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*
Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037; and
Department of Immunology, Novartis Research Institute, Vienna, Austria
| Abstract |
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RI) is a multisubunit complex
comprised of either 
2 or 

2
chains. The cotranslational assembly of the IgE-binding
-chain with
a dimer of
-chains occurs in a highly controlled manner and is
proposed to involve masking of a dilysine motif present at the
cytoplasmic C terminus of the Fc
RI
-chain that targets
localization of this subunit to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Here,
we show that ER quality control modulates export from the ER of newly
synthesized 
2 and 

2 receptors.
We demonstrate that the presence of untrimmed N-linked
core glycans (Glc3Man9GlcNAc2) on
the Fc
RI
-chain activates the ER quality control mechanism to
retain this subunit in the ER, despite the presence of
-chains. At
the same time, the untrimmed, ER-localized
-chain exhibits
IgE-binding activity, suggesting that Fc
RI
-chain folding occurs
before constitutive glucose trimming. In additional experiments, we
demonstrate that cell surface expression of an
-chain C-terminal
truncation mutant is also dependent on glucose trimming, but not on
-chain coexpression. We suggest that glucosidase trimming of
terminal glucose residues is a critical control step in the export of
Fc
RI
from the ER. Finally, we show that the constitutive ER
Fc
RI
-chain, expressed in the absence of the other Fc
RI
subunits, associates with the ER lectin-like chaperone calnexin, but
not the structurally similar ER chaperone calreticulin, presumably
through interaction with monoglucosylated
-chain ER
glycoforms. | Introduction |
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RI)3 is a key
molecule involved in allergic reactions. The human receptor exists in
two distinct forms: either as a tetrameric complex consisting of one
-chain subunit, one
-chain and a homodimeric
-chain, or as a
trimeric 
2 complex devoid of
-chain.
Although inflammatory cells such as mast cells and basophils express
the 

2 receptor (reviewed in Ref.
1), recent findings have indicated that many other cell
types such as monocytes (2), eosinophils (3),
Langerhans cells (LC; Refs. 4, 5), and dendritic cells
(6) also express the receptor, albeit without
-chain.
Each of the subunits of the receptor seems to have an individual
function. Although the
-chain is exclusively involved in the binding
of the IgE ligand, the
-chain is necessary for signal transduction
(7), whereas the
-chain appears to function as an
amplifier of this signal (8, 9). Of the three chains, only
the
-chain is N-glycosylated with
40% of the total
Mr derived from oligosaccharides
(1). It appears likely that all seven of the potential
N-linked glycosylation sites present in the human Fc
RI
ectodomain sequence are used based on a careful glycosylation analysis
of a truncated form of the
-chain consisting of only the
extracellular domain (10). Although glycosylation of
truncated
-chain is not necessary for folding and IgE binding
(11), it was shown to be necessary for secretion from
transfected eukaryotic cells (10), suggesting an important
role of N-linked glycans in
-chain transport. However,
the relationship between constitutive Fc
RI
glycosylation and
Fc
RI subunit assembly and eventual cell surface expression has not
been elucidated.
The mechanistic features underlying Fc
RI assembly and expression are
of considerable interest. Early studies showed distinct differences in
cell surface expression between rodent and human Fc
RI; rodent
Fc
RI expression requires coexpression of all three subunits
(12), whereas human Fc
RI is reported to achieve cell
surface expression with or without the
-subunit (13, 14). At the same time, evidence for a possible role of the
-subunit in enhancing or stabilizing Fc
RI surface expression,
compared with the 
2 complex, has also appeared (8),
in accordance with our observations that the 

