Functional production and reconstitution of the human equilibrative nucleoside transporter (hENT1) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

We have produced recombinant human equilibrative nucleoside transporter (hENT1) in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and have compared the binding of inhibitors of equilibrative nucleoside transport with the wild-type transporter and a N-glycosylation-defective mutant transporter. Equilibrium binding of 3H-labelled nitrobenzylmercaptopurine ribonucleoside {6-[(4-nitrobenzyl)thio]-9-β-d-ribofuranosyl purine; NBMPR} to hENT1-producing yeast revealed a single class of high-affinity sites that were shown to be in membrane fractions by (1) equilibrium binding (means±S.D.) of [3H]NBMPR to intact yeast (Kd 1.2±0.2 nM; Bmax 5.0±0.5 pmol/mg of protein) and membranes (Kd 0.7±0.2 nM; Bmax 6.5±1 pmol/mg of protein), and (2) reconstitution of hENT1-mediated [3H]thymidine transport into proteoliposomes that was potently inhibited by NBMPR. Dilazep and dipyridamole inhibited NBMPR binding to hENT1 with IC50 values of 130±10 and 380±20 nM respectively. The role of N-linked glycosylation in the interaction of NBMPR with hENT1 was examined by the quantification of binding of [3H]NBMPR to yeast producing either wild-type hENT1 or a glycosylation-defective mutant (hENT1/N48Q) in which Asn-48 was converted into Gln. The Kd for binding of NBMPR to hENT1/N48Q was 10.5±1.6 nM, indicating that the replacement of an Asn residue with Gln decreased the affinity of hENT1 for NBMPR. The decreased affinity of hENT1/N48Q for NBMPR was due to an increased rate of dissociation (koff) and a decreased rate of association (kon) of specifically bound [3H]NBMPR because the values for hENT1-producing and hENT1/N48Q-producing yeast were respectively 0.14±0.02 and 0.36±0.05 min-1 for koff, and (1.2±0.1)×108 and (0.40±0.04)×108 M-1·min-1 for kon. These results indicated that the conservative conversion of an Asn residue into Gln at position 48 of hENT1 and/or the loss of N-linked glycosylation capability altered the binding characteristics of the transporter for NBMPR, dilazep and dipyridamole.