Visualizing odorant receptor trafficking in living cells down to the single-molecule level (original) (raw)
Related papers
Single Molecule Spectroscopy and Imaging, 2008
Odorant receptors are an excellent example of natural superiority in specifically binding specific, small and hydrophobic molecules. They are of particular interest in the development of a sensor platform for G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Odorant receptors (OR5) of Rattus norvegicus were incorporated into model membranes by in vitro synthesis and vectorial incorporation for achieving natural receptor function. The vectorial insertion of OR5 into the planar membrane and their lateral distribution, their interactions and their mobility within the membrane are of great importance for ligand-receptor interaction. We applied total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy and image analysis to assess the insertion and the OR5 distribution as well as the lateral mobility of these receptors at the single molecule level. The vectorial incorporation of OR5 into planar lipid membranes was investigated with TIRF microscopy and image segmentation. With increasing expression time, the OR5 incorporation density and aggregation increased linearly by about 0.02µm −2 min −1. The expression and incorporations of single OR5s were completed within about 8 minutes. The mobility of the incorporated receptors was measured with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and fluorescence recovery after photo-bleaching (FRAP). These measurements revealed that the incorporated receptors were immobilized with this class of lipid membranes.
Intracellular trafficking of a tagged and functional mammalian olfactory receptor
Journal of Neurobiology, 2002
Tagged G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been used to facilitate intracellular visualization of these receptors. We have used a combination of adenoviral vector gene transfer and tagged olfactory receptors to help visualize mammalian olfactory receptor proteins in the normal olfactory epithelium of rats, and in cell culture. Three recombinant adenoviral vectors were generated carrying variously tagged versions of rat olfactory receptor I7. The constructs include an N-terminal Flag epitope tag (Flag:I7), enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) fusion protein (EGFP:I7), and a C-terminal EGFP fusion (I7:EGFP). These receptor constructs were assayed in rat olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) and in a heterologous system (HEK 293 cell line) for protein localization and functional expression. Functional expression of the tagged receptor proteins was tested by electroolfactogram (EOG) recordings in the infected rat olfactory epithelium, and by calcium imaging in single cells. Our results demonstrate that the I7:EGFP fusion protein and Flag:I7 are functionally expressed in OSNs while the EGFP:I7 fusion is not, probably due to inappropriate processing of the protein in the cells. These data suggest that a small epitope tag (Flag) at the N-terminus, or EGFP located at the C-terminus of the receptor, does not affect ligand binding or downstream signaling. In addition, both functional fusion proteins (Flag:I7 and I7:EGFP) are properly targeted to the plasma membrane of HEK 293 cells. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Neurobiol 50: 56–68, 2002
Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2019
Receptor-transporting protein 1S (RTP1S) is an accessory protein that mediates the transport of mammalian odorant receptors (ORs) into the plasma membrane. Although most ORs fail to localize to the cell surface when expressed alone in nonolfactory cells, functional expression of ORs is achieved with the coexpression of RTP1S. However, the mechanism for RTP1Smediated OR trafficking remains unclear. In this study, we attempted to reveal the mode of action and critical residues of RTP1S in OR trafficking. Experiments using N-terminal truncation and Ala substitution mutants of RTP1S demonstrated that four N-terminal amino acids have essential roles in OR trafficking. Additionally, using recombinant proteins and split luciferase assays in mammalian cells, we provided evidence for the dimer formation of RTP1S. Furthermore, we determined that the 2nd Cys residue is required for the efficient dimerization of RTP1S. Altogether, these findings provide insights into the mechanism for plasma membrane transport of ORs by RTP1S. Author's Choice-Final version open access under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license. This article contains Figs. S1-S6.
In Vitro Mutational and Bioinformatics Analysis of the M71 Odorant Receptor and Its Superfamily
PLOS ONE, 2015
We performed an extensive mutational analysis of the canonical mouse odorant receptor (OR) M71 to determine the properties of ORs that inhibit plasma membrane trafficking in heterologous expression systems. We employed the use of the M71::GFP fusion protein to directly assess plasma membrane localization and functionality of M71 in heterologous cells in vitro or in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in vivo. OSN expression of M71::GFP show only small differences in activity compared to untagged M71. However, M71::GFP could not traffic to the plasma membrane even in the presence of proposed accessory proteins RTP1S or mβ2AR. To ask if ORs contain an internal "kill sequence", we mutated~15 of the most highly conserved OR specific amino acids not found amongst the trafficking non-OR GPCR superfamily; none of these mutants rescued trafficking. Addition of various amino terminal signal sequences or different glycosylation motifs all failed to produce trafficking. The addition of the amino and carboxy terminal domains of mβ2AR or the mutation Y289A in the highly conserved GPCR motif NPxxY does not rescue plasma membrane trafficking. The failure of targeted mutagenesis on rescuing plasma membrane localization in heterologous cells suggests that OR trafficking deficits may not be attributable to conserved collinear motifs, but rather the overall amino acid composition of the OR family. Thus, we performed an in silico analysis comparing the OR and other amine receptor superfamilies. We find that ORs contain fewer charged residues and more hydrophobic residues distributed throughout the protein and a conserved overall amino acid composition. From our analysis, we surmise that it may be difficult to traffic ORs at high levels to the cell surface in vitro, without making significant amino acid modifications. Finally, we observed specific increases in methionine and histidine residues as well as a marked decrease in tryptophan residues, suggesting that these changes provide ORs with special characteristics needed for them to function in olfactory neurons.