2 receptor
expresses to a higher density than 
2 in transfected cells (our
unpublished results). Additional early studies revealed the importance
of Fc
RI subunit transmembrane (TM) and cytoplasmic domains (CD) in
assembly and expression of the rat receptor (15, 16, 17) as
well as the human Fc
RI 
2 complex (17). More
recently, a number of studies have revealed an additional complexity in
Fc
RI expression: regulation of Fc
RI expression in
Fc
RI+ monocytes (18), mast cells
(19, 20), basophils (21, 22), and LC
(23). In some of these studies (18, 19, 20, 21, 22), IgE
appears to up-regulate surface Fc
RI, presumably by a mechanism
involving stabilization of surface receptor. Other investigations have
shown that, upon IgE depletion, Fc
RI expression is down-regulated
(24, 25), although the mechanistic details underlying
Fc
RI down-regulation in IgE-depleted cells have not been defined.
Fc
RI regulation in LC is particularly striking as it appears to be
linked to maturation of LC to lymphoid dendritic cells
(23). Another level of complexity exists for Fc
RI
expression in LC (23), eosinophils (26, 27),
and megakaryocytes (28) whereby the Fc
RI
-chain has
been shown to accumulate in intracellular compartments without showing
significant cell surface expression despite the presence of Fc
RI
-chain. Thus, it has emerged that Fc
RI regulation is an important
and complex process that, in some forms, implicates control of Fc
RI
expression at the intracellular level including possibly Fc
RI
subunit assembly and transport.
Co- and post-translational modifications of nascent polypeptides occur
in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), such as disulfide bond
formation and core glycosylation, and are generally necessary to
achieve polypeptide folding and assembly of multisubunit complexes
(29). Although the
-chain and
-chains have only a
few amino acid residues oriented to the lumenal side of the ER, the
-chain ectodomain, comprised of two Ig-like domains, is oriented
within this compartment. To prevent misfolding and aggregation in the
ER because of the high protein concentration and oxidative environment
within this compartment (30, 31), a complex quality
control network exists involving a number of molecular chaperones to
facilitate production of transport-competent proteins and protein
complexes (reviewed in Ref. 32). A different level of ER
quality control exists for many proteins by virtue of the presence of
ER retention or Golgi-retrieval signal sequences, the latter thought to
associate with coatomer protein complexes (33). In the
case of the Fc
RI
-chain, it has been proposed that a di-lysine
motif positioned near the end of the CD functions as a retrieval signal
that effectively directs localization of the free
-chain to the ER
(34). Coexpression of the
-chain leads to
-chain
localization to the cell surface as the 
2 complex by a mechanism
presumed to involve steric masking of the di-lysine motif by
determinants in the
-chain CD that lie in physical proximity to the
-chain di-lysine motif (34). The masking of the ER
retrieval/retention signal by the
-chain thus serves as "secondary
quality control" (32) for
-chain surface expression.
Here, we have studied the relationship of ER quality control and
-chain N-glycosylation and its effect on the export of
new Fc
RI molecules.
| Materials and Methods |
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- and
-chain expression
The cDNA encoding the human Fc
RI
-chain was cloned into
the pIREShyg vector (Clontech, Palo Alto, CA) and the pcDNA3.1(+)zeo
vector (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA), both under the control of a CMV
promoter. The cDNA truncation fragment (
t) lacking the coding
sequence for the 16 C-terminal amino acids was cloned into the
pcDNA3.1(+)zeo. The c-myc-derived epitope tag (EQKLISEEDL)
recognized by mAb 9E10 (hybridoma cell line MYC1-9E10.2; American Type
Culture Collection, Manassas, VA) was positioned at the N terminus of
the mature
-chain sequence (35) by placement between
the constitutive leader peptide and the +1 residue of the mature
sequence. The cDNA coding for the human Fc
RI
-chain was also
cloned into pcDNA3.1(+)zeo. The FLAG epitope tag (DYKDDDDK) was
positioned at the N terminus of the mature
-chain sequence and
contained an Ala3 spacer between the C terminus of the FLAG tag and the
start of the five-residue extracellular region (LGEPQ) of the mature
-chain. An additional two-residue sequence (LG) was added between
the constitutive leader peptide and the N terminus of the FLAG sequence
to facilitate peptidase cleavage of the leader peptide. To position the
FLAG tag and Ala3 spacer sequence between the native leader sequence
and the +1 residue of the mature
-chain, a series of three PCR were
performed to sequentially build the desired full-length coding
sequence. Each amplification used the following
oligonucleotide as 3' primer:
5'-GACTCTCGAGCATATTTTAGCTGGAGTTGGGAATGGG together with the 5'
primers described below, using human Fc
RI
-chain plasmid as
template and using Pfu polymerase (Stratagene, San Diego, CA) with 30
cycles of 94°C, 1 min; 58°C, 1 min, and 72°C 1 min, followed by
one cycle of 72°C, 10 min. The following 5' PCR primers were used in
reactions 13: 1)
5'-CTGGGAGATTATAAGGATGACGACGATAAAGCTGCAGCGCTGGGTGAGCCTCAGCTCTGCTAT;
2)
5'-GCAGTGGTCTTGCTCTTACTCCTTTTGGTTGAACAAGCAGCGGCCCTGGGAGATTATAAGGAT;
and 3) 5'-GCAGAAGCTTATGATTCCAGCAGTGGTCTTGCTCTTA.
PCR product 1 was excised from a 1.6% agarose gel and purified using a
Qiagen (Chatsworth, CA) spin column. The purified product was then used
directly in PCR 2 using the same amplification conditions as before.
The spin column-purified product from this step was then used directly
in the third amplification reaction using the same PCR conditions
as before. The full-length PCR product was then excised from a 2%
agarose gel and the purified product then cloned as a
XhoI/HindII fragment into the pcDNA3.1(+)zeo
vector following standard protocols (36). The nucleotide
sequence of
- and
-chain coding sequence for all expression
plasmids used in this study was confirmed on an ABI model 377 version
3.0 DNA sequencer.
Cells lines and transfections
HeLa cells (Clontech) were cultured in DMEM (Life Technologies,
Gaithersburg, MD) supplemented with 10% FBS (Irvine Scientific,
Irvine, CA), 2 mM glutamine, 100 IU/ml penicillin, and 100 µg/ml
streptomycin at 37°C in a humidified 5% CO2
incubator. For transient transfection, HeLa cells were seeded at 3
x 105 cells/35-mm well 1 day before
transfection. Cells were transfected with Lipofectamine Plus reagent
(Life Technologies) according to the manufacturers instructions. As
an internal control for transfection efficiency, cells were
cotransfected with an expression vector for green fluorescent protein
(GFP; pGreen Lantern-1; Life Technologies). Forty-eight hours after
transfection, cells were harvested by trypsinization and analyzed.
Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells that stably express human
Fc
RI

