
subtype to be
6-
2-
6-
2-
2. Such an arrangement
could minimize interactions between homologous subunits and domains and
accommodate two
6-
2 tandem subunits per receptor. This
arrangement is also compatible with the assignment of the
benzodiazepine site at the interface between
6 and
2 subunits (22, 23, 24) , with the N-terminal of
6
involved in the formation of the benzodiazepine
site(14, 25) . Future study with the tandem
2-
6,
2-
6, and
2-
2, where the hyphen
represents a C- to N-terminal linkage, will be useful to test this
proposal.
Of considerable interest is the appearance of the high
affinity GABA site without Cl channels in the cells
expressing the
6-
2 construct alone. Two types of GABA sites
are known to be on GABA
receptors, the high affinity site
with nanomolar dissociation constants and low affinity sites with
micromolar dissociation constants(1, 21) . The high
affinity GABA site has been reported on the
subunit(1, 26) , and low affinity GABA sites were not
localized yet, but their affinity was markedly affected by mutations on
the
subunit (27) and different
isoforms(7, 28, 29) . This indicates that low
affinity GABA sites could be influenced by secondary, tertiary, and
quaternary interactions among the subunits. Furthermore, its occupancy
seems to lead to channel openings, because the Hill coefficient of near
2 was observed for GABA currents and no channel openings were observed
with GABA at concentrations occupying nearly 70% of the high affinity
sites(29, 30) . It appears that the formation of low
affinity GABA sites and GABA-sensitive Cl
channels
require association of proper five receptor subunits, which could not
be achieved with the tandem
6-
2 construct alone.