Abstract
The AE1 mutation G701D, associated with recessive distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA), produces only minimal erythroid phenotype, reflecting erythroid-specific expression of stimulatory AE1 subunit glycophorin A (GPA). GPA transgene expression could theoretically treat recessive dRTA in patients and in mice expressing cognate Ae1 mutation G719D. However, human (h) GPA and mouse (m) Gpa amino acid sequences are widely divergent, and mGpa function in vitro has not been investigated. We therefore studied in Xenopus oocytes the effects of coexpressed mGpa and hGPA on anion transport by erythroid (e) and kidney (k) isoforms of wild-type mAe1 (meAe1, mkAe1) and of mAe1 mutant G719D. Coexpression of hGPA or mGpa enhanced the function of meAe1 and mkAe1 and rescued the nonfunctional meAe1 and mkAe1 G719D mutants through increased surface expression. Progressive N-terminal truncation studies revealed a role for meAe1 amino acids 22-28 in GPA-responsiveness of meAe1 G719D. MouseN-cyto/ humanTMD and humanN- cyto/ mouseTMD kAE1 chimeras were active and GPA-responsive. In contrast, whereas chimera mkAe1N-cyto/ hkAE1 G701DTMD was GPA-responsive, chimera hkAE1N-cyto/ mkAe1 G719DTMD was GPA-insensitive. Moreover, whereas the isolated transmembrane domain (TMD) of hAE1 G701D was GPA-responsive, that of mAe1 G719D was GPA-insensitive. Thus, mGpa increases surface expression and activity of meAe1 and mkAe1. However, the G719D mutation renders certain mAe1 mutant constructs GPA-unresponsive and highlights a role for erythroid-specific meAe1 amino acids 22-28 in GPA-responsiveness.