2 were generously provided by Dr.
J.-P. Kinet (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA). Cells
were grown in IMDM (Life Technologies) containing 1 mg/ml G418, 10%
FBS, 2 mM glutamine, 100 IU/ml penicillin, and 100 µg/ml streptomycin
at 37°C, 5% CO2. MYC 1-9E10.2 cells were kept
in RPMI 1640 (Life Technologies) and 10% FBS, glutamine, and
penicillin/streptomycin, at 37°C, 5% CO2.
Castanospermine (CST; Biomol, Plymouth Meeting, PA) was used at 300
µg/ml.
Flow cytometry
Fc
RI
-chain was indirectly detected using the
anti-Fc
RI mAb 15-1 mAb (mIgG1/
; Ref. 5). Fc
RI
-chain was detected using the FLAG epitope-specific mAb M2 (mIgG1;
Sigma, St. Louis, MO). Cells were incubated with 15-1 mAb, M2 mAb, or
mIgG1/
(MOPC-21; Sigma) as an isotype control for 30 min at 4°C at
a concentration of 2 µg/106 cells. Cells were
washed in PBS/1% FBS and then treated with 0.5
µg/106 cells biotinylated goat
F(ab')2 anti-mouse IgG1 (
1 heavy
chain-specific; Southern Biotechnology Associates, Birmingham, AL).
After incubation for 30 min at 4°C, cells were washed and incubated
with 2 µg/106 cells streptavidin-PE
(PharMingen, San Diego, CA). Cells were then analyzed on a FACScalibur
analyzer (Becton Dickinson, San Jose, CA) using CellQuest software for
both data acquisition and analysis. Live cells were gated on forward-
and side-scatter and by propidium iodide (1 µg/ml) exclusion using
the FL3 channel. GFP-fluorescence was analyzed using the FITC-channel
of the 488-nm laser.
Confocal microscopy
A total of 5 x 104 cells were seeded
per chamber on an eight-chamber Lab-Tec II culture slide (Nunc,
Naperville, IL) and cultured overnight at 37°C, 5%
CO2. Cells were washed twice with PBS, fixed, and
permeabilized with 4% paraformaldehyde for 30 min at ambient
temperature in a moist chamber. Cells were then washed three times with
PBS and incubated with PBS/2% goat serum (Sigma) for 30 min to block
nonspecific binding. Cells were washed three times with PBS and
incubated for 30 min with 40 µg/ml 15-1 mAb (mIgG1) in PBS/2% BSA
(Sigma) and anti-BiP mAb (clone 10C3, mIgG2a; StressGen
Biotechnologies, Victoria, BC, Canada) at a 1:200 dilution. Cells were
washed three times with PBS and then incubated with FITC-labeled goat
F(ab')2 anti-mouse IgG1 (
1 heavy
chain-specific; Southern Biotechnology Associates) at a dilution of
1:300 and Texas Red-labeled goat anti-mouse IgG2a (
2a heavy
chain-specific; Southern Biotechnology Associates) at a 1:50 dilution
in PBS/2% BSA. Cells were then washed three times with PBS. Before
sealing of the slide, Slow Fade-Light antifade (Molecular Probes,
Eugene, OR) was added. The specimen was analyzed using a confocal laser
microscope (MRC 600; Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) equipped with an
argon-krypton mixed gas laser (488 nm, blue line for FITC and 568 nm,
yellow line for Texas Red) in association with a Zeiss IM35 M inverted
microscope with objective lenses at x40 or x63. Images were collected
and analyzed using Cosmos (Bio-Rad) and Adobe Photoshop software (San
Jose, CA).
Immunoprecipitations and Western blot analysis
Cells were solubilized in Nonidet P-40 (Calbiochem, San Diego,
CA) lysis buffer (1% Nonidet P-40, 137 mM NaCl, 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH
8.0), 10% glycerol, 20 µg/ml aprotinin (Sigma), 10 µg/ml leupeptin
(Sigma), and 0.5 mM Pefabloc SC
(4-(2-aminoethyl)-benzolsulfonylfluoride, hydrochloride; Boehringer
Mannheim, Indianapolis, IN)). Lysates were kept on ice for 30 min and,
subsequently, insoluble debris was removed by centrifugation at
13000 x g for 30 min at 4°C. Supernatants were
precleared with Sepharose 4B beads (Pharmacia, Piscataway, NJ) for
316 h at 4°C. For immunoprecipitation of Fc
RI
-chain, 10
µg/ml of mAb 9E10 (mIgG1/
) was added to lysate supernatants and
allowed to incubate for 616 h at 4°C before addition of Protein
G-Sepharose beads and continued (616 h) incubation. Alternatively,
immune complexes containing Fc
RI
-chain were isolated using
murine IgE (hybridoma 26.82; Ref. 37 ; kindly provided by
Dr. F.-T. Liu, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, San
Diego, CA) covalently coupled to CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B beads
(Pharmacia). Calnexin was immunoprecipitated using an anti-calnexin
C terminus polyclonal Ab (SPA-860; StressGen) at 1:200 dilution.
Protein G-Sepharose-bound or IgE-Sepharose-bound proteins were washed
three times in Nonidet P-40 lysis buffer and then eluted with SDS
sample buffer in the absence of thiol reducing agent. Proteins were
fractionated by SDS-PAGE, electroblotted onto Immobilon P membranes
(Millipore, Bedford, MA), and probed for the presence of Fc
RI
-chain using 19-1 mAb (mIgG2a/
; Ref. 5 ; a gift from
Dr. J.-P. Kinet) at a 1:400 dilution in combination with HRP-conjugated
goat anti-mouse
light chain (GaM
) serum (Southern
Biotechnology Associates) at a 1:4000 dilution. Calnexin was detected
on immunoblots using SPA860 at a dilution of 1:2000 in combination with
HRP-conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG (
heavy chain-specific)
serum at 1:2000 dilution. The HRP conjugates were visualized by using
ECL Western blotting detection reagents (Amersham, Arlington
Heights, IL).
Digestions with endoglycosidase H (Endo H)
Immunoprecipitated samples were denatured at 100°C for 5 min in 100 mM sodium acetate (pH 5.5), 1% SDS before 10-fold dilution in 100 mM sodium acetate buffer (pH 5.5). Samples were then incubated in the presence or absence of 10 mU recombinant Endo H (Boehringer Mannheim) for 16 h at 37°C in the presence of protease inhibitors as described above. Digested samples were concentrated using Microcon 10 spin concentrators (Amicon, Beverly, MA) according to the manufacturers instructions, fractionated by 15% SDS-PAGE followed by immunoblot analysis.
| Results |
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RI
- and
-chain transfection and subcellular
localization
To determine the requirements for assembly of the human Fc
RI

