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Variants of the carboxyl-terminal KDEL sequence direct intracellular retention
D A Andres1, I M Dickerson, J E Dixon
1Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907.
Soluble proteins which reside in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum share a common carboxyl-terminal tetrapeptide Lys-Asp-Glu-Leu (KDEL). Addition of the tetrapeptide to a normally secreted protein is both necessary and sufficient to cause retention in the endoplasmic reticulum. In order to characterize the critical residues in the KDEL signal, cDNAs encoding proneuropeptide Y (pro-NPY) with the 4-amino acid carboxyl-terminal extension KDEL or a series of KDEL variants were expressed in the AtT-20 cell line. AtT-20 cells, a mouse anterior pituitary corticotrope cell line, synthesize, process, and secrete the pro-ACTH/endorphin precursor. Since post-translational processing in AtT-20 cells has been extensively characterized, it provides a model system in which the processing of a foreign peptide precursor (pro-NPY) and the endogenous precursor (pro-ACTH/endorphin) can be compared. Altered cDNAs encoding pro-NPY with KDEL, DKEL, RDEL, KNEL, KDQL, or KDEA at the COOH terminus were used to generate stable AtT-20 cell lines. The processing of pro-NPY to neuropeptide Y and the carboxyl-terminal peptide was studied using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, tryptic peptide mapping, and radiosequencing. Addition of the tetrapeptides KDEL, DKEL, RDEL, or KNEL to the COOH terminus of the neuropeptide Y precursor, a peptide hormone normally processed and secreted from neuronal cells, caused complete intracellular retention of the unprocessed prohormone in AtT-20 cells. However, KDQL and KDEA-extended pro-NPY molecules were processed and secreted like wild-type pro-NPY when expressed in AtT-20 cells. The secretion of proNPY-derived peptides in these cell lines paralleled secretion of endogenous pro-ACTH/endorphin-derived products under both basal and stimulated conditions. These mutagenesis studies demonstrate that variants of the KDEL retention signal can direct intracellular retention.
Soluble proteins which reside in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum share a common carboxyl-terminal tetrapeptide Lys-Asp-Glu-Leu (KDEL). Addition of the tetrapeptide to a normally secreted protein is both necessary and sufficient to cause retention in the endoplasmic reticulum. In order to characterize the critical residues in the KDEL signal, cDNAs encoding proneuropeptide Y (pro-NPY) with the 4-amino acid carboxyl-terminal extension KDEL or a series of KDEL variants were expressed in the AtT-20 cell line. AtT-20 cells, a mouse anterior pituitary corticotrope cell line, synthesize, process, and secrete the pro-ACTH/endorphin precursor. Since post-translational processing in AtT-20 cells has been extensively characterized, it provides a model system in which the processing of a foreign peptide precursor (pro-NPY) and the endogenous precursor (pro-ACTH/endorphin) can be compared. Altered cDNAs encoding pro-NPY with KDEL, DKEL, RDEL, KNEL, KDQL, or KDEA at the COOH terminus were used to generate stable AtT-20 cell lines. The processing of pro-NPY to neuropeptide Y and the carboxyl-terminal peptide was studied using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, tryptic peptide mapping, and radiosequencing. Addition of the tetrapeptides KDEL, DKEL, RDEL, or KNEL to the COOH terminus of the neuropeptide Y precursor, a peptide hormone normally processed and secreted from neuronal cells, caused complete intracellular retention of the unprocessed prohormone in AtT-20 cells. However, KDQL and KDEA-extended pro-NPY molecules were processed and secreted like wild-type pro-NPY when expressed in AtT-20 cells. The secretion of proNPY-derived peptides in these cell lines paralleled secretion of endogenous pro-ACTH/endorphin-derived products under both basal and stimulated conditions. These mutagenesis studies demonstrate that variants of the KDEL retention signal can direct intracellular retention.