The Kir1.1 (ROMK) subtypes of inward rectifier K ؉ channels mediate potassium secretion and regulate sodium chloride reabsorption in the kidney. The density of ROMK channels on the cortical collecting duct apical membrane is exquisitely regulated in concert with physiological demands. Although protein kinase A-dependent phosphorylation of one of the three phospho-acceptors in Kir1.1, Ser-44, also a canonical serum-glucocorticoid-regulated kinase (SGK-1) phosphorylation site, controls the number of active channels, it is unknown whether this involves activating dormant channels already residing on the plasma membrane or recruiting new channels to the cell surface. Here we explore the mechanism and test whether SGK-1 phosphorylation of ROMK regulates cell surface expression. Removal of the phosphorylation site by point mutation (Kir1.1, S44A) dramatically attenuated the macroscopic current density in Xenopus oocytes. As measured by antibody binding of external epitope-tagged forms of Kir1.1, surface expression of Kir1.1 S44A was inhibited, paralleling the reduction in macroscopic current. In contrast, surface expression and macroscopic current density was augmented by a phosphorylation mimic mutation, Kir1.1 S44D. In vitro phosphorylation assays revealed that Ser-44 is a substrate of SGK-1 phosphorylation, and expression of SGK-1 with the wild type channel increased channel density to the same level as the phosphorylation mimic mutation. Moreover, the stimulatory effect of SGK-1 was completely abrogated by mutation of the phosphorylation site. In conclusion, SGK-1 phosphorylation of Kir1.1 drives expression on the plasmalemma. Because SGK-1 is an early aldosterone-induced gene, our results suggest a possible molecular mechanism for aldosterone-dependent regulation of the secretory potassium channel in the kidney.Extracellular potassium homeostasis, maintained by the regulation of renal potassium excretion, is dependent on the activity of weakly inward rectifying ''small conductance'' potassium channels (SK) 1 that are expressed on the apical membrane of epithelial cells in the distal nephron (1, 2). Encoded by the ROMK (Kir 1.1 or KCNJ1) gene (3, 4), these Kir channels are thought to be the major, but not exclusive (5, 6), route for potassium transport into the tubule lumen and constitute a final regulated component of the potassium secretory machinery of the kidney (7,8). Indeed, aldosterone, vasopressin, and other factors precisely regulate SK activity, controlling potassium excretion in accord with the demands of potassium balance. Because ROMK channels normally exhibit a very high open probability, near unity, physiologic augmentation of channel activity, as controlled by hormones and dietary potassium (9), is achieved largely by regulated changes in the number of active channels on the plasmalemma.Although the precise molecular mechanisms responsible for physiological augmentation of ROMK channel surface density have remained unclear, a growing body of evidence has pointed to an important role of protein kina...
Exciting discoveries in the last decade have cast light onto the fundamental mechanisms that underlie polarized trafficking in epithelial cells. It is now clear that epithelial cell membrane asymmetry is achieved by a combination of intracellular sorting operations, vectorial delivery mechanisms and plasmalemma-specific fusion and retention processes. Several well-defined signals that specify polarized segregation, sorting, or retention processes have, now, been described in a number of proteins. The intracellular machineries that decode and act on these signals are beginning to be described. In addition, the nature of the molecules that associate with intracellular trafficking vesicles to coordinate polarized delivery, tethering, docking, and fusion are also becoming understood. Combined with direct visualization of polarized sorting processes with new technologies in live-cell fluorescent microscopy, new and surprising insights into these once-elusive trafficking processes are emerging. Here we provide a review of these recent advances within an historically relevant context.
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