Identification of Amino Acids in the Binding Pocket of the Human KDEL Receptor*

Andreas A. ScheelDagger and Hugh R. B. Pelham§

From the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, United Kingdom

    ABSTRACT
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Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References

Retention of soluble proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum is dependent on their interaction with the KDEL (Lys-Asp-Glu-Leu) receptor in the Golgi apparatus and their subsequent retrieval back to the endoplasmic reticulum. We have studied the three-dimensional organization of the human KDEL receptor using site-directed mutagenesis and sulfhydryl-specific labeling. We have identified four amino acid residues, Arg-5, Asp-50, Tyr-162, and Asn-165, which we suggest participate in the formation of the ligand binding pocket. Arg-5 and Asp-50 are shown to be located on the lumenal side of the membrane and are inaccessible from the cytoplasm. In addition, our results strongly support a topology of the KDEL receptor similar to the family of G-protein-coupled receptors with seven transmembrane domains. Furthermore, Asp-50 plays a crucial role in the binding of His/Lys-Asp-Glu-Leu ligands, but is not required for Asp-Asp-Glu-Leu binding, suggesting that this residue forms an ion pair with the positively charged amino acid residue positioned 4 residues from the carboxyl terminus of the ligand.

    INTRODUCTION
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Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References

The precise sorting of proteins along the secretory pathway is crucial for the maintenance of organelle integrity. The localization of chaperones and other soluble proteins to the ER1 is achieved by their continuous retrieval from post-ER compartments by the KDEL receptor, a membrane protein localized in the Golgi apparatus. Binding of soluble ER proteins to the receptor is dependent on a conserved tetrapeptide sequence at their carboxyl terminus, which is usually KDEL in animal cells and HDEL in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (see Ref. 1 for review). The HDEL receptor was originally isolated from yeast; it is the product of the ERD2 gene and has subsequently been cloned from other organisms (2-6). Erd2 determines both capacity and specificity of the H/KDEL retrieval system (7), and a direct interaction between KDEL ligands and the human receptor has recently been demonstrated (8, 9). Hydrophobicity analyses and the "positive inside rule" (10) suggest seven primarily hydrophobic membrane-spanning domains with the amino terminus in the lumen and the carboxyl terminus in the cytoplasm (11, 12). The topology of the KDEL receptor would thus be similar to the organization of G-protein-coupled receptors, although no amino acid sequence homology is observed. Based on studies using fusions to N-linked glycosylation sites, a different topology has been proposed with six transmembrane domains and the amino terminus located in the cytoplasm (13).

Although the KDEL recycling system is well established, several significant questions have remained unanswered. For example, the sorting of KDEL proteins is believed to be controlled by the pH difference between the Golgi apparatus and the ER (8). However, it is unclear whether the pH difference between these two compartments, which is estimated to be approximately 0.5 pH units (8), is sufficient to ensure efficient binding of KDEL proteins in the Golgi apparatus and their release in the ER. In addition, ligand binding was suggested to induce retrograde transport of the receptor-ligand complexes, involving a signal transduction mechanism across the membrane (14). Neither the mechanism of signal transduction nor any components of the machinery apart from the KDEL receptor have been identified. It has been shown that the KDEL receptor, presumably together with bound ligand, is selectively recruited into COPI-coated vesicles from Golgi membranes, but this process is not well characterized (15, 16). As a better understanding of these events requires detailed analyses of the receptor structure, we set out to identify amino acid residues involved in ligand binding and to investigate the topology of the human Erd2.1 protein, one of two related KDEL receptors identified in humans (17). We undertook a sulfhydryl-specific labeling approach, creating site-directed mutants with unique cysteine residues engineered at different positions in the receptor, followed by chemical labeling with thiol-specific reagents. We have investigated the effect of derivatization of single cysteine residues on ligand binding and the sidedness of these residues by labeling of receptor mutants with membrane-permeant and -impermeant sulfhydryl-specific compounds.

    EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
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Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References

Materials-- The baculovirus transfer vector pVL1393 and linearized baculovirus DNA were from PharMingen, Ni-NTA resin was from Qiagen, NEM and 3-(N-maleimidylpropionyl)biocytin (biotin maleimide) were from Sigma, 4-acetamido-4'-maleimidylstilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (AMS) was from Molecular Probes, and a streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase conjugate was from Pierce.