Trafficking of Mammalian Chemosensory Receptors by Receptor-transporting Proteins
Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences, 2009
Although mammalian odorant receptors (ORs) were identified more than 15 years ago, we still do not understand how odorant molecules interact with ORs at a molecular level. Previous studies of mammalian ORs have tested few ORs against many odorants. Some fundamental properties of the olfactory system, however, require investigation of a wide panel of diverse ORs with many chemically diverse odorants. Previously, we identified OR accessory proteins, receptor-transporting protein (RTP) 1 and RTP2. They are expressed specifically in olfactory neurons, are associated with OR proteins, and facilitate the OR trafficking to the plasma membrane when coexpressed in mammalian cell lines. With this approach, high-throughput screening using a large repertoire of mammalian ORs is now possible. The activation profiles can be used to develop a predictive model relating physicochemical odorant properties, receptor sequences, and their interactions, enabling us to predict a tested receptor's response to a novel odorant and a novel receptor's response to a tested odorant. Doing so will provide a basis for understanding how structurally diverse odorant molecules activate the mammalian OR repertoire. Similarly, two families of vomeronasal receptors, V1Rs and V2Rs, are also notoriously difficult to functionally express in heterologous cells. However, coexpression of the RTP family members with V1Rs or V2Rs does not seem to facilitate trafficking of the receptor proteins. This finding suggests that the vomeronasal organ has a unique biosynthetic pathway for membrane proteins.
ChemBioChem, 2006
The lateral mobility of proteins and lipids in the cell membrane plays a central role in the transfer of information between and within cells in organisms. Thermally activated random movement is essential for bringing signaling partners into contact and allows for their subsequent dissociation, at no cost to metabolic energy. In contrast to earlier views, [1, 2] the organization of the plasma membrane of living cells is highly heterogeneous and dynamic, which is essential for cellular functioning. [3-9] Observing the motion of single membrane proteins and lipids has allowed the investigation of their mutual interactions and the complex architecture of the plasma membrane in great detail. [10-14] In order to achieve single-molecule sensitivity and selectivity, markers, such as gold nanoparticles
Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2011
G-protein-coupled receptor homo-oligomerization has been increasingly reported. However, little is known regarding the relationship between activation of the receptor and its association/conformational states. The mammalian olfactory receptors (ORs) belong to the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily. In this study, the homo-oligomerization status of the human OR1740 receptor and its involvement in receptor activation upon odorant ligand binding were addressed by co-immunoprecipitation and bioluminescence resonance energy transfer approaches using crude membranes or membranes from different cellular compartments. For the first time, our data clearly show that mammalian ORs constitutively self-associate into homodimers at the plasma membrane level. This study also demonstrates that ligand binding mediates a conformational change and promotes an inactive state of the OR dimers at high ligand concentrations. These findings support and validate our previously proposed model of OR activation/ inactivation based on the tripartite odorant-binding proteinodorant-OR partnership.
Biochemistry, 2011
Molecular interactions of odorants with their olfactory receptors (ORs) are of central importance for the ability of the mammalian olfactory system to detect and discriminate a vast variety of odors with a limited set of receptors. How a particular OR binds and distinguishes different odorant molecules remains largely unknown on a structural basis. Here we investigated this question for the mouse eugenol receptor (mOR-EG). By screening a large odorant library, we discovered a wide range of chemical structures activating the receptor in heterologous mammalian cells. Potent agonists comprise (i) benzene, (ii) cyclohexane, or (iii) polycyclic structures substituted with alcohol, aldehyde, keto, ether, or esterified carboxylic groups. To detect those amino acids within the receptor that are in contact with a particular bound odorant molecule, we investigated how distinct mOR-EG point mutants were activated by the different odorant agonists found for the wild-type receptor. We identified 11 amino acids as a part of the receptor's ligand binding pocket. Molecular modeling predicted 10 of these residues in transmembrane helices TM3-TM6 and one in the extracellular loop between TM2 and TM3. These amino acids participate in odorant binding with variable importance depending on the type of odorant, revealing functional "fingerprints" of ligand-receptor interactions.
Concentration-dependent recruitment of mammalian odorant receptors
eneuro
A fundamental challenge in studying principles of organization used by the olfactory system to encode odor concentration information has been identifying comprehensive sets of activated odorant receptors (ORs) across a broad concentration range inside freely behaving animals. In mammals, this has recently become feasible with high-throughput sequencing-based methods that identify populations of activated ORs in vivo. In this study, we characterized the mouse OR repertoires activated by the two odorants, acetophenone and 2,5-dihydro-2,4,5trimethylthiazoline, from 0.01% to 100% (v/v) as starting concentrations using phosphorylated ribosomal protein S6 capture followed by RNA-Seq. We found Olfr923 to be one of the most sensitive ORs that is enriched by acetophenone. Using a mouse line that genetically labels Olfr923-positive axons, we provided evidence that acetophenone activates the Olfr923 glomeruli in the olfactory bulb. Through molecular dynamics stimulations, we identified amino acid residues in the Olfr923 binding cavity that facilitate acetophenone binding. This study sheds light on the active process by which unique OR repertoires may collectively facilitate the discrimination of odorant concentrations. 4 Significance Statement The ability of animals to discriminate odors over a range of odor concentrations while recognizing concentration-invariant odor identity presents an encoding challenge for the olfactory system. To further our understanding on how animals sense odors at different concentrations, it is important to describe how odor concentration information is represented at the receptor level. Here, we establish a sensitive in vivo approach to screen populations of odorant receptors enriched in the odor-activated sensory neurons in mice. We identified comprehensive lists of enriched odorant receptors against a 10,000-fold concentration range for two odorants. Describing the concentration-dependent activation for unique populations of odorant receptors is fundamental for future studies in determining how individual odorant receptors contribute to olfactory sensitivity and odor intensity coding.