Cocaine Alters the Accessibility of Endogenous Cysteines in Putative Extracellular and Intracellular Loops of the Human Dopamine Transporter

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 95; no. 16; pp. 9238 - 9243
• Main Authors: Ferrer, Jasmine V., Javitch, Jonathan A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 04.08.1998; National Acad Sciences; National Academy of Sciences; The National Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Binding sites; Biochemistry; Biological Sciences; Carrier Proteins - chemistry; Carrier Proteins - drug effects; Carrier Proteins - genetics; Cell Line; Cell membranes; Cellular biology; Cocaine; Cocaine - analogs & derivatives; Cocaine - metabolism; Cocaine - pharmacology; Cysteine - chemistry; Dopamine - pharmacology; Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; Humans; Kinetics; Medical research; Membrane Glycoproteins; Membrane Transport Proteins; Mesylates - chemistry; Mesylates - pharmacology; Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; Nerve Tissue Proteins; P branes; Pharmacology; Reactivity; Reagents; Serotonin plasma membrane transport proteins; Topology; Tritium
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.95.16.9238

Cocaine and other psychostimulants act by blocking the dopamine transporter. Binding of the cocaine analog, [3H]2-β -carbomethoxy-3-β -(4-fluorophenyl) tropane (CFT) to the dopamine transporter is sensitive to polar sulfhydryl-specific derivatives of methanethiosulfonate (MTS). These reagents preferentially react with water-accessible, reduced cysteines. The human dopamine transporter has 13 cysteines. Their topology is not completely determined. We sought to identify those cysteine residues the modification of which affects CFT binding and to determine the topology of these reactive cysteines. We mutated each of the cysteines, one at a time and in various combinations, to residues that preserved binding and transport, and we tested the sensitivity of each of the mutant transporters to the reagents. One construct, X5C, had five mutated cysteines (C90A, C135A, C306A, C319F, and C342A). Using a membrane preparation in which both extracellular and intracellular cysteines could be accessible, we found that CFT binding in X5C, as compared with wild-type transporter, was two orders of magnitude less sensitive to MTS ethylammonium (MTSEA). The wild-type cysteines were substituted back into X5C, one at a time, and these constructs were tested in cells and in membranes. Cys-90 and Cys-306 appear to be extracellular, and Cys-135 and Cys-342 appear to be intracellular. Each of these residues is predicted to be in extramembranous loops. The binding of cocaine increases the rate of reaction of MTSEA and MTS ethyltrimethylammonium with the extracellular Cys-90 and therefore acts by inducing a conformational change. Cocaine decreases the rate of reaction of MTSEA with Cys-135 and Cys-342, acting either directly or indirectly on these intracellular residues.