Name: characterization of membrane transporters by heterologous expression in e. coli and production of membrane vesicles
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1. Generation of the E. coli Double Knock Out Mutant with P1 Transduction
<ol>
	<li>Obtain the E. coli single-knockout mutant strains &#916;PotE and &#916;CadB from the E. coli Genetic Stock Center (<a href="http://cgsc.biology.yale.edu" target="_blank">http://cgsc.biology.yale.edu</a>). 
	NOTE: The &#916;PotE strain is kanamycin resistant26 and the &#916;CadB strain is tetracycline resistant27...

<ol>
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Bacterial expression, reconstitution, functional characterization, and tissue distribution.</a> Journal of Biological Chemistry. 277 (27), 24204-24211 (2002).</li><li>Snowden, C. J., Thomas, B., Baxter, C. J., Smith, J. A., Sweetlove, L. 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In the present study, we outline a method for the characterization of an antiporter by first expressing the protein in E. coli and then generating membrane vesicles, so that the heterologously-expressed protein can be assayed in a cell-free system. In addition to equipment found in most molecular biology labs, this strategy requires the use of a French press, an ultracentrifuge, and access to a facility to conduct radioisotope assays.
A basic requirement of this technique is that the ...

Proteins involved in the trafficking of metabolites constitute an essential level of physiological regulation, but the vast majority of plant membrane transporters have not yet been functionally characterized. Several strategies have been implemented to characterize novel transport proteins. Heterologous expression in model organisms such as E. coli and eukaryotic cells such as yeast, Xenopus oocytes, mammalian cells, insect cells and plant cells have all been used to determine their transport activity1. Eukaryotic cells are favored for the expression of eukaryotic proteins, because the basic cellular composition, signal transducing pathways, transcription and translation machineries are compatible with the native conditions.
Yeast has been an important model organism for the characterization of novel transport proteins in plants. The first plant transport protein that was successfully expressed in yeast (Saccharomyces pombe) was the hexose transporter HUP1 from Chlorella2. Since then, many plant transport proteins have been functionally characterized using a yeast expression system. These include, plant sugar transporters (SUC1 and SUC23, VfSUT1 and VfSTP14) and the auxin transporters (AUX1 and PIN5). Disadvantages of utilizing yeast to express plant proteins can include impaired activity of plastid-localized proteins because yeast lacks this organelle, mistargeting6, and formation of misfolded aggregates and activation of stress responses in yeast due to overexpression of membrane proteins7,8,9.
Heterologous expression of transport proteins in Xenopus oocytes have been widely used for the electrophysiological characterization of transporters10. The first plant transport proteins characterized using heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes were the Arabidopsis potassium channel KAT110 and the Arabidopsis hexose transporter STP111. Since then, Xenopus oocytes have been employed to characterize many plant transport proteins such as plasma membrane transporters12, vacuolar sucrose transporter SUT413 and vacuolar malate transporter ALMT914. An important limitation of Xenopus oocytes for transport assays is that the concentration of intracellular metabolites cannot be manipulated1. Moreover, professional knowledge is required to prepare Xenopus oocytes and the variability of the oocyte batches is difficult to control.
Heterologous expression in the model organism E. coli is an ideal system in terms of characterization of novel plant transport proteins. With a fully sequenced genome15, the molecular and physiological characteristics of E. coli are well known. Molecular tools and techniques are well established16. In addition, different expression vectors, non-pathogenic strains and mutants are available17,18,19. Furthermore, E. coli has a high growth rate and can be easily grown under laboratory conditions. Many proteins can be easily expressed and purified at high amounts in E. coli9. When proteins cannot be assayed directly in cellular systems, reconstitution of proteins into liposomes has also been a successful, albeit challenging innovation for the characterization of purified membrane proteins. Functional characterization of the plant mitochondrial transport proteins including solute transporters such as phosphate transporters in soybean, maize, rice and Arabidopsis, dicarboxylate-tricarboxylate carrier in Arabidopsis have been accomplished by using this model system20,21. However, recombinant proteins of the tomato protein SICAT9 were found to be nonfunctional in reconstitution experiments, and other members of the CAT transporter family were found to be nonfunctional in Xenopus oocyte assays22. Thus, additional molecular tools are needed for the characterization of membrane transporters.
Five polyamine transport systems are found in E. coli23. They include two ABC transporters mediating the uptake of spermidine and putrescine, a putrescine/ornithine exchanger, a cadaverine/lysine exchanger, a spermidine exporter and a putrescine importer. The putrescine exchanger PotE was originally characterized using a vesicle assay, where inside out vesicles were prepared by lysing cells with a French press and measuring the uptake of radiolabeled putrescine into the vesicles in exchange for ornithine24. Vesicle assays were also used to characterize a calcium transporter, which mediated the transport of calcium in response to a proton gradient25. These experiments prompted us to develop a strategy for the characterization of other polyamine exchangers. We first created a strain of E. coli deficient in PotE and CadB exchangers. Here, we demonstrate the functional characterization of a plant polyamine antiporter by heterlogous expression in the modified E. coli strain, generation of membrane vesicles using a French press, and radiolabeled assays.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>2-mercaptoethanol</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>M6250</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>3H-putrescine</td>
			<td>PerkinElmer</td>
			<td>NET185001MC</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>3H-spermidine</td>
			<td>PerkinElmer</td>
			<td>NET522001MC</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>4-chloro-1-naphthol</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>C8890</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>14C arginine</td>
			<td>Moravek Inc.</td>
			<td>MC137</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Arginine</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A-5006</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti-His (C-term)-HRP antibody</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>R931-25</td>
			<td>Detects the C-terminal polyhistidine (6xHis) tag, requires the free carboxyl 
			group for detection</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Arabinose</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A3256</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BCA protein assay kit</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>23227</td>
			<td>Pierce BCA protein asay kit.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Bromophenol blue</td>
			<td>Bio-Rad</td>
			<td>161-0404</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Carboxypeptidase B</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>C9584-1mg</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Centrifuge</td>
			<td>Sorvall</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>SS-34 fixed angle rotor and GA-6 fixed angle rotor</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dounce tissue grinder</td>
			<td>LabGenome</td>
			<td>7777-7</td>
			<td>Corning 7777-7 pyrex homogenizer with pour spout.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ecoscint-H</td>
			<td>National Diagnostics</td>
			<td>LS275</td>
			<td>scintillation cocktail</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>EDTA</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Filtration manifold</td>
			<td>Hoefer</td>
			<td>FH225V</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>French Pressure Cell</td>
			<td>Glen Mills</td>
			<td>FA-080A120</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GABA</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A2129</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glutamate</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>G6904</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glycerol</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GraphPad Prism software</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td><a href="http://www.graphpad.com/prism/Prism.htm" target="_blank">http://www.graphpad.com/prism/Prism.htm</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hydrogen peroxide</td>
			<td>KROGER</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Potassium Chloride</td>
			<td>J.T. Baker</td>
			<td>3040-01</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Liquid scintillation counter</td>
			<td>Beckman</td>
			<td>LS-6500</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Maleate</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>M0375</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Nanodrop</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Nitrocellulose membrane filters</td>
			<td>Merck Millipore</td>
			<td>hawp02500</td>
			<td>0.45 &#181;M</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PCR clean up kit</td>
			<td>Genscript</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>QuickClean II</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Potassium Phosphate dibasic</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>P290-500</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>putrescine</td>
			<td>fluka</td>
			<td>32810</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Potassium Phosphate monobasic</td>
			<td>J.T.Baker</td>
			<td>4008</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Spermidine</td>
			<td>Sigma-aldrich</td>
			<td>S2501</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Strains :E. coli &#916;potE740(del)::kan, &#916;cadB2231::Tn10</td>
			<td>This manuscript</td>
			<td>Available upon request.</td>
			<td>Strain is deficient in the PotE and CadB polyamine exchangers.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tris-base</td>
			<td>Research Products</td>
			<td>T60040-1000</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ultracentrifuge</td>
			<td>Sorvall MTX 150</td>
			<td>46960</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher S150-AT fixed angle rotor</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ultracentrifuge tubes</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td>45237</td>
			<td>Centrifuge tubes for S150-AT rotor</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Vector: pBAD-DEST49</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Gateway expression vector for E. coli</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