Plasmids-- Site-directed mutagenesis was performed according to Kunkel (18) in a pBluescript vector containing the human Erd2.1 cDNA modified at the 3'-end to add a Myc and a hexahistidine tag (hErd2-Myc-His, see Ref. 9). All sequences were confirmed by dye terminator cycle sequencing using an Applied Biosystems model 377 sequencer. The cDNAs encoding receptor mutants were cloned into a SmaI/BglII-digested baculovirus transfer vector pVL1393. Mutants are named as (wild-type residue and number) right-arrow (mutant residue).

Preparation of Virus and Expression of Recombinant Proteins-- Recombinant baculoviruses containing mutant Erd2.1 cDNAs under the control of a polyhedrin promoter were created using the Baculogold kit from PharMingen according to the information provided by the manufacturer. Isolation of virus clones and infection of Sf9 cells were carried out as described (19).

Membrane Preparations and Ligand Binding Assays-- Preparation of a crude membrane fraction from infected cells and ligand binding assays were carried out as described previously (9). Briefly, standard binding assays contained membranes derived from infected insect cells expressing wild-type or mutant KDEL receptors, approximately 180,000 cpm of 125I-YTSEKDEL, 100 ng of YTSEKDELGL (nonfunctional ligand) in binding assay buffer (20 mM NaCl, 250 µg/ml bovine serum albumin, and 50 mM sodium cacodylate pH 5.0). Unless otherwise mentioned, all binding data are shown without background subtraction. Competition assays contained 180,000 cpm 125I-YTFEHDEL and variable amounts of competitor peptide. All binding assays were done under nonsaturating conditions.

Treatment of Membranes with Thiol-specific Maleimides-- To assess the effect of alkylation of individual cysteine residues on the binding activity of receptor mutants, 1-10 µg of crude membranes were incubated with NEM or biotin maleimide in 10 mM Hepes, pH 7.0, for 10 min on ice and were then directly used in the peptide binding assay. For analysis by Western blotting, 100 µg of crude membranes were incubated with 100 µM biotin maleimide for 10 min on ice in phosphate buffer (50 mM sodium phosphate, pH 7.0), quenched with 10 mM beta -mercaptoethanol and solubilized with 0.5% SDS at room temperature. The soluate was spun at 14,000 × g for 20 min, and the receptor was bound to Ni-NTA resin by incubation of the soluble detergent extract with 40 µl of resin under rotation for 1 h at room temperature. Unbound proteins were washed off and bound receptor protein eluted with 1 M imidazole, pH 7.0. All buffers during the purification contained 0.5% SDS. Biotin-labeled KDEL receptor was visualized by immunoblotting using a streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase conjugate (Pierce, 1 µg/ml in 1% bovine serum albumin) and the ECL chemoluminescence detection system (Amersham International, United Kingdom).

To determine the sidedness of amino acid residues relative to the membrane, 100 µg of crude membranes were incubated in the presence or absence of 100 µM AMS for 10 min on ice and the membranes were pelleted in a microcentrifuge at 14,000 × g. After a washing step, the membranes were resuspended in phosphate buffer and incubated with 100 µM biotin maleimide for 10 min on ice before quenching the reaction with 10 mM beta -mercaptoethanol. Biotinylated receptor was purified and visualized as described above.

    RESULTS
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Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References

