Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Journal of Cell Biology logoLink to The Journal of Cell Biology
. 1989 Dec 1;109(6):2633–2640. doi: 10.1083/jcb.109.6.2633

Carboxy-terminal SEKDEL sequences retard but do not retain two secretory proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum

PMCID: PMC2115906  PMID: 2592401

Abstract

The sequence Ser-Glu-Lys-Asp-Glu-Leu (SEKDEL) has been shown to be a signal which leads to retention of at least two proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum of animal cells (Munro and Pelham, 1987). In this study we tested the function of this signal by appending it to two secretory proteins, rat growth hormone and the alpha subunit of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG-alpha). We used oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis and expression to generate proteins with SEKDEL added to the exact COOH termini and then carried out a detailed analysis of their transport in monkey COS cells. We found that transport was not blocked for either protein, but rather that the half-time for secretion was increased about sixfold for both proteins. Analysis of oligosaccharide processing on hCG-alpha-SEKDEL and indirect immunofluorescence microscopy on cells expressing both proteins was consistent with a retardation of transport between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. A change in the last amino acid of the SEKDEL sequence from Leu to Val abolished the retardation almost completely, suggesting a highly specific interaction of the sequence with a receptor. A change in the first amino acid had little or no effect on retardation. We conclude that the SEKDEL signal can have strong effects on reducing the rate of protein exit from the endoplasmic reticulum without generating absolute retention. Presumably other features of protein structure must be important to generate absolute retention.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.4 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Abdel-Meguid S. S., Shieh H. S., Smith W. W., Dayringer H. E., Violand B. N., Bentle L. A. Three-dimensional structure of a genetically engineered variant of porcine growth hormone. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Sep;84(18):6434–6437. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.18.6434. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bonner W. M., Laskey R. A. A film detection method for tritium-labelled proteins and nucleic acids in polyacrylamide gels. Eur J Biochem. 1974 Jul 1;46(1):83–88. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1974.tb03599.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dunphy W. G., Rothman J. E. Compartmentation of asparagine-linked oligosaccharide processing in the Golgi apparatus. J Cell Biol. 1983 Jul;97(1):270–275. doi: 10.1083/jcb.97.1.270. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Felgner P. L., Gadek T. R., Holm M., Roman R., Chan H. W., Wenz M., Northrop J. P., Ringold G. M., Danielsen M. Lipofection: a highly efficient, lipid-mediated DNA-transfection procedure. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Nov;84(21):7413–7417. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.21.7413. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Fuerst T. R., Niles E. G., Studier F. W., Moss B. Eukaryotic transient-expression system based on recombinant vaccinia virus that synthesizes bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Nov;83(21):8122–8126. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.21.8122. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Guan J. L., Cao H., Rose J. K. Cell-surface expression of a membrane-anchored form of the human chorionic gonadotropin alpha subunit. J Biol Chem. 1988 Apr 15;263(11):5306–5313. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Guan J. L., Machamer C. E., Rose J. K. Glycosylation allows cell-surface transport of an anchored secretory protein. Cell. 1985 Sep;42(2):489–496. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90106-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Guan J. L., Rose J. K. Conversion of a secretory protein into a transmembrane protein results in its transport to the Golgi complex but not to the cell surface. Cell. 1984 Jul;37(3):779–787. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90413-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Machamer C. E., Florkiewicz R. Z., Rose J. K. A single N-linked oligosaccharide at either of the two normal sites is sufficient for transport of vesicular stomatitis virus G protein to the cell surface. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Nov;5(11):3074–3083. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.11.3074. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. A new method for sequencing DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Feb;74(2):560–564. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.2.560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Munro S., Pelham H. R. A C-terminal signal prevents secretion of luminal ER proteins. Cell. 1987 Mar 13;48(5):899–907. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90086-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Pelham H. R. Evidence that luminal ER proteins are sorted from secreted proteins in a post-ER compartment. EMBO J. 1988 Apr;7(4):913–918. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb02896.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pelham H. R., Hardwick K. G., Lewis M. J. Sorting of soluble ER proteins in yeast. EMBO J. 1988 Jun;7(6):1757–1762. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb03005.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Pierce J. G., Parsons T. F. Glycoprotein hormones: structure and function. Annu Rev Biochem. 1981;50:465–495. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.50.070181.002341. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rose J. K., Adams G. A., Gallione C. J. The presence of cysteine in the cytoplasmic domain of the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein is required for palmitate addition. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Apr;81(7):2050–2054. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.7.2050. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Rose J. K., Bergmann J. E. Altered cytoplasmic domains affect intracellular transport of the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein. Cell. 1983 Sep;34(2):513–524. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90384-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Rose J. K., Doms R. W. Regulation of protein export from the endoplasmic reticulum. Annu Rev Cell Biol. 1988;4:257–288. doi: 10.1146/annurev.cb.04.110188.001353. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Rosenberg A. H., Lade B. N., Chui D. S., Lin S. W., Dunn J. J., Studier F. W. Vectors for selective expression of cloned DNAs by T7 RNA polymerase. Gene. 1987;56(1):125–135. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(87)90165-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Shaw A. S., Rottier P. J., Rose J. K. Evidence for the loop model of signal-sequence insertion into the endoplasmic reticulum. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Oct;85(20):7592–7596. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.20.7592. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Sinha Y., Lewis U. J., Vanderlaan W. P. Effects of administering antisera to mouse growth hormone and prolactin on gain in litter weight and on mammary nucleic acid content of lactating C3H mice. J Endocrinol. 1972 Oct;55(1):31–40. doi: 10.1677/joe.0.0550031. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Sprague J., Condra J. H., Arnheiter H., Lazzarini R. A. Expression of a recombinant DNA gene coding for the vesicular stomatitis virus nucleocapsid protein. J Virol. 1983 Feb;45(2):773–781. doi: 10.1128/jvi.45.2.773-781.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Whitt M. A., Chong L., Rose J. K. Glycoprotein cytoplasmic domain sequences required for rescue of a vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein mutant. J Virol. 1989 Sep;63(9):3569–3578. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.9.3569-3578.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Zoller M. J., Smith M. Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis of DNA fragments cloned into M13 vectors. Methods Enzymol. 1983;100:468–500. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(83)00074-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Cell Biology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES