Volume 17, Number 1,
Issue of January 1, 1997
pp. 181-189
Copyright ©1997 Society for Neuroscience
Conservation of Topology, But Not Conformation, of the
Proteolipid Proteins of the Myelin Sheath
Received Sept. 9, 1996; accepted Oct. 10, 1996.
Alexander Gow1,
Alexander Gragerov1,
Anthony Gard2,
David R. Colman1, and
Robert A. Lazzarini1
1 Brookdale Center for Molecular Biology, Mount Sinai
School of Medicine, New York, New York 10029-6574, and
2 Department of Structural and Cell Biology, University of
South Alabama College of Medicine, Mobile, Alabama 36688
The proteolipid protein gene products DM-20 and PLP are adhesive
intrinsic membrane proteins that make up
50% of the protein in
myelin and serve to stabilize compact myelin sheaths at the extracellular surfaces of apposed membrane lamellae. To identify which
domains of DM-20 and PLP are positioned topologically in the
extracellular space to participate in adhesion, we engineered N-glycosylation consensus sites into the hydrophilic segments and
determined the extent of glycosylation. In addition, we assessed the
presence of two translocation stop-transfer signals and, finally, mapped the extracellular and cytoplasmic dispositions of four antibody
epitopes. We find that the topologies of DM-20 and PLP are identical,
with both proteins possessing four transmembrane domains and N and C
termini exposed to the cytoplasm. Consistent with this notion, DM-20
and PLP contain within their N- and C-terminal halves independent
stop-transfer signals for insertion into the bilayer of the rough
endoplasmic reticulum during de novo synthesis. Surprisingly, the conformation (as opposed to topology) of DM-20 and
PLP may differ, which has been inferred from the divergent effects that
many missense mutations have on the intracellular trafficking of these
two isoforms. The 35 amino acid cytoplasmic peptide in PLP, which
distinguishes this protein from DM-20, imparts a sensitivity to
mutations in extracellular domains. This peptide may normally function
during myelinogenesis to detect conformational changes originating
across the bilayer from extracellular PLP interactions in
trans and trigger intracellular events such as membrane
compaction in the cytoplasmic compartment.
Key words:
protein topology;
protein conformation;
protein
misfolding;
proteolipid protein;
PLP;
DM-20;
1A9 monoclonal antibody;
O10 monoclonal antibody;
myelin;
missense mutations;
transfection;
central nervous system;
evolution;
transmembrane signaling