2 receptor, we used transient transfection
of HeLa cells with expression plasmids for the Fc
RI
- and
-chains. The
-chain construct incorporated the myc epitope tag
(38) and was positioned at +1 of the mature polypeptide.
The
-chain construct was expressed from the same vector as the
-chain (pcDNA3.1) and incorporated a different epitope tag (FLAG),
again positioned at the N terminus of the mature protein, to allow
detection of cell surface expression of the
-chain for the first
time. To monitor the efficiency of the transfection, the cell surface
expression of both subunits was analyzed 48 h after transfection
by flow cytometry. The percentage of cells expressing the myc-tagged
-chain and the FLAG-tagged
-chain on the cell surface were
measured by fluorescence intensity of fluorochrome-labeled secondary
detection reagents. In agreement with published data (39),
transfection of Fc
RI
-chain alone did not produce significant
surface expression as judged by comparison of anti-Fc
RI
mAb
staining to isotype control and a mock transfection controls (Fig. 1
). As expected, cotransfection of
-
and
-chains produced high density surface expression of
-chain
and with a high percentage (nearly 70%) of the transfected cells
showing
-chain expression. Parallel FACS analysis revealed
pronounced
-chain surface expression (92% of cells) in cells
transiently transfected with both
- and
-chains. It is notable
that
-chain could be detected on the cell surface given that the
N-terminal eight-residue FLAG epitope tag is removed from the cell
membrane by only an additional eight-residue sequence (comprised of
an Ala3 spacer plus the constitutive N-terminal
-chain sequence
LGEPQ). Hence, the FLAG epitope is relatively accessible to mAb
association within the assembled Fc
RI 
2
receptor complex on the cell surface. The greater fluorescence
intensity seen for
-chain surface expression compared with
-chain
might be explained by the simple fact that one
-chain molecule is
assembled with a dimer of
-chains thus producing a 1:2 molar ratio
of
:
at the cell surface. Alternatively, M2 mAb binding in the
FACS staining protocol used may occur more efficiently than the mAb
staining of
-chain.
|
RI
-chain in HeLa
cells cotransfected with both Fc
RI
- and
-chains, but not
-chain-only transfectants, by immunofluorescence microscopy (data
not shown). To identify the fate of the
-chain, we examined the
subcellular localization of transiently transfected Fc
RI
-chain
in the absence of
-chain. Transfected and subsequently permeabilized
HeLa cells were simultaneously labeled with an Ab specific for the
ER-resident chaperone BiP (Ig heavy chain binding protein) and a mAb,
15-1, recognizing native human Fc
RI
-chain. Using confocal
microscopy, we observed distinct colocalization (yellow) of
-chain
(green) with the ER-resident protein Grp 94 (BiP), which was visualized
with a red emitting fluorochrome (Fig. 2
-chain because this mAb is thought to
bind to a conformationally sensitive epitope (40) that
also overlaps with the conformationally sensitive IgE-binding site
(5, 40). These data suggest that, in the absence of
-chains, expression of the
-chain leads to measurable
accumulation in the ER compartment and in a state that appears to be
folded properly, as judged by anti-Fc
RI
mAb binding.
|
RI
-chain immunoprecipitation with 9E10 or IgE
Fc
RI
-chain expressed in the absence of
-chain was then
isolated from the ER using an Ab (9E10) specific for the
c-myc derived epitope tag. Placement of this tag at the N
terminus of the mature
-chain was designed to allow detection of
both folded and partially folded forms of the
-chain, in analogy to
the use of a polyclonal anti-peptide Ab specific to a sequence
proximal to the
-chain N terminus (10). Immunoblot
analysis revealed a single sharp band of 54 kDa specific for
-chain,
compared with a mock transfection control (Fig. 3
, lanes 2 and 1,
respectively). Importantly, immunoprecipitation of the ER-resident
-chain could also be accomplished with IgE-Sepharose (Fig. 3
, lane 4). In agreement with the data shown in Fig. 2
.,
binding of nascent
-chain to IgE provides evidence that a
significant portion of ER-localized
-chain exists in a properly
folded state, and without a requirement of Fc
RI
-chain
coexpression and 
2 assembly. As a final characterization effort,
we confirmed that the isolated ER-resident
-chain had achieved
constitutive N-linked core glycosylation (41)
by determination of sensitivity to treatment with either jack bean
mannosidase (data not shown) or Endo H (see below), which in both cases
afforded an
-chain product that migrated with a lower apparent
Kd (
10 kDa) by SDS-PAGE.
|
RI
-chain expression
properties
We then investigated the effect of glucose trimming on the
intracellular expression properties of the Fc
RI
-chain. Initial
experiments evaluated
-chain transfection in HeLa cells cultured
with CST, a well characterized inhibitor of the ER-resident enzymes
glucosidase I and II, that blocks trimming of glucose residues from
constitutive G3 N-linked core glycans
(Ref. 42 ; see Fig. 4
A). HeLa cells were
transiently transfected with
-chain and cultured in the presence of
CST before immunoprecipitation with IgE and analysis by immunoblotting.
In CST-treated cells, an
-chain band
(Fc
RI
ERG3) was observed
migrating with a distinctly higher apparent
Kd than that
(Fc
RI
ER) detected from untreated cells
(Fig. 4
B, lanes 2 and 1,
respectively), consistent with the expectation of a higher m.w. for the
untrimmed G3 glycoform. Significantly, the
untrimmed G3
-chain glycoform could be readily
isolated by binding to an IgE-Sepharose matrix suggesting that the
nascent
-chain had achieved a native fold capable of ligand binding
capacity, before initiation of constitutive glucose
trimming and ER quality control processes. Furthermore, under the
immunoprecipitation conditions employed (excess IgE), the untrimmed
G3
-chain and the constitutive
G1 (or G0) form accumulated
in the ER to approximately the same extent, as judged by the similar
immunoblot band intensities, suggesting that the
G3 and G1 (or
G0) glycoforms may exhibit similar intracellular
stability characteristics.
|
RI
-,
- and
-subunits
(CHO 

