The Murine mCLCA6 Is an Integral Apical Membrane Protein of Non-goblet Cell Enterocytes and Co-localizes With the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator

Melanie K. Bothe ¹, Josephine Braun ¹, Lars Mundhenk ¹ and Achim D. Gruber ^1*

¹ Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gruber.achim{at}vetmed.fu-berlin.de.

Submitted on December 16, 2007
Accepted on 30 January 2008

	Abstract

The CLCA family of proteins consists of a growing number of structurally and functionally diverse members with distinct expression patterns in different tissues. Several CLCA homologues have been implicated in diseases with secretory dysfunctions in the respiratory and intestinal tracts. Here, biochemical protein characterization and details on the cellular and subcellular expression pattern of the murine mCLCA6 are presented using specific antibodies directed against the amino- and carboxy-terminal cleavage products of mCLCA6. Computational and biochemical characterizations revealed protein processing and structural elements shared with hCLCA2, including anchorage in the apical cell membrane by a transmembrane domain in the carboxy-terminal subunit. A systematic light and electron microscopic immunolocalization found mCLCA6 to be associated with the microvilli of non-goblet cell enterocytes in the murine small and large intestine but no other tissues. The expression pattern was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR following laser capture microdissection of relevant tissues. Confocal laser scanning microscopy co-localized the mCLCA6 protein with the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator CFTR at the apical surface of colonic crypt cells. Together with previously published functional data