Mutagenesis of Endogenous Cysteines-- The human KDEL receptor Erd2.1 contains four cysteine residues, none of which is strictly conserved in all receptor homologues. There are no cysteines in the S. cerevisiae receptor, indicating that cysteine residues are not strictly required for receptor function (2). However, Cys-29 in the human sequence (Fig. 1) is conserved in six out of nine receptor homologues, and a change to alanine at this position reduces the binding activity of the human KDEL receptor approximately 2-3-fold, implying that a mutation at this position has indirect affects on the receptor structure (12). The first objective was to test whether any individual cysteine residue was strictly required for structure or function of the human KDEL receptor. Therefore, site-directed mutagenesis was used to change all four cysteines to serines, and Cys-less and wild-type receptors were expressed in insect cells. We used the baculovirus expression system, as we have recently demonstrated that it can be used to produce large amounts of functional human KDEL receptor (9). We expressed a both Myc- and hexahistidine-tagged version of the human Erd2.1 protein (hErd2-Myc-His, see "Experimental Procedures"), since the addition of these tags to the carboxyl terminus of the receptor does not alter the affinity of the receptor for KDEL ligand and Myc-His-tagged receptor can be easily purified in a single step by nickel affinity chromatography (9). Crude membranes containing equal amounts of wild-type receptor and a cysteine-less receptor mutant were analyzed for KDEL peptide binding. The binding activity of Cys-less human KDEL receptor is significantly higher than the wild-type receptor (Fig. 2A). This is not due to a change in ligand affinity and thus suggests an increase in the amount of functional receptor, which was estimated to be approximately 2.3-fold as judged by Scatchard analysis (data not shown). Together with earlier data, which showed around 40% of the human KDEL receptor to be functional when expressed in insect cells (9), this suggests that more than 90% of the Cys-less KDEL receptor in these preparations is functional. To determine which cysteine residue is responsible for this effect, we mutated three cysteines at a time to serine, leaving one of the endogenous cysteine residues. Fig. 2A shows that a receptor containing only Cys-29, which is predicted to be in the first cytoplasmic loop, shows a binding activity similar to wild-type receptor. Thus, it is evidently the presence of Cys-29 that causes some of the overexpressed wild-type receptor in insect cells to accumulate in an inactive state. Immunoblotting showed an increase in the amount of receptor dimers for the Cys-29-containing mutant compared with Cys-less receptor (data not shown), suggesting that oxidation of Cys-29 may play a role in receptor inactivation.


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Fig. 1.   Secondary structure model of the human KDEL receptor Erd2.1. Individual residues were changed to cysteines in a cysteine-less receptor mutant (shown in gray and black). Positions where derivatization of the cysteine side chain inhibited KDEL binding are shown in black.


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Fig. 2.   Effect of cysteine replacements on the KDEL binding activity of the human KDEL receptor. A, binding of 125I-YTSEKDEL to membranes derived from insect cells containing equal amounts of wild-type and mutant KDEL receptors was determined. Wild-type, human Erd2-Myc-His; Delta C, human Erd2-Myc-His with all four endogenous cysteines (Cys-29, Cys-62, Cys-70, Cys-192) changed to Ser; the numbering of the other mutants refers to the only cysteine residue still present in the receptor sequence, e.g. Cys-29, residues Cys-62, Cys-70, and Cys-192 changed to Ser. B, Western blot analysis of the samples used in A probed with the 9E10 anti-Myc antibody.

Construction and Activity of Cysteine Mutants-- We reintroduced individual cysteine residues into the Cys-less KDEL receptor sequence at 25 different positions by site-directed mutagenesis to probe their function and location (Fig. 1). In the choice of the residues, we were guided by an earlier study, which used mutational analysis to identify amino acid residues crucial for ligand binding (12). Although this approach could not be used to distinguish between residues directly contacting the ligand or ones that merely altered the receptor structure, thus affecting ligand binding indirectly, it allowed us to predict which residues might be involved in forming the binding pocket. We concentrated on charged residues or residues predicted to be on the same side of a potential alpha -helix as charged or polar residues (Fig. 1). Recombinant baculoviruses encoding receptor mutants were used to infect insect cells, and crude membrane preparations were subsequently analyzed for their ability to bind ligands in vitro (Table I). The replacement of charged residues by cysteines had a significant effect on KDEL binding activity, consistent with earlier findings (12). The first half of transmembrane domain 1 was particularly sensitive to mutations, even a replacement of Gly by Cys (Gly-8 right-arrow Cys) strongly affected ligand binding, whereas less conserved residues in the same region (Leu-10, Ser-11, and Leu-13) could be changed without significant effect (Table I). In general, mutation of less conserved residues or nonpolar residues had only minor effects on KDEL binding. Surprisingly, a minor change in the fifth transmembrane domain (Ser-123 right-arrow Cys) greatly reduced KDEL binding, whereas an identical amino acid mutation in the same transmembrane domain (Ser-128 right-arrow Cys) has no effect on the binding activity (see below).

                              
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Table I
Effects of mutations on KDEL binding activity
Individual cysteines were introduced into a Cys-less receptor mutant. Recombinant baculoviruses encoding the receptor mutants were used to infect Sf9 cells, and crude membranes derived from infected cells containing similar amounts of mutant KDEL receptor were analyzed for KDEL binding.

