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

Summary

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.

Abstract

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, γ-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.

Introduction

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 trans....

Protocol

1. Generation of the E. coli Double Knock Out Mutant with P1 Transduction

1. Obtain the E. coli single-knockout mutant strains ΔPotE and ΔCadB from the E. coli Genetic Stock Center (http://cgsc.biology.yale.edu).
   NOTE: The ΔPotE strain is kanamycin resistant²⁶ and the ΔCadB strain is tetracycline resistant²⁷.
2. Construct the PotE/CadB double knockout (DKO) strain using the P1 transduction protocol²⁸.
   ....

Results

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.......

Discussion

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 .......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
2-mercaptoethanol	Sigma-Aldrich	M6250
3H-putrescine	PerkinElmer	NET185001MC
3H-spermidine	PerkinElmer	NET522001MC
4-chloro-1-naphthol	Sigma-Aldrich	C8890
14C arginine	Moravek Inc.	MC137
Arginine	Sigma-Aldrich	A-5006
Anti-His (C-term)-HRP antibody	ThermoFisher	R931-25	Detects the C-terminal polyhistidine (6xHis) tag, requires the free carboxyl group for detection
Arabinose	Sigma-Aldrich	A3256
BCA protein assay kit	ThermoFisher	23227	Pierce BCA protein asay kit.
Bromophenol blue	Bio-Rad	161-0404
Carboxypeptidase B	Sigma-Aldrich	C9584-1mg
Centrifuge	Sorvall		SS-34 fixed angle rotor and GA-6 fixed angle rotor
Dounce tissue grinder	LabGenome	7777-7	Corning 7777-7 pyrex homogenizer with pour spout.
Ecoscint-H	National Diagnostics	LS275	scintillation cocktail
EDTA	Sigma-Aldrich
Filtration manifold	Hoefer	FH225V
French Pressure Cell	Glen Mills	FA-080A120
GABA	Sigma-Aldrich	A2129
Glutamate	Sigma-Aldrich	G6904
Glycerol
GraphPad Prism software			http://www.graphpad.com/prism/Prism.htm
Hydrogen peroxide	KROGER
Potassium Chloride	J.T. Baker	3040-01
Liquid scintillation counter	Beckman	LS-6500
Maleate	Sigma-Aldrich	M0375
Nanodrop	ThermoFisher
Nitrocellulose membrane filters	Merck Millipore	hawp02500	0.45 µM
PCR clean up kit	Genscript		QuickClean II
Potassium Phosphate dibasic	ThermoFisher	P290-500
putrescine	fluka	32810
Potassium Phosphate monobasic	J.T.Baker	4008
Spermidine	Sigma-aldrich	S2501
Strains :E. coli ΔpotE740(del)::kan, ΔcadB2231::Tn10	This manuscript	Available upon request.	Strain is deficient in the PotE and CadB polyamine exchangers.
Tris-base	Research Products	T60040-1000
Ultracentrifuge	Sorvall MTX 150	46960	Thermo Fisher S150-AT fixed angle rotor
Ultracentrifuge tubes	ThermoFisher	45237	Centrifuge tubes for S150-AT rotor
Vector: pBAD-DEST49	ThermoFisher		Gateway expression vector for E. coli