2; Ref. 6). A profound difference in the
immunoblot pattern of IgE immunoprecipitated
-chain was found
between CST-treated and -untreated CHO 

2 cells (Fig. 4
-chain glycoforms (Fc
RI
Golgi, lane 1) that are typically
expressed on the cell surface. In addition, a discrete band of
54
kDa, characteristic of the ER-resident
-chain glycoform, was also
detected (Fc
RI
ER, lane 1).
Treatment of the immunoprecipitated product corresponding to lane
1 with Endo H had no discernable effect on the Golgi-processed
Fc
RI
form (Fc
RI
Golgi), as expected,
whereas the 54-kDa band was converted to a lower m.w. form of less than
30 kDa (Fc
RI
ERdegly,
lane 2), corroborating the ER localization of this
-chain
isoform. In contrast immunoprecipitation of
-chain from cells
treated with CST afforded only a relatively sharp band of
64 kDa
(Fc
RI
ERG3, lane
3). As before, evidence that this
-chain glycoform corresponds
to an ER and not Golgi product was demonstrated by sensitivity to Endo
H treatment, which afforded an
-chain product with a markedly
reduced Mr (compare lanes 3
and 4). To control for potential CST-derived artifacts, we
determined that essentially equivalent amounts of a constitutive ER
protein (calnexin) could be immunoprecipitated from cells cultured with
or without CST (Fig. 4
Effect of glycosidase inhibition on Fc
RI 

2 cell surface
expression
Aliquots of the CST-treated and -untreated CHO 

2 cells
were also analyzed by flow cytometry to appraise the effect of
glycosidase inhibition on
-chain surface expression. The number of
receptors expressed on the cell surface surface was reduced by nearly
50% upon CST treatment (Fig. 5
, +CST).
After a 24-h incubation with CST, a new population of
Fc
RI
+-positive cells appeared expressing
approximately an order of magnitude lower mean fluorescence intensity
than that found for the untreated receptor. A similar observation was
made upon coculture of CHO 

2 cells with tunicamycin (data not
shown). In parallel experiments, we also observed a qualitative
increase in ER localization of
-chain in CST-treated CHO 

2
cells, as assessed using confocal microscopy (data not shown). Taken
together, these data suggest that inhibition of
-chain glucose
trimming affects either the assembly or transport competency of the