Effect of Treatment of Cysteine Mutants with NEM and Biotin Maleimide-- Crude membranes containing wild-type or mutant receptors were treated with NEM or biotin maleimide (BCM), and then KDEL binding activity was determined (see Fig. 3 for examples). Biotin maleimide is a bulky maleimide-derivative, which was shown to be membrane-permeant at higher concentrations (20). This reagent was used to determine whether the size of the modifying reagent is of importance, and it also facilitated detection of labeled receptor. We have identified four receptor mutants (Arg-5 right-arrow Cys, Asp-50 right-arrow Cys, Tyr-162 right-arrow Cys, and Asn-165 right-arrow Cys), which upon derivatization with NEM or BCM show significantly reduced binding activity (Fig. 3 and Table II). Binding of KDEL peptides to wild-type or Cys-less KDEL receptor was not affected by derivatization (Fig. 3). Arg-5 right-arrow Cys, Asp-50 right-arrow Cys, Tyr-162 right-arrow Cys, and Asn-165 right-arrow Cys already show a significant defect in binding (Table I), which was enhanced when the cysteine residue was alkylated; note that the binding experiments in Fig. 3 used a larger amount of Arg-5 right-arrow Cys mutant than wild-type receptor to compensate for its lower binding activity. We consider it to be unlikely that these mutations have a severe effect on folding of the receptor protein, the insertion into the bilayer or protein stability, as their expression levels are comparable with that of wild-type or Cys-less Erd2 (data not shown). Labeling with biotin maleimide was visualized by purification of the KDEL receptor using nickel affinity chromatography followed by immunoblotting and probing with a streptavidin-peroxidase conjugate. Biotin maleimide is specific for cysteine residues under our conditions, since we were unable to detect reaction of BCM with the Cys-less receptor (Fig. 4A). Arg-5 right-arrow Cys, Asp-50 right-arrow Cys, Tyr-162 right-arrow Cys, and Asn-165 right-arrow Cys could be labeled with both BCM and NEM, where labeling with NEM was visualized by its ability to prevent biotinylation (Fig. 4A).


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Fig. 3.   Inhibition of KDEL binding after treatment of membranes containing wild-type and mutant receptors with BCM or NEM. Membranes were treated with 500 µM NEM or 500 µM BCM for 10 min on ice, and KDEL binding was determined. The results are shown from a typical experiment performed in duplicate without background subtraction. The data are given in Table II. Note that constant amounts of 125I-YTSEHKEL were used (nonsaturating conditions) and membranes were adjusted to yield comparable binding signals.

                              
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Table II
Effects on KDEL binding of receptor mutants by BCM and NEM
See Fig. 3 for experimental details.


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Fig. 4.   Labeling of receptor mutants with BCM and NEM. Crude membranes (100 µg) were incubated in the absence (-) or presence (+) of 100 µM NEM for 10 min on ice. The membranes were washed with phosphate buffer, and incubated with 100 µM BCM for 10 min on ice before quenching with 10 mM beta -mercaptoethanol. The KDEL receptor was solubilized and purified as described under "Experimental Procedures." A, biotinylated KDEL receptor was visualized by immunoblotting and probing with a streptavidin-peroxidase conjugate. The positions of the KDEL receptor and of molecular size markers are indicated. An unrelated protein of approximately 30 kDa was occasionally found to copurify. B, total amounts of KDEL receptor were detected using anti-Myc antiserum.

Binding of KDEL ligands to Arg-5 right-arrow Cys was similarly affected by NEM and biotin maleimide. Interestingly, while Asp-50 right-arrow Cys was labeled with both compounds (Fig. 4A), only treatment with biotin maleimide inhibited KDEL binding (Table II), suggesting that a large group added to the cysteine side chain is required to inhibit binding. Inactivation of Tyr-162 right-arrow Cys and Asn-165 right-arrow Cys was more efficient with NEM, presumably because the labeling efficiency with biotin maleimide was low compared with Arg-5 right-arrow Cys or Asp-50 right-arrow Cys (Fig. 4A). KDEL binding to receptor mutant Ser-123 right-arrow Cys was not further affected by treatment with either reagent (Table II). Thus, the drastic effect of Ser-123 right-arrow Cys on KDEL binding is presumably indirect, and even minor changes of the amino acid side chain at this position seem to have severe effects on the receptor conformation. All other receptor mutants could be treated with NEM or biotin maleimide without any effect on KDEL binding (see Table II for examples). We were interested to see whether ligand binding could protect Arg-5 right-arrow Cys, Asp-50 right-arrow Cys, Tyr-162 right-arrow Cys, and Asn-165 right-arrow Cys from chemical modification, supporting the localization of these residues to the ligand binding site. However, ligand binding is strongly pH-dependent and is maximal at pH 5 (8), where we were unable to obtain sufficient biotinylation.

