Abstract:
Various transporters and ion channels such as the renal epithelial sodium channel ENaC are down-regulated after ubiquitination (binding of ubiquitin to prolin-rich amino acid sequences such as the so-called PY motif) by the ubiquitin ligase Nedd4-2 through subsequent degradation of the protein or subsequent endocytosis. Nedd4-2 is itself inactivated by phosphorylation by serum and glucocorticoid inducible kinase SGK1, which leads to an indirect activation of the respective transporter or channel. Some transporters are stimulated by direct phosphorylation by SGK1. The present study undertook to search for a role of SGK1 and/or Nedd4-2 and their related isoforms/mutants in the regulation of the sodium glucose co-transporter SGLT1, the inorganic phosphate transporter NaPi IIb and the chloride channel ClC-2 which are all expressed in intestinal mucosal epithelium.
Xenopus laevis oocytes were injected with the respective cRNA and incubated for three to four days. Functional voltage-clamp experiments were then performed with the expressed electrogenic transporters/ion channels SGLT1, NaPi IIb and ClC-2. The glucose (10 mM)-induced current, phosphate (3 mM)-induced current and the hyperpolarization (-120 mV) activated current were taken as measures of activity of the transporters/channels SGLT1, NaPi IIb and ClC-2 respectively.
The glucose transporter SGLT1 (involved in intestinal glucose absorption) was inhibited by Nedd4-2 and activated by SGK1. Upon co-expression with Nedd4-2, SGK1 fully reversed the effect of Nedd4-2, presumably by phosphorylation and thereby inactivation of Nedd4-2. The inactive mutants C938SNedd4-2 and K127NSGK1 had no significant influence in SGLT1 activity. SGLT1 was stimulated by the related kinases SGK3, T308DS473DPKB and the constitutively active form S422DSGK1. In contrast, this effect on SGLT1 was not shown with SGK2 and the inactive mutant T308AS473APKB. SGLT1 does not contain any of the amino acid sequences known to be necessary for Nedd4-2 binding, such as the PY motif. Interaction might originate from regulatory proteins such as KChAP which contains a PY sequence and which regulates the voltage gated potassium channel Kv1.3.
The sodium phosphate co-transporter NaPi IIb, which is responsible for intestinal phosphate absorption, was inhibited by Nedd4-2, though not by the inactive mutant C938SNedd4-2, and was stimulated by SGK1, the constitutively active mutant S422DSGK1 and SGK3. SGK2, T308DS473DPKB and the inactive mutant K127NSGK1 did not show the ability to modulate NaPi IIb activity. Co-expression of S422DSGK1 or SGK3 with Nedd4-2 resulted in a complete abolition of the inhibitory Nedd4-2 effect. Nedd4-2 and S422DSGK1 caused a change in the maximal transport rate Vmax while leaving the affinity constant Km unaffected; this indicates that S422DSGK1 and Nedd4-2 cause an altered transporter abundance in the cell membrane but do not affect the activity of single transporter molecules.
The chloride channel ClC-2, which plays an important role in cell volume regulation, neuronal excitability and chloride secretion, could be activated by SGK1, SGK3, T308DS473DPKB and, to a lesser extend, by SGK2. An inhibition of ClC-2 current could be achieved by Nedd4-2 and this was reversible upon co-expression with SGK1, S422DSGK1, SGK2, SGK3 and T308DS473DPKB. The inactive mutants T308AS473APKB and C938SNedd4-2 showed no significant effect on ClC-2. With the amino acid serine at position 82, ClC-2 contains a putative phosphorylation site for SGK. Replacement of this amino acid by aspartate (mimicking the phosphorylated form) results in the S82DClC-2 mutant. This revealed significantly higher currents than wild type ClC-2, while the S82AClC-2 mutant lacking the phosphorylation site did not. Nevertheless co-expression of both mutants with S422DSGK1 caused an increase in ClC-2 current suggesting the existence of an additional regulatory mechanism.
These observations may disclose a novel regulatory mechanism according to which the transporters/channels SGLT1, NaPi IIb and ClC-2 are inhibited by Nedd4-2 and are (indirectly) stimulated by the inactivation of Nedd4-2 by SGK.