2 complex leading to attenuated cell surface expression.
|
RI 
2 cell surface
expression
We then appraised the effect of CST-treatment on
-chain surface
expression in 
2-transfected HeLa cells. HeLa cells were
transiently cotransfected with
- and FLAG-
-chain plasmids as well
as a plasmid encoding GFP using logarithmically growing HeLa cells that
had been precultured with CST for 4 h. After transfection and
additional culture (48 h) in the presence of CST, the cells were tested
for both
- and
-chain surface expression by flow cytometry. As
shown in Fig. 6
A (HeLa
wt
2),
-chain surface expression was
significantly reduced in CST-treated cells compared with untreated
cells (18% and 28%
-chain positive cells, respectively). At the
same time, the level of
-chain expression showed a discrete increase
(from 49% to 58% of transfected cells) in the CST-treated cells. To
establish whether these results were derived from different
transfection efficiencies resulting from CST-treatment, compared with
untreated control cells, we measured the level of transfection
efficiency based on intracellular expression of GFP. As shown in Fig. 6
B, the percentage of GFP-positive cells was essentially the
same with or without CST-treatment, suggesting that
- and
-chain
transfection efficiency was not intrinsically affected by CST
treatment.
|
RI
-chain truncation mutant
lacking the C-terminal half of the CD
As described earlier, the wild-type Fc
RI
-chain cannot
achieve cell surface expression without coexpression and assembly with
the Fc
RI
2-subunit. We hypothesized that deletion of the putative
di-lysine ER localization motif might allow
-chain expression in the
absence of the
-subunit. A truncated
-chain was constructed
lacking the C-terminal 16 residues of the CD that included the -7 and
-3 lysine residues. Expression of this truncated
-chain, designated
t, in transfected HeLa cells was detected on the cell surface in the
absence of
-chain cotransfection (Fig. 6
A; HeLa
t,
-CST). This finding indicates that the deleted CD sequence represents
most or all of the principle determinant involved in ER localization
and appears to show that the TM domain contributes relatively little to
the ER retention mechanism. As such, the truncated
-chain represents
a simplified model for the study of
-chain biosynthesis and cell
surface transport. Therefore, we tested the effect of glucosidase
inhibition on
t expression in cells cultured with or without CST. We
observed a prominent reduction (75%) in
t surface expression (Fig. 6
A; HeLa
t, +CST) in cells cocultured with CST.
Importantly, the CST-treated cells showed a similar transfection
efficiency compared with the untreated control cells, based on the
similar GFP expression characteristics (Fig. 6
B;
t).
Furthermore, we also measured a significant population of
double-positive cells staining for surface
t and intracellular green
fluorescence from cotransfected GFP in non-CST-treated cells compared
with CST-treated cells (Fig. 6
C, compare middle
and right panels, respectively). Taken together, a
consistent cell surface expression pattern was found for
t and the

2 and 

2 receptor complexes, suggesting a strong link
between constitutive glucose trimming and Fc
RI
cell surface
expression.
Association of the ER chaperone calnexin with Fc
RI
-chain
The presence and importance of deglucosylated
-chain glycoforms
such as G1 and G0 in the
transport pathway leading to cellular expression is strongly implied
from the foregoing studies. It is well established that the
G1 ER glycoform is the substrate recognized by ER
lectin-like chaperones calnexin and calreticulin (43, 44, 45).
Therefore, we tested whether the
-chain transfected in HeLa cells
could specifically associate with calnexin as measured by the capacity
to coimmunoprecipitate the two proteins. As shown in Fig. 7
A, the characteristic
myc-tagged
-chain could be immunoprecipitated from lysates of
transiently transfected cells with mAb 9E10 (lane 2).
At the same time, immunoprecipitation with polyclonal anti-calnexin
sera afforded coprecipitation of the
-chain, visualized in an
immunoblot with an anti-Fc
RI
mAb (19-1; lane 3).
As expected, the same anti-calnexin sera was effective in
immunoprecipitation of the endogenous 90-kDa calnexin protein as
revealed by immunoblot analysis (Fig. 7
B) using the same
anti-calnexin sera. In parallel immunoprecipitation experiments, we
could not detect coprecipitation of
-chain with polyclonal
anti-calreticulin sera (data not shown). To our knowledge, the
foregoing analysis is the first demonstration of ER chaperone
association with a nascent Fc
RI subunit or for any subunit within
the Fc receptor family.
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
RI
-chain as well as Fc
RI