Topological Studies-- We investigated the location of the amino acid residues identified above relative to the membrane by testing the ability of a membrane-impermeant maleimide, stilbenemaleimide disulfonic acid (AMS), to prevent derivatization with biotin maleimide. These experiments crucially depended on intact membrane vesicles with the receptor being oriented in its natural way with the ligand binding side facing the lumen of the vesicles. To test the orientation of the receptor, binding assays were performed in the presence or absence of low amounts of detergent. The addition of 0.3% CHAPS stimulated the binding of 125I-YTSEKDEL to wild-type receptor and all mutants examined at least 4-fold (data not shown). This suggests that 80% of the KDEL binding sites are inaccessible to the hydrophilic peptide without permeabilization of the membrane. We assume that a small fraction of the membrane vesicles are either inverted or slightly leaky, allowing access of the peptide to the ligand binding side in the absence of detergent.

AMS has been reported to be a membrane-impermeant thiol-specific compound (20) and to confirm its physical properties we chose two mutants, Thr-85 right-arrow Cys and Thr-114 right-arrow Cys, with changes in positions that are predicted to be on the cytoplasmic and lumenal side of the membrane, respectively. The treatment of single cysteine mutants with AMS prior to incubation with biotin maleimide should prevent the biotinylation of cysteine residues located in the cytoplasmic loops, in contrast to cysteines located on the lumenal side of the membrane. The reaction of biotin maleimide with Thr-85 right-arrow Cys was completely prevented by AMS, indicating that residue 85 is indeed located on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane (Fig. 5A). In contrast, the binding of biotin maleimide to Thr-114 right-arrow Cys was unaffected by pretreatment with AMS, which locates Thr-114 to the lumenal compartment. This experiment confirms the proposed orientation of Thr-85 and Thr-114 (12, 13). Furthermore, it shows that AMS is indeed sufficiently membrane-impermeant under our conditions to be used to determine the sidedness of individual cysteine residues relative to the membrane.


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Fig. 5.   Inhibition of biotinylation with AMS. Membranes containing mutants with a single cysteine, Thr-85 right-arrow Cys, Thr-114 right-arrow Cys, Arg-5 right-arrow Cys, Cys-29, and Asp-50 right-arrow Cys were biotinylated with 100 µM biotinmaleimide with (+) or without (-) pretreatment with 75 µM AMS. See Fig. 4 for experimental details.

We focused on a mutant containing the endogenous cysteine residue Cys-29 and the mutants Arg-5 right-arrow Cys and Asp-50 right-arrow Cys, since the topology of the amino-terminal part of the KDEL receptor has remained controversial (12, 13). As shown in Fig. 5B, biotinylation of Cys-29 is almost completely blocked by preincubation of the membranes with AMS, strongly suggesting that this residue is located in the cytoplasm. Both Arg-5 right-arrow Cys and Asp-50 right-arrow Cys behave like Thr-114 right-arrow Cys and are not accessible to AMS under these conditions. The biotinylation of all residues studied could be blocked at higher concentrations of AMS and after longer incubation periods, which indicates that these residues are in principle accessible to AMS. Thus, the amino acids Arg-5 and Asp-50, which we suggest to be directly involved in ligand binding are located on the lumenal side of the membrane and are not accessible from the cytoplasm.

