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The trafficking of aquaporin-2 (AQP2) involves multiple complex pathways, including regulated, cAMP-, and cGMP-mediated pathways, as well as a constitutive recycling pathway. Although several accessory proteins have been indirectly implicated in AQP2 recycling, the direct protein-protein interactions that regulate this process remain largely unknown. Using yeast two-hybrid screening of a human kidney cDNA library, we have identified the 70-kDa heat shock proteins as AQP2-interacting proteins. Interaction was confirmed by mass spectrometry of proteins pulled down from rat kidney papilla extract using a GST-AQP2 C-terminal fusion protein (GST-A2C) as a bait, by co-immunoprecipitation (IP) assays, and by direct binding assays using purified hsc70 and the GST-A2C. The direct interaction of AQP2 with hsc70 is partially inhibited by ATP, and the Ser-256 residue in the AQP2 C terminus is important for this direct interaction. Vasopressin stimulation in cells enhances the interaction of hsc70 with AQP2 in IP assays, and vasopressin stimulation in vivo induces an increased co-localization of hsc70 and AQP2 on the apical membrane of principal cells in rat kidney collecting ducts. Functional knockdown of hsc70 activity in AQP2 expressing cells results in membrane accumulation of AQP2 and reduced endocytosis of rhodamine-transferrin. Our data also show that AQP2 interacts with hsp70 in multiple in vitro binding assays. Finally, in addition to hsc70 and hsp70, AQP2 interacts with several other key components of the endocytotic machinery in co-IP assays, including clathrin, dynamin, and AP2. To summarize, we have identified the 70-kDa heat shock proteins as a AQP2 interactors and have shown for hsc70 that this interaction is involved in AQP2 trafficking.

Inhibition of clathrin-mediated endocytosis by expression of a GTPase-deficient dynamin mutant (dynamin-2/K44A) for 16 h results in an accumulation of plasma membrane aquaporin-2 (AQP2) in epithelial cells stably transfected with wild-type AQP2. We now show a similar effect of K44A dynamin in LLC-PK1 cells transfected with an S256 phosphorylation-deficient AQP2 mutant, AQP2(S256A), and in AQP2-transfected inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) cells. More acute blockade of endocytosis in these cells with the cholesterol-depleting agent methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (mbetaCD; 10 mM) resulted in a rapid and extensive cell-surface accumulation of both wild-type AQP2 and AQP2 (S256A) within 15 min after treatment. This effect was similar to that induced by treatment of the cells with vasopressin. Blockade of endocytosis by mbetaCD was confirmed using quantitative analysis of FITC-dextran uptake and AQP2 membrane insertion was verified by cell-surface biotinylation. These data indicate that AQP2 recycles constitutively and rapidly between intracellular stores and the cell surface in LLC-PK1 and IMCD cells. The constitutive trafficking process is not dependent on phosphorylation of the serine-256 residue of AQP2, which is, however, an essential step for regulated vasopressin/cAMP-mediated translocation of AQP2. Our data show that rapid and extensive plasma membrane accumulation of AQP2 can occur in a vasopressin receptor (V2R)- and phosphorylation-independent manner, pointing to a potential means of bypassing the mutated V2R in X-linked nephrogenic diabetes insipidus to achieve cell surface expression of AQP2.

Interaction of the type 2 vasopressin receptor (V2R) with hormone causes desensitization and internalization. To study the role of the V2R NPxxY motif (which is involved in the clathrin-mediated endocytosis of several other receptors) in this process, we expressed FLAG-tagged wild-type V2R and a Y325F mutant V2R in LLC-PK1a epithelial cells that have low levels of endogenous V2R. Both proteins had a similar apical (35%) and basolateral (65%) membrane distribution. Substitution of Tyr325 with Phe325 prevented ligand-induced internalization of V2R determined by [3H]AVP binding and immunofluorescence but did not prevent ligand binding or signal transduction via adenylyl cyclase. Desensitization and resensitization of the V2R-Y325F mutation occurred independently of internalization. The involvement of clathrin in V2R downregulation was also shown by immunogold electron microscopy. We conclude that the NPxxY motif of the V2R is critically involved in receptor downregulation via clathrin-mediated internalization. However, this motif is not essential for the apical/basolateral sorting and polarized distribution of the V2R in LLC-PK1a cells or for adenylyl cyclase-mediated signal transduction.

Before the identification of aquaporin (AQP) proteins, vasopressin-regulated "water channels" were identified by freeze-fracture electron microscopy as aggregates or clusters of intramembraneous particles (IMPs) on hormonally stimulated target cell membranes. In the kidney collecting duct, these IMP clusters were subsequently identified as possible sites of clathrin-coated pit formation on the plasma membrane, and a clathrin-mediated mechanism for internalization of vasopressin-sensitive water channels was suggested. Using an antibody raised against the extracellular C loop of AQP2, we now provide direct evidence that AQP2 is concentrated in clathrin-coated pits on the apical surface of collecting duct principal cells. Furthermore, by using a fracture-label technique applied to LLC-PK(1) cells expressing an AQP2-c-myc construct, we show that AQP2 is located in IMP aggregates and is concentrated in shallow membrane invaginations on the surface of forskolin-stimulated cells. We also studied the functional role of clathrin-coated pits in AQP2 trafficking by using a GTPase-deficient dynamin mutation (K44A) to inhibit clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Immunofluorescence labeling and freeze-fracture electron microscopy showed that dominant-negative dynamin 1 and dynamin 2 mutants prevent the release of clathrin-coated pits from the plasma membrane and induce an accumulation of AQP2 on the plasma membrane of AQP2-transfected cells. These data provide the first direct evidence that AQP2 is located in clathrin-coated pits and show that AQP2 recycles between the plasma membrane and intracellular vesicles via a dynamin-dependent endocytotic pathway. We propose that the IMP clusters previously associated with vasopressin action represent sites of dynamin-dependent, clathrin-mediated endocytosis in which AQP2 is concentrated before internalization.