Congenital chloride-losing diarrhea in a Mexican child with the novel homozygous SLC26A3 mutation G393W

Congenital chloride diarrhea is an autosomal recessive disease caused by mutations in the intestinal lumenal membrane Cl−/HCO−3 exchanger, SLC26A3. We report here the novel SLC26A3 mutation G393W in a Mexican child, the first such report in a patient from Central America. SLC26A3 G393W expression in Xenopus oocytes exhibits a mild hypomorphic phenotype, with normal surface expression and moderately reduced anion transport function. However, expression of HA-SLC26A3 in HEK-293 cells reveals intracellular retention and greatly decreased steady-state levels of the mutant polypeptide, in contrast to peripheral membrane expression of the wildtype protein. Whereas wildtype HA-SLC26A3 is apically localized in polarized monolayers of filter-grown MDCK cells and Caco2 cells, mutant HA-SLC26A3 G393W exhibits decreased total polypeptide abundance, with reduced or absent surface expression and sparse punctate (or absent) intracellular distribution. The WT protein is similarly localized in LLC-PK1 cells, but the mutant fails to accumulate to detectable levels. We conclude that the chloride-losing diarrhea phenotype associated with homozygous expression of SLC26A3 G393W likely reflects lack of apical surface expression in enterocytes, secondary to combined abnormalities in polypeptide trafficking and stability. Future progress in development of general or target-specific folding chaperonins and correctors may hold promise for pharmacological rescue of this and similar genetic defects in membrane protein targeting

Endocytosis Genes Facilitate Protein and Membrane Transport in C. elegans Sensory Cilia

BACKGROUND: Multiple intracellular transport pathways drive the formation, maintenance and function of cilia, a compartmentalised organelle associated with motility, chemo-/mechano-/photo-sensation, and developmental signaling. These pathways include cilium-based intraflagellar transport (IFT) and poorly understood membrane trafficking events. Defects in ciliary transport contribute to the aetiology of human ciliary disease such as Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS). In this study, we employ the genetically tractable nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate if endocytosis genes function in cilium formation and/or the transport of ciliary membrane or ciliary proteins. RESULTS: Here we show that localisation of the clathrin light chain, AP-2 clathrin adaptor, dynamin and RAB-5 endocytic proteins overlaps with a morphologically discrete periciliary membrane compartment associated with sensory cilia. In addition, ciliary transmembrane proteins such as G protein-coupled receptors concentrate at periciliary membranes. Disruption of endocytic gene function causes expansion of ciliary and/or periciliary membranes as well as defects in the ciliary targeting and/or transport dynamics of ciliary transmembrane and IFT proteins. Finally, genetic analyses reveal that the ciliary membrane expansions in dynamin and AP-2 mutants require bbs-8 and rab-8 function, and that sensory signaling and endocytic genes may function in a common pathway to regulate ciliary membrane volume. CONCLUSIONS: These data implicate C. elegans endocytosis proteins localized at the ciliary base in regulating ciliary and periciliary membrane volume, and suggest that membrane retrieval from these compartments is counter-balanced by BBS-8 and RAB-8-mediated membrane delivery