Ligand Specificity-- The tetrapeptide signal used for the retention of soluble ER proteins is conserved among different species, although some variations can be found. On most major ER proteins in higher organisms, KDEL acts as the signal (1), whereas S. cerevisiae uses HDEL and Kluyveromyces lactis uses both HDEL and DDEL (7). Intriguingly, one of the residues described above, Asp-50, which we propose to be involved in ligand binding is located in a region which was shown earlier to be important in determining ligand specificity in the K. lactis and S. cerevisiae receptors (11). The same region in the human receptor (amino acids 50-56) was shown to be crucial for binding of KDEL ligands (8, 14). To determine whether a change of Asp-50 affects ligand specificity, we tested the binding activity of KDEL and DDEL peptides to the Asp-50 right-arrow Cys mutant. Octapeptides were shown to bind with higher affinity than tetrapeptides,2 presumably because sequences upstream of the tetrapeptide signal contribute to the interaction with the receptor. To eliminate these additional effects, we used tetrapeptides as competitors for binding of radioactively labeled YTFEHDEL. Binding of 125I-YTFEHDEL to the Cys-less receptor was competed efficiently with the peptide KDEL, whereas the peptide DDEL competed poorly (Fig. 6A), consistent with earlier findings (8). Binding of DDEL peptides to Asp-50 right-arrow Cys was comparable with binding to the Cys-less receptor; a concentration of approximately 250 µM DDEL was required to compete 50% of 125I-YTFEHDEL bound to the Cys-less mutant or Asp-50 right-arrow Cys (Fig. 6). Strikingly, KDEL was a substantially worse competitor with the Asp-50 right-arrow Cys mutant than with the Cys-less receptor (Fig. 6B). The same effect, which was specific for Asp-50 right-arrow Cys, was observed for HDEL and RDEL peptides. These results suggest that the efficient binding of peptides with a positive charge at position -4 from the carboxyl terminus of the ligand (HDEL, KDEL, RDEL) requires the aspartic acid at position 50, presumably involving a direct ionic interaction.


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Fig. 6.   D50 is required for KDEL binding. The binding of DDEL, HDEL, KDEL and RDEL tetrapeptides to membranes containing Cys-less (A) and Asp-50 right-arrow Cys (B) receptor mutants was determined by competition experiments with constant amounts of 125I-YTFEHDEL under nonsaturating conditions. Membranes were adjusted to yield comparable binding signals. A membrane-independent background of 5000 cpm was deducted.

    DISCUSSION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References

This paper describes an investigation of the three-dimensional organization of the human KDEL receptor Erd2.1, using a site-directed sulfhydryl labeling approach. We show that all four endogenous Cys residues of the human KDEL receptor can be removed without affecting the ligand binding activity. Furthermore, the removal of cysteine 29 leads to the expression of almost homogeneously active receptor protein in Sf9 cells. Together with an earlier study, in which we describe the high level expression and the purification of functional receptor protein (9), this will prove to be a significant step toward the determination of the receptor structure by two-dimensional crystallization and cryo-electron microscopy.

We have investigated the topology of the KDEL receptor by testing the sidedness of amino acids relative to the lipid bilayer using membrane-permeant and -impermeant thiol-specific reagents. This was of particular interest since the topology of the amino-terminal half of the KDEL receptor has been controversial (12, 13). Using this method, we have demonstrated that both Arg-5 right-arrow Cys and Asp-50 right-arrow Cys are not accessible to membrane-impermeant reagents, indicating that these residues are located in the lumen of the membrane compartments and contribute to the formation of a hydrophilic binding site for KDEL ligands, which is not accessible from the cytoplasmic side of the membrane. Furthermore, Cys-29 was shown to be located on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane. This suggests that the amino terminus is located in the lumen as proposed previously (12). Together with the location of Thr-85 right-arrow Cys and Thr-114 right-arrow Cys, which were shown to be located on the cytoplasmic and lumenal side of the membrane, respectively, these findings strongly point toward a two-dimensional organization of the KDEL receptor analogous to the family of G-protein-coupled receptors with seven membrane-spanning segments.

By determining the binding activity of single cysteine mutants of the human KDEL receptor after reaction with thiol-specific reagents, we have identified four residues that we believe contribute to the formation of a hydrophilic binding pocket for KDEL ligands (Arg-5, Asp-50, Tyr-162, and Asn-165). The KDEL binding activity of these mutants is considerably decreased compared with the Cys-less receptor and alkylation of these cysteines further inhibits KDEL binding. This suggests that these four residues play a critical role in KDEL binding and that the alkylation of the cysteine replacing the wild-type residue leads to steric hindrance of ligand binding. We do not believe that these mutations cause a significant change in receptor conformation, as these mutants retain substantial KDEL binding activity and no differences in expression levels could be observed compared with the wild-type receptor. Furthermore, mutations of these residues described earlier (Arg-5 right-arrow Gln, Asp-50 right-arrow Asn, and Asn-165 right-arrow Ala) do not interfere with the proper localization of these mutants to the Golgi apparatus and no accumulation of the mutants in the ER, indicative of misfolded proteins, was observed (12).

