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natural bixin isomer and traces of bixin dimethyl ester (Fig. 2E). Bixin aldehyde and
norbixin were not modified in incubation
with boiled enzymes or with protein extract
from E. coli harboring empty vector. Thus,
BoBADH and BonBMT represent bixin aldehyde dehydrogenase and norbixin methyltransferase, respectively, and support the reaction sequence proposed for bixin synthesis
(Fig. 1B).
Because the seeds of B. orellana are the
only natural source of industrially produced
bixin, we investigated whether bixin could be
produced in E. coli pACCRT-EB engineered
to accumulate lycopene (17). We transformed E. coliproducing lycopene with the
plasmid pUC19-LCD-BADH-nBMT coding
for B. orellana lycopene cleavage dioxygenase, bixin aldehyde dehydrogenase, and norbixin methyltransferase (12). HPLC analysis
of the lipid extract of transformed E. coli
harboring pUC19-LCD-BADH-nBMT revealed the accumulation of a new derivative
corresponding to bixin (Fig. 3A). No such
change was observed in E. coli cells transformed with an empty vector control (Fig.
3B). The average production level of bixin in
E. coli was 5 mg/g dry weight.
Bixin is one of the oldest pigments used
by humans and is increasingly in demand
because of the consumer ban on the chemically synthesized azo dye (2, 4). Bixin synthesis involves an unprecedented oxidative
remodeling of lycopene, a common intermediate which is the precursor of -carotene,
provitamin A. Given the feasibility of engineering bixin in a heterologous host such as
E. coli, we assume that coexpressing the three
cloned genes in sink organs such as tomato
fruit, which accumulates massive amounts of
the necessary precursor lycopene, should lead
to an alternative and competitive source for
natural bixin production.
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REPORTS
Fig. 2. Perturbation of
sodium channel organization by expression of
GFPNav 1.2 II-III. (A
and B) Effect of GFP
Nav1.2 II-III expression
on the peak amplitude
of Na current. Wholecell outward Na currents were recorded
from hippocampal neurons expressing either GFP or GFPNav1.2 II-III. Superimposed current traces evoked by depolarization from 90 mV to 40 mV are
shown. (C) GFP was visualized in soma and throughout dendrites and
at high density in these two specific membrane microdomains defined by the segregation of the ankyrin GIV spectrin complex
(3 6). At the molecular level, sodium channels from rat brain are composed of an
subunit, the pore-forming protein Nav1, and
the auxiliary subunits, 2 and 1 or 3 (2).
The fact that subunits interact with proteins
of the L1 family of adhesion molecules (7, 8),
with ankyrin G (9), and with tenascin R and
C (2) raises the possibility that subunits
contribute to sodium channel localization at
specific sites in the neuronal membrane.
However, tagged subunits expressed in hippocampal neurons are uniformly distributed
(10), indicating that information for sorting
and clustering of sodium channels is probably
carried by the pore-forming protein Nav1.
In the central nervous system, Nav1.2 sodium channels are distributed on unmyelinated axons, including the AIS (11, 12). To
define the molecular determinant accounting
for sodium channel compartmentalization at
the AIS, we assessed whether any of the large
intracellular regions of Nav1.2 contained sufficient information for sorting and specific
membrane organization. We analyzed the
surface distribution of chimeric proteins containing CD4 fused to one of the cytoplasmic
regions of Nav1.2 (Fig. 1A) (13) after transfection in rat hippocampal neurons. During in
vitro development, these cells have the intrinsic ability to form an AIS acting as a diffusion barrier (14, 15) and to accumulate sodium channels in the proximal region of the
axon (16), as observed in cultured spinal
motoneurons (17). A chimera containing the
C terminus of Nav1.2 (CD4 Nav1.2 Ct) is
targeted to axons (13). However, at the steady
state, the surface distribution of CD4 Nav1.2
Ct is located in more distal regions of the
axon than is ankyrin G (13). Thus, the C
terminus of Nav1.2 does not contain sufficient information for sodium channel localization at the AIS. We further analyzed the
Institut National de la Sante
et de la Recherche
Me
dicale Unite
464, Institut Jean Roche, Universite
de
la Me
diterrane
e, Faculte
de Me
decine Secteur-Nord,
Boulevard P. Dramard, 13916 Marseille Cedex 20,
France.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: dargent.b@jean-roche.univ-mrs.fr
2092
axons (arrowhead), whereas GFPNav1.2 II-III was concentrated in the AIS. Inset:
Clustering of endogenous channels was immunodetected in GFP-positive neurons but was absent in GFPNav1.2 II-IIIpositive neurons. Scale bar, 20 m.
REPORTS
Fig. 4. Involvement of
ankyrin G in targeting
membrane proteins
bearing the AIS motif.
(A) The AIS motif of
Nav1.2 is sufcient to
target the voltagedependent
channel
Kv2.1 to the AIS. Top:
Schematic representations of HA-Kv2.1 and
HAKv2.1-Nav1.2. A
segment of the C terminus of Kv2.1 encompassing the PRC motif
was substituted by a
segment of Nav1.2
containing the AIS motif. Bottom: In permeabilized neurons, HAKv2.1 was distributed
both in soma and
proximal
dendrites,
whereas HAKv2.1Nav1.2 was restricted
to the AIS (identied
by ankyrin G staining).
(B) Coimmunoprecipitation of 270-kD
ankyrin GGFP and
HAKv2.1-Nav1.2. HEK
cells were cotransfected either with
ankyrin GGFP and
HAKv2.1-Nav1.2 or with ankyrin GGFP and HA-Kv2.1, and then extracted with detergent. Extracts were
subjected to immunoprecipitation with antibody to HA. Immunoprecipitation inputs and pellets were analyzed
by Western blotting with antibody to GFP. (C) Colocalization of ankyrin GGFP and HAKv2.1-Nav1.2 in HEK
cells. (D) Overexpression of ankyrin GGFP induces a mislocalization of HAKv2.1-Nav1.2. Hippocampal
neurons were cotransfected with the indicated constructs and subjected to HA immunostaining 1 day later.
Colocalization of ankyrin GGFP and HAKv2.1-Nav1.2 is evident not only at the AIS (arrows) but also in the
soma. GFP expression did not affect segregation of HAKv2.1-Nav1.2 at the AIS, whereas somatodendritic
HA-Kv2.1 clusters did not colocalize with ankyrin GGFP. Scale bar, 20 m.
2093
REPORTS
well as the cytosolic protein GFP, to the AIS.
However, additional motifs probably play a
role in establishing the differential distribution of certain types of sodium channel in
vivo. We also obtained evidence for the association of ankyrin G with the motif we have
identified. From a mechanistic point of view,
ankyrin G could be primarily involved in
anchoring sodium channels at the plasma
membrane. However, we cannot exclude the
possibility that the two partners could be
preassembled early in biogenesis and cotransported during sorting, as observed in the case
of presynaptic proteins (29, 30).
Note added in proof: During revision of
this report, Lemaillet et al. (31) identified a
conserved ankyrin-binding motif located
within the AIS motif.
References and Notes
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