Alain Perrelet

Bidirectional Transport by Distinct Populations of COPI-Coated Vesicles

Electron microscope immunocytochemistry reveals that both anterograde-directed (proinsulin and VSV G protein) and retrograde-directed (the KDEL receptor) cargo are present in COPI-coated vesicles budding from every level of the Golgi stack in whole cells; however, they comprise two distinct populations that together can account for at least 80% of the vesicles budding from Golgi cisternae. Segregation of anterograde- from retrograde-directed cargo into distinct sets of COPI-coated vesicles is faithfully reproduced in the cell-free Golgi transport system, in which VSV G protein and KDEL receptor are packaged into separable vesicles, even when budding is driven by highly purified coatomer and a recombinant ARF protein.

BREFELDIN A, A DRUG THAT BLOCKS SECRETION, PREVENTS THE ASSEMBLY OF NON-CLATHRIN-COATED BUDS ON GOLGI CISTERNAE

We report that brefeldin A prevents the assembly of non-clathrin-coated vesicles from Golgi cisternae in a cell-free system. This finding provides a simple molecular explanation for the primary effect of this remarkable compound in blocking constitutive secretion. We further report that when coated vesicle assembly is blocked, extensive tubule networks form that connect previously separate cisternae and stacks into a single topological unit, allowing the intermixing of contents of Golgi cisternae, presumably by lateral diffusion. Formation of the tubule networks requires ATP, cytosol, and the general fusion protein NSF. Tubule networks may be related to the membrane tubules mediating retrograde transport in vivo.

Quantitative immunocytochemical localization of pancreatic secretory proteins in subcellular compartments of the rat acinar cell.

The recently developed protein A-gold technique for the detection of intracellular antigenic sites on thin sections was utilized to localize nine different secretory proteins in the rat exocrine pancreas. Amylase, chymotrypsinogen, trypsinogen, lipase, elastase, carboxypeptidases A and B, RNase and DNase, were detected at the level of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi area, and the zymogen granules of the acinar cells, as well as in the acinar lumen. A quantitative evaluation of the labeling showed that its intensity was not identical for all enzymes studied nor in all cellular compartments analyzed. An increasing gradient of the labeling from the rough endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi and to the zymogen granules was found for amylase, carboxypeptidases A and B, chymotrypsinogen, trypsinogen, and RNase, while a comparable low degree of labeling in the Golgi apparatus and in the zymogen granules was observed for DNase, lipase, and elastase. These results suggest that the nine enzymes are processed through the same intracellular compartments, but that they may be concentrated to different degrees in the zymogen granules before being released in the acinar lumen.

Proteolytic maturation of insulin is a post-Golgi event which occurs in acidifying clathrin-coated secretory vesicles

The direct identification of the intracellular site where proinsulin is proteolytically processed into insulin has been achieved by immunocytochemistry using an insulin-specific monoclonal antibody. Insulin immunoreactivity is absent from the Golgi stack of pancreatic B-cells and first becomes detectable in clathrin-coated secretory vesicles released from the trans Golgi pole. Clathrin-coated secretory vesicles transform into mature noncoated secretory granules which contain the highest concentration of insulin immunoreactive sites. Maturation of clathrin-coated secretory vesicles is accompanied by a progressive acidification of the vesicular milieu, as evidenced by a cytochemical probe that accumulates in acidic compartments whereupon it can be revealed by immunocytochemistry. Thus packaging of the prohormone in secretory vesicles, and acidification of this compartment, are critical steps in the proper proteolytic maturation of insulin.

COPI- and COPII-coated vesicles bud directly from the endoplasmic reticulum in yeast

The cytosolic yeast proteins Sec13p-Sec31p, Sec23p-Sec24p, and the small GTP-binding protein Sar1p generate protein transport vesicles by forming the membrane coat termed COPII. We demonstrate by thin section and immunoelectron microscopy that purified COPII components form transport vesicles directly from the outer membrane of isolated yeast nuclei. Another set of yeast cytosolic proteins, coatomer and Arf1p (COPI), also form coated buds and vesicles from the nuclear envelope. Formation of COPI-coated, but not COPII-coated, buds and vesicles on the nuclear envelope is inhibited by the fungal metabolite brefeldin A. The two vesicle populations are distinct. However, both vesicle types are devoid of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resident proteins, and each contains targeting proteins necessary for docking at the Golgi complex. Our data suggest that COPI and COPII mediate separate vesicular transport pathways from the ER.