The reaction of Tyr-162 right-arrow Cys and Asn-165 right-arrow Cys with biotin maleimide was less efficient compared with Arg-5 right-arrow Cys and Asp-50 right-arrow Cys, presumably because they are located closer to the inside of the hydrophilic binding pocket, making their side chains less accessible to a bulkier reagent such as BCM, whereas a smaller reagent, NEM, was still efficient in inhibiting binding of YTSEKDEL. Arg-5 right-arrow Cys was equally well labeled by both NEM and biotin maleimide, and residual KDEL binding to Arg-5 right-arrow Cys was efficiently inhibited by both reagents. Strikingly, all four residues are predicted to be located at the lumenal end of the transmembrane domains based on a model with seven transmembrane domains (see Fig. 1).

Asp-50 right-arrow Cys is a particularly interesting mutant. KDEL binding, which is substantially reduced compared with the Cys-less receptor, could only be inhibited by reaction with biotin maleimide, although labeling of this mutant with both NEM and biotin maleimide was efficient. This suggests that this residue is located closer to the opening of the binding pocket than Arg-5 right-arrow Cys, and a large group added to the cysteine side chain is required to perturb peptide binding. Furthermore, we have studied the effects of this mutation on the specificity of ligand binding. As mentioned above, the yeast K. lactis uses both HDEL and DDEL as retention signals, whereas the S. cerevisiae receptor only recognizes HDEL. Studies in yeast suggest that amino acids 51-57 in the K. lactis receptor determine ligand specificity in vivo (11). Similar results were obtained when the corresponding residues (amino acids 50-56) in the human receptor were replaced with the K. lactis sequence, which significantly decreased the ability of the human receptor to bind KDEL ligands but not DDEL ligands, both in vitro and in vivo (8, 14). We have demonstrated that Asp-50 in the human receptor sequence is required for the efficient binding of KDEL ligands; the binding of KDEL (and other peptides with a positive charge at the position -4 such as HDEL and RDEL) to Asp-50 right-arrow Cys was strongly reduced, whereas the binding of DDEL peptides was unaffected. This suggests that DDEL, at least partly, interacts with different amino acids than H/KDEL as proposed previously (11). The fact that binding of peptides with a positive charge (His, Lys, or Arg) is specifically weakened by a mutation in the receptor that changes a negatively charged residue to a polar residue implicates a direct interaction. Close proximity between this residue and the ligand is also supported by the finding that ligand binding to Asp-50 right-arrow Cys was inhibited by alkylation of the cysteine side chain (see above). Strikingly, Asp-50 is conserved in all Erd2 sequences known except for the K. lactis receptor. The importance of this residue is further demonstrated by the fact that one of the receptor mutants originally isolated in S. cerevisiae was localized to the equivalent residue in the yeast receptor, changing the aspartate to an asparagine (2). However, there must be other interactions significantly contributing to ligand binding, in particular to the binding of HDEL peptides; the K. lactis receptor, which has an asparagine residue at the corresponding location, binds HDEL ligands in vivo, but not KDEL ligands. In addition, the binding of HDEL was substantially worsened by the Asp-50 right-arrow Cys mutation, but it still binds considerably tighter to Asp-50 right-arrow Cys than all other peptides tested, suggesting additional interactions of the histidine residue both in the human and the K. lactis receptor. Furthermore, our competition experiments were performed with tetrapeptides. They bind with lower affinity to the receptor than the corresponding octapeptides, indicating that interactions with residues upstream of the conserved tetrapeptide contribute to ligand binding, although no sequence conservation among different ER proteins can be observed (1). Additionally, soluble ER proteins have been identified without a positively charged residue at position -4 (1).

In conclusion, our study provides insight into the three-dimensional organization of the KDEL receptor; we present evidence for the existence of a hydrophilic ligand binding pocket formed by conserved amino acid residues of the transmembrane domains. Together with earlier findings (12, 13), our data suggest a secondary structure of the KDEL receptor with seven membrane-spanning domains, similar to the family of G-protein-coupled receptors. Furthermore, we have shown that Asp-50 is involved in determining the ligand specificity, presumably by directly pairing with a positively charged amino acid at position -4 from the COOH terminus of the ligand.

    FOOTNOTES

* The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Dagger Recipient of grants from the German Academic Exchange Service (HSP II) and the European Commission.

§ To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 44-1223-402290; Fax: 44-1223-412142.

1 The abbreviations used are: ER, endoplasmic reticulum; AMS, 4-acetamido-4'-maleimidylstilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid; BCM, 3-(N-maleimidylpropionyl)biocytin; NEM, N-ethylmaleimide.

2 A. Scheel, unpublished observation.

    REFERENCES
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References

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