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Substitution by site-directed mutagenesis of any one of the histidine residues H721, H837, and H852 by glutamine, or of H752 by serine, inhibits Cl- flux mediated by band 3 expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Mutation of Lys 558 (K558N), the site of covalent binding of H2DIDS (4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonate) in the outer membrane surface, in combination with any one of the His/Gln mutations leads to partial (H721Q; H837Q) or complete (H852Q) restoration of Cl- flux. In contrast, inhibition of Cl- flux by mutation of proline or lysine residues in the vicinity of His 837 at the inner membrane surface cannot be reversed by the second-site mutation K558N, indicating specificity of interaction between Lys 558 and His 837. The histidine-specific reagent diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC) is known to inhibit band 3-mediated anion exchange in red blood cells [Izuhara, K., Okubo, K., & Hamasaki, N. (1989) Biochemistry 28, 4725-4728]. It was also found to inhibit transport after expression in the oocyte of wild-type band 3, of the double mutants of the histidines listed above, and of the single mutant H752S. The effects on the wild type and the double mutants were indistinguishable, while the mutant H752S exhibited a considerably reduced sensitivity to inhibition, suggesting that His 752 is the most prominent site of action of DEPC. According to a hydrophobicity plot of band 3 and further independent evidence, Lys 558, the mutated histidines, and Glu 699, the mutation of which was also found to inhibit Cl- flux [Müller-Berger, S., Karbach, D., Kang, D., Aranibar, N., Wood, P. G., Rüterjans, H., & Passow, H. (1995) Biochemistry 34, 9325-9332], are most likely located in five different transmembrane helices. The interactions between Lys 558 and the various histidines suggest that these helices reside in close proximity. Together with the helix carrying Glu 699, they could form an access channel lined with an array of alternating histidine and glutamate residues. Together with a chloride ion bridging the gap between His 852 and His 837, they could have the potential to form, at low pH, a transmembrane chain of hydrogen bonds. The possible functional significance of such channel is discussed.

Acid-secreting intercalated cells of the kidney collecting duct and tumor cells of renal oncocytoma express an anion exchanger that is immunologically related but not identical to the chloride-bicarbonate anion exchanger of erythrocytes (AE1). In this study, we have mapped the binding site of a monoclonal antibody against erythroid AE1 that does not react with either intercalated cells or oncocytoma. The epitope is located close to the NH2 terminus of AE1, indicating that AE1 in intercalated cells and oncocytoma differs in its NH2 terminus from erythroid AE1. This conclusion was supported by an antibody directed against residues 1-14 of erythroid AE1 that does not react with intercalated cells in oncocytoma. Polymerase chain reaction performed with mRNA from a human kidney revealed that the sequence containing the codons for Met-1 and Met-33 in erythroid mRNA is missing in the kidney transcript, whereas the sequence coding for Met-66 is present. DNA sequence data derived from cloning the 5' end of the human kidney AE1 mRNA clearly showed that the 5' untranslated region comprises part of intron 3, the complete exon 4 that is followed by exon 5 containing Met-66 as the site of translation initiation. Altogether, the results indicate that AE1 in the human kidney is an amino-terminally truncated form of erythroid AE1 that is restricted to the basolateral membrane domain of the acid-secreting intercalated cells of the collecting duct and is also expressed in oncocytoma.

In this report we present the first complete band-3 cDNA sequence of a poikilothermic lower vertebrate. The primary structure of the anion-exchange protein band 3 (AE1) from rainbow trout erythrocytes was determined by nucleotide sequencing of cDNA clones. The overlapping clones have a total length of 3827 bp with a 5'-terminal untranslated region of 150 bp, a 2754 bp open reading frame and a 3'-untranslated region of 924 bp. Band-3 protein from trout erythrocytes consists of 918 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 101 827 Da. Comparison of its amino acid sequence revealed a 60-65% identity within the transmembrane spanning sequence of band-3 proteins published so far. An additional insertion of 24 amino acid residues within the membrane-associated domain of trout band-3 protein was identified, which until now was thought to be a general feature only of mammalian band-3-related proteins.