Voltage-sensitive sodium channels are responsible for the initiation and propagation of the action potential and therefore are important for neuronal excitability. Complementary DNA clones encoding the beta 1 subunit of the rat brain sodium channel were isolated by a combination of polymerase chain reaction and library screening techniques. The deduced primary structure indicates that the beta 1 subunit is a 22,851-dalton protein that contains a single putative transmembrane domain and four potential extracellular N-linked glycosylation sites, consistent with biochemical data. Northern blot analysis reveals a 1,400-nucleotide messenger RNA in rat brain, heart, skeletal muscle, and spinal cord. Coexpression of beta 1 subunits with alpha subunits increases the size of the peak sodium current, accelerates its inactivation, and shifts the voltage dependence of inactivation to more negative membrane potentials. These results indicate that the beta 1 subunit is crucial in the assembly, expression, and functional modulation of the heterotrimeric complex of the rat brain sodium channel.

Voltage-gated sodium channels in brain neurons are complexes of a pore-forming alpha subunit with smaller beta 1 and beta 2 subunits. cDNA cloning and sequencing showed that the beta 2 subunit is a 186 residue glycoprotein with an extracellular NH2-terminal domain containing an immunoglobulin-like fold with similarity to the neural cell adhesion molecule (CAM) contactin, a single transmembrane segment, and a small intracellular domain. Coexpression of beta 2 with alpha subunits in Xenopus oocytes increases functional expression, modulates gating, and causes up to a 4-fold increase in the capacitance of the oocyte, which results from an increase in the surface area of the plasma membrane microvilli. beta 2 subunits are unique among the auxiliary subunits of ion channels in combining channel modulation with a CAM motif and the ability to expand the cell membrane surface area. They may be important regulators of sodium channel expression and localization in neurons.

No abstract

Voltage-gated L-type Ca2+ channels mediate Ca2+ entry into cells in response to membrane depolarization. Ca2+ entry through the cardiac Ca2+ channel determines the rate and force of contraction, and modulation of Ca2+ channel activity by beta-adrenergic agents acting through adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate-(cAMP)-dependent protein phosphorylation contributes to physiological regulation of cardiac function by the sympathetic nervous system. Immunoblotting experiments using site-directed anti-peptide antibodies against different peptide segments indicate that the alpha 1 subunit of the cardiac L-type Ca2+ channel exists in two size forms with apparent molecular masses of 240 and 210 kDa, which we call alpha 1(242) and alpha 1(210), Alpha 1(242) corresponds to the full-length cardiac alpha 1 subunit predicted from its cDNA sequence, while alpha 1(210) is truncated at its COOH terminus. Only alpha 1(242) is phosphorylated in vitro by cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Protein microsequencing and peptide mapping of wild-type and mutant fusion proteins show that this phosphorylation occurs at serine 1928 near the COOH terminus. Phosphorylation of this residue can be detected by phosphospecific antibodies raised against the corresponding phosphopeptide. Experiments with these antibodies show that alpha 1(242) is phosphorylated in intact cells expressing the cardiac alpha 1 subunit in response to increased intracellular levels of cAMP. These results identify serine 1928 on the alpha 1 subunit as a possible site of regulation by cAMP-dependent phosphorylation.

Membrane vesicles enriched in both ryanodine receptor and dihydropyridine receptor were obtained from rabbit skeletal muscle and solubilized with 3- [(3-cholamidopropyl) (14,17,18).Three different mechanisms have been proposed for excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle: Ca2 -induced Ca2+ release, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate-induced Ca2W release, and direct physical coupling (for review see refs. 19 and 20). Current evidence favors a model in which a voltagedriven conformational change ofthe al subunit ofthe DHP-R activates Ca2+ release by the RyR through direct physical interaction (11,21,22

The molecular properties of two size forms of the al subunit of purified skeletal muscle calcium channels were analyzed. The minor, full-length, form, a1212, was found to have an apparent molecular mass of 214 kDa by Ferguson plot analysis, while the major, truncated, form, now designated al1o, had an apparent molecular mass of 193 kDa. Antibody mapping of the C-terminal region of allg0 with 10 anti-peptide antibodies placed the C terminus between residues 1685 and 1699. Three consensus sites for cAMP-dependent protein phosphorylation are present in the C-terminal region of a1212 but not in al1g, and they may be important for the regulation of the ion conductance activity of the calcium channel.

Antibodies prepared against peptides CP2, CP4, and CP5, which occur within the first 1522 amino acid residues of the al subunit of dihydropyridine-sensitive skeletal muscle calcium channels, specifically recognized a 175-kDa form of the a, subunit in immunoblots and immunoprecipitation experiments. In contrast, antibodies prepared against peptide CP1, which represents the C-terminal 18 amino acid residues predicted by cloning and sequence analysis of the a, subunit, recognized a minor, previously undescribed 212-kDa protein, which is the size predicted for the full length of the al subunit from cDNA cloning [Tanabe, T., Takeshima, H., Mikami, A., Flockerzi, V., Takahashi

Stanniocalcin (STC) is a hormone that was originally identified in fish, where it inhibits calcium uptake by the gills and gut and stimulates phosphate adsorption by the kidney. Recently, two mammalian homologues of stanniocalcin were identified. The first (STC1) shows 61% identity to the fish stanniocalcins and appears to have a function similar to that of the fish stanniocalcins. The second homologue (STC2) is 30-38% identical to the fish stanniocalcins, and is characterized by unique cysteine and histidine motifs that are not found in the other stanniocalcins. We purified both the native hamster and recombinant human STC2 proteins and obtained a partial amino acid sequence of the hamster protein. Both proteins behave as a disulfide bonded homodimer, which undergoes post-translational modification(s). The STC2 gene was localized to human chromosome 5q35. Northern blot analysis revealed that the primary site of human STC2 production is the pancreas, and immunostaining localized the STC2 protein to a subpopulation of cells in the islet. Double immunostaining for STC2 and either insulin or glucagon revealed that STC2 protein is found in the alpha cells, but not the beta cells. We speculate that STC2 may play a role in glucose homeostasis.