characterization of membrane transporters by heterologous expression in e. coli and production of membrane vesicles

Several methods have been developed to functionally characterize novel membrane transporters. Polyamines are ubiquitous in all organisms, but polyamine exchangers in plants have not been identified. Here, we outline a method to characterize polyamine antiporters using membrane vesicles generated from the lysis of Escherichia coli cells heterologously expressing a plant antiporter. First, we heterologously expressed AtBAT1 in an E. coli strain deficient in polyamine and arginine exchange transporters. Vesicles were produced using a French press, purified by ultracentrifugation and utilized in a membrane filtration assay of labeled substrates to demonstrate the substrate specificity of the transporter. These assays demonstrated that AtBAT1 is a proton-mediated transporter of arginine, &#947;-aminobutyric acid (GABA), putrescine and spermidine. The mutant strain that was developed for the assay of AtBAT1 may be useful for the functional analysis of other families of plant and animal polyamine exchangers. We also hypothesize that this approach can be used to characterize many other types of antiporters, as long as these proteins can be expressed in the bacterial cell membrane. E. coli is a good system for the characterization of novel transporters, since there are multiple methods that can be employed to mutagenize native transporters.

The major steps in this protocol are summarized pictorially in Figure 1. Briefly, E. coli cells deficient in all polyamine exchangers and expressing AtBAT1 are cultured, centrifuged, washed with a buffer and subjected to cell lysis using a French press. Lysis tends to produce vesicles that are mostly inside-out and trap the buffer outside the cells. Cell debris is removed by centrifugation, and a second ultracentifugation step is used to col...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles at JoVE.com

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles

We describe a method for the characterization of proton-driven membrane transporters in membrane vesicle preparations produced by heterologous expression in E. coli and lysis of cells using a French press.

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles

Several methods have been developed to functionally characterize novel membrane transporters. Polyamines are ubiquitous in all organisms, but polyamine ...

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