Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (AD-PKD) is a prevalent genetic disorder largely caused by mutations in the PKD1 and PKD2 genes that encode the transmembrane proteins polycystin-1 and -2, respectively. Both proteins appear to be involved in the regulation of cell growth and maturation, but the precise mechanisms are not yet well defined. Polycystin-2 has recently been shown to function as a Ca 2؉ -permeable, non-selective cation channel. Polycystin-2 interacts through its cytoplasmic carboxyl-terminal region with a coiled-coil motif in the cytoplasmic tail of polycystin-1 (P1CC). The functional consequences of this interaction on its channel activity, however, are unknown. In this report, we show that P1CC enhanced the channel activity of polycystin-2. R742X, a disease-causing polycystin-2 mutant lacking the polycystin-1 interacting region, fails to respond to P1CC. Also, P1CC containing a diseasecausing mutation in its coiled-coil motif loses its stimulatory effect on wild-type polycystin-2 channel activity. The modulation of polycystin-2 channel activity by polycystin-1 may be important for the various biological processes mediated by this molecular complex.ADPKD 1 is a common genetic disorder caused by mutations in either one of the two genes, PKD1 and PKD2, that encode polycystin-1 and -2, respectively (1). Polycystin-1 is an 11-membranespanning desmosome-associated protein (2, 3) that may be involved in the regulation of cell growth (4). Polycystin-2 is a six-span membrane protein with homology to voltage-dependent (5) and transient receptor potential (TRP) channel proteins (6). Recently, we and others demonstrated that polycystin-2 indeed functions as a Ca 2ϩ -permeable nonselective cation channel (7-9).Mutations in either PKD1 or PKD2 cause nearly identical clinical manifestations, suggesting that these two proteins either interact directly or are components of a common signaling pathway (reviewed in Ref. 1). Polycystin-1 and -2 interact with each other through their carboxyl-terminal cytoplasmic tails both in vitro (10, 11) and in vivo (12). This interaction has been implicated in various cellular processes, including the activation of Jak and the consequent regulation of cell growth (4), the activation of whole-cell cation-permeable currents (13), and the regulation of G-protein signaling (14). The functional consequences of polycystin-1 interaction on polycystin-2 channel activity, however, have not been determined. Here, we demonstrate that binding of polycystin-2 to the coiled-coil-containing segment of the polycystin-1 carboxyl-tail (P1CC) increased and stabilized polycystin-2 channel function. In contrast, a single point mutation in P1CC, Q4215P, abolished the regulatory role on wild-type polycystin-2 channel function. Furthermore, the polycystin-2 truncation mutant R742X, an active channel (15) missing most of its cytoplasmic tail (including the polycystin-1 binding segment), was not regulated by P1CC.
MATERIALS AND METHODSPlasmid Constructs-The PKD2 baculovirus expression construct p...