2 and 

2
receptor complexes. Our experimental approach employed transient
transfection of Fc
RI subunits followed by flow cytometry and/or
immunoprecipitation. In agreement with previous studies
(39), Fc
RI
-chain cell surface expression was
dependent on coexpression of
-chain with no detectable surface
-chain found in
-chain-only transfected cells using an
anti-Fc
RI
mAb for detection (Fig. 1
-chain and
again could not detect surface expression of the
-chain (data not
shown). It was anticipated that the N-terminal tag would be accessible
for mAb binding in either the folded or unfolded state, and thus the
absence of 9E10 binding suggests that little if any
-chain can
achieve surface expression. It has been hypothesized that the
-chain
is retained in the ER because of the presence of a nonclassical
dilysine ER-retrieval signal located near the intracellular COOH
terminus, and that the
-chain is subsequently rapidly targeted for
degradation (34). Our data using confocal scanning
microscopy demonstrate a significant signal for ER-localized human
Fc
RI
-chain expressed without
-chains (Fig. 2
-chain could be isolated from cell lysates through
binding to an IgE-Sepharose affinity matrix (Fig. 3
-chain can fold properly in the ER before assembly with the
-subunit. Moreover, the quantity of intracellular
-chain isolated
with IgE was comparable to that isolated with the 9E10 mAb (Fig. 3
-chain must exist in a
native-like form.
The ER-resident Fc
RI
-chain migrates as a distinct 54-kDa band by
SDS-PAGE suggestive of a homogeneous product, in contrast to the broad
signal of the post ER compartment-processed
-chain, containing
heterogeneous complex oligosaccharides derived from Golgi
glycosylation. The lack of complex glycosylation suggests that the
54-kDa
-chain glycoform has likely been actively retained in the ER
instead of transport to and retrieval from the Golgi compartment
(33). It is interesting to compare the foregoing
-chain
characteristics to intracellular
-chain isolated from cells shown to
be devoid of cell surface Fc
RI. A considerably more complex
SDS-PAGE/immunoblotting profile of
-chain immunoprecipitated from
either LC (23) or eosinophils (26) was found
suggestive of additional carbohydrate processing that, in turn, implies
that the
-chain in these cells is retrieved to the ER from post-ER
compartments.
We then analyzed cells cotransfected with
- and
-chains for cell
surface expression of 
2 receptors by flow cytometry using mAbs
specific for the extracellular domains of the individual receptor
subunits. Direct detection of
-chains on the cell surface is
hampered by the presence of only five extracellular residues and indeed
no mAbs have been described for this epitope, although polyclonal sera
specific for the extracellular domain of the rat
-chain have been
reported (46). To overcome this limitation, we placed an
epitope tag (FLAG) at the N terminus of the mature
-chain and showed
that the tagged
-chain was functional in assembly and transport of
the
-chain. Transport competency also implied that constitutive
cleavage of the
-chain leader peptide had likely occurred in the
expected manner. Interestingly, a
-chain construct with a similarly
positioned RGSH6 epitope tag was found to be at least as functional as
the FLAG-tagged
-chain in directing
-chain surface expression but
could not be detected using a panel of different anti-His6 mAbs
(not shown).
We then focused our analysis on the role of N-linked
glycosylation on expression of 
2 and 

2 receptors in
eukaryotic cells by targeted inhibition of ER glycosylation. Inhibition
of glucosidases I and II leads to accumulation of
G3 glycoforms (47). In CST-treated,
-chain-only transfectants the G3
-chain
glycoform exhibited IgE binding activity indicating that the nascent
G3
-chain has achieved a functional fold
capable of ligand binding. As an important comparison, we evaluated IgE
immunoprecipitation of glucosidase-treated CHO 

2 cells and
found a homogeneous SDS-PAGE band of higher apparent m.w. than the ER
-chain glycoform (Fig. 4
C). Evidence that this product
was localized to the ER was demonstrated by sensitivity to Endo H
treatment (lane 4). The apparent lack of highly
glycosylated, Golgi-processed
-chain (lane 3)
suggests that comparatively little cell surface
-chain was present
after 24 h exposure to CST, at least in a form that was detergent
soluble and capable of binding IgE. Although the turnover rate of
Fc
RI

2 in these cells has not been quantitated, it seems
likely that over a 24-h period constitutive Fc
RI internalization and
subsequent degradation of preexisting cell surface receptor will occur,
in analogy to rat Fc
RI turnover in RBL cells, which occurs to a
significant extent in a 24 h period, in the absence of bound IgE
(minimum half life, 8 h; Refs. 48, 49).
Initial evidence for an important role of N-linked
oligosaccharides in folding and transport of the Fc
RI
-chain came
from a study that showed the dependence of N-linked
glycosylation on the secretion profile of a truncated
-chain
consisting of only the extracellular domain (9). We have
now analyzed the role of N-linked glycosylation for export
of Fc
RI to the cell surface. Using the same strategy as described
above, we used CST to block constitutive glucose trimming and appraised
the effect on Fc
RI cell surface expression. CST-treated CHO


2 cells displayed an order of magnitude reduction of
-chain
cell surface density on more than 50% of the cells (Fig. 5
). In
addition, the overall decrease in constitutive surface receptor is
accompanied by the appearance of a new population of cells with reduced
mean fluorescence intensity, a finding consistently observed in
replicate experiments. The appearance of a discrete
Fc
RI
dim population is intriguing but
presently not well understood. What is clear from the FACS analysis is
that glucosidase inhibition afforded a profound reduction in overall
Fc
RI
-chain cell surface expression. This finding is in agreement
with the reported decrease in cell surface expression of rodent Fc
RI