The trans-most cisternae of the Golgi complex: A compartment for sorting of secretory and plasma membrane proteins

The intracellular site for the sorting of proteins destined for regulated or constitutive pathways is presently unknown for any one cell. By immunoelectron microscopy, we directly followed the routes taken by a regulated hormone, insulin, and a constitutive protein, hemagglutinin. Both proteins are present in individual Golgi stacks where they appear randomly distributed throughout the cisternae. In contrast, the two proteins do not colocalize outside the Golgi area:insulin is concentrated in dense-core secretory granules, while hemagglutinin is found predominantly in clear 100-300 nm vesicles. These vesicles do not label significantly with an endocytic tracer, indicating that they are exocytic carriers for hemagglutinin. The site at which the two proteins diverge is the clathrin-coated, trans-most cisterna of the Golgi, where the packaging of proinsulin takes place.

Quantitation of Endocrine Cell Content in the Pancreas of Nondiabetic and Diabetic Humans

The application of immunofluorescence technique with anti-insulin, anti-glucagon, anti-somatostatin, and anti-pancreatic polypeptide (PP) antisera to sections of precisely sampled regions of the human pancreas allowed the quantitative evaluation of the total content of these four endocrine cell populations in 13 nondiabetics, in 2 insulin-dependent diabetics (IDDM), and in 2 non-insulin-dependent diabetic subjects (NIDDM) of various age and sex. In nondiabetic subjects, PP-cells appear sex-related. Male individuals have a significantly greater volume of PP-cells than female. In diabetic subjects, the only marked difference as compared with nondiabetics is the reduction of insulin cell volume in IDDM. Other small differences between individual endocrine cell volumes are detectable in both IDDM and NIDDM as compared with nondiabetics, but their significance is at present unclear. The qualitative changes of islet structure accompanying insulin cell reduction in IDDM were not considered in the present Study.

Direct identification of prohormone conversion site in insulin-secreting cells

We have localized proinsulin in B cells of human and rat pancreatic islets, using a proinsulin-specific monoclonal antibody revealed by immunocytochemistry. Proinsulin is abundant in Golgi stacks and clathrin-coated secretory granules. It rapidly disappears from these compartments when protein synthesis is inhibited. Depletion of ATP stores prevents movement of proinsulin from the Golgi stacks to the secretory granules; under these conditions, the prohormone in preformed coated granules is converted to insulin, whereas that bound to the Golgi complex is not. Non-coated granules show a low level of proinsulin reactivity under all incubation protocols. These findings provide direct evidence that coated secretory granules are the major, if not the only, cellular site of proinsulin to insulin conversion. They also suggest that the Golgi stack is not involved in conversion, and that intercisternal transport and coated granule formation are hitherto unrecognized energy-requiring steps that precede conversion.

Identification of a lobe in the adult human pancreas rich in pancreatic polypeptide.

SummarySystematic sampling of human necropsy pancreases has revealed that pancreatic polypeptide (PP) cells are not distributed equally in the gland. PP-cells are the most abundant cell type in the posterior part of the pancreatic head while they are scarce or absent in the remainder of the gland. The PP-rich part of the head can be separated by blunt dissection from the pancreas as a discrete lobe. This lobe probably originates from the ventral pancreatic bud during embryogenesis. A quantitative study of the immunofluorescent endocrine cell types (insulin, glucagon, somatostatin and pancreatic polypeptide cells) in PP-rich and PP-poor regions of pancreases in 8 subjects with ages ranging from 33 fetal weeks to 80 years, showed that the proportions of the cell types were different in youngs and adults.

A clathrin-coated, Golgi-related compartment of the insulin secreting cell accumulates proinsulin in the presence of monensin

When the intracellular transit of 3H-labeled (pro)-insulin polypeptides is perturbed by monensin in the pancreatic B-cell, proinsulin conversion is impaired and the radioactive peptides accumulate in a clathrin-coated membrane compartment related to the Golgi apparatus. Clathrin was demonstrated by immunocytochemistry using the postembedding protein A-gold technique. The coated compartment, which is dilated by monensin, comprises Golgi cisternae with condensing secretory material and newly formed secretory granules; under monensin block, the noncoated (storage) secretory granules do not become significantly labeled. These data suggest that an unperturbed passage through a Golgi-related, clathrin-coated membrane compartment which subsequently matures into noncoated secretory granules is needed for the normal processing of (pro)insulin polypeptides.