2 in CST-treated rat basophilic leukemia cells
(50) and CST-treated cells expressing the insulin receptor
(51). In the latter study, a 24-h incubation period
resulted in a 50% reduction of surface receptors. Similarly, a
CST-induced decrease (40%) in expression of the integral membrane
low-density lipoprotein receptor has been reported and ascribed to a
mechanism involving receptor redistribution (52).
CST-treatment of HeLa cells cotransfected with
- and
-chains also
produced a pronounced reduction of Fc
RI
-chain cell surface
expression (Fig. 6
). In these experiments, we also monitored the level
of FLAG-
-chain surface expression and observed comparable
-chain
expression with or without CST treatment, suggesting that glucosidase
inhibition does not intrinsically alter de novo protein synthesis. From
this, we infer that the CST-dependent differences in
-chain
expression are derived solely from differences in the level of glucose
trimming. At the same time, we observed a reproducible increase in
-chain expression in the CST-treated cells. This finding suggested
the possibility that the
-chain might be transport competent in the
absence of constitutively processed
-chain. Indeed, in preliminary
studies, we have observed that
-chain-only transfected HeLa cells
show a strong pattern of cell surface expression measured by flow
cytometry (data not shown), a finding that we are currently analyzing
in further detail.
We also detected a significant level of cell surface expression of a
truncated
-chain (
t in Fig. 6
) without
-chain cotransfection.
The capacity of
t to achieve surface expression suggests that the ER
localization motif must be the principle determinant involved in ER
retention and that the TM domain exerts comparatively little effect.
Furthermore, we observed a sharp reduction (75%) in cell surface
expression of
t in cells treated with CST, suggesting that the same
glucose-trimming mechanism operative in ER quality control of the
constitutive
-chain is also operative in
t surface expression.
Taken together, our data suggest that the ER-export signal for Fc
RI
is stringently regulated by both 1) the number of terminal glucose
residues present on core oligosaccharide units of the
-chain, and 2)
the presence of an ER localization signal in the
-chain CD.
Achievement of a transport competent
-chain may be more under the
control of the
-chain ER dilysine localization signal than TM
domain-mediated effects although, like the structurally related
Fc
RIII 
2 receptor (53), the stable assembly of
the Fc
RI
- and
-chains is likely mediated through the TM
domains of the two subunits (34). Assuming that the
-chain glycoform can assemble normally with homodimeric
-chains
in the untrimmed G3 state, then masking of the
-chain dilysine ER localization motif by the
-chain is a
necessary but insufficient signal for export of Fc
RI complexes.
Glucose trimming of the N-linked glycans likely serves as a
critical checkpoint for continuation along the secretory pathway.
Monoglucosylated G1 glycoforms are potential
substrates for lectin-like ER-chaperones such as calnexin and
calreticulin, well established components of the ER quality control
network (45) that act to assist and promote nascent
polypeptide folding before further deglucosylation (to the
G0 form) and export from the ER
(54). We postulated that the constitutive ER Fc
RI
-chain G1 glycoform might associate with one
or more of the lectin-like chaperones and demonstrated that
anti-calnexin antisera could coimmunoprecipate
-chain and
calnexin from lysates of HeLa cells transiently transfected with only
the
-chain (Fig. 7
). At the same time we could not detect
coprecipitation of
-chain using antisera against the 60-kDa ER
lumenal protein calreticulin and Grp78 (data not shown). The extent of
calnexin and calreticulin association with
-chain expressed as
either an 
2 or 

2 receptor is currently under
investigation.
It is informative to compare the requirements for Fc
RI export to
that of other multisubunit receptor complexes such as TCR or MHC class
I proteins. The comparison of Fc
RI with TCR is especially
interesting because both receptors can use either the
-chain dimer
or the FcR
-chain dimer in assembly and as a signal transduction
subunit (55). In this case, glucose trimming was
demonstrated to be essential for the stability of nascent TCR
-chain
in the ER and its association with TCR
-chain (56).
However, for the assembly of the MHC class I complex, glucose trimming
of glycans is not necessary for assembly and export to the cell
surface, although important for the association of free heavy chains
with calnexin (57). Studies using either a
calnexin-deficient cell line (58) or glucosidase
II-deficient cells (57) demonstrated efficient expression
of MHC class I proteins. Thus, alternative pathways within the ER
quality control system exist to assist MHC class I assembly. Inhibition
of Fc
RI
glucose trimming by CST led to reduced cell surface
expression of 

2, 
2 and an
t truncation mutant. The
possibility that
-chain association with ER lectin chaperones such
as calnexin may serve as a critical checkpoint in the generation of new
transport-competent receptor molecules is currently under further
investigation.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
RI 

2 receptor were generously provided
by Dr. J.-P. Kinet. The preparation of oligonucleotides and
DNA sequencing was performed in the MEM DNA core laboratory funded
through the Stein Foundation. This is The Scripps Research Institute
manuscript number 12517-MEM. | Footnotes |
|---|
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Michael W. Robertson, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, MEM-131, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037. ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: Fc
RI, high affinity Fc receptor for IgE; CD, cytoplasmic domain; CST, castanospermine; Endo H, endoglycosidase H; GFP, green fluorescent protein; LC, Langerhans cells;
t, cDNA truncation fragment; CHO, Chinese hamster ovary; TM, transmembrane. ![]()
Received for publication April 24, 2000. Accepted for publication August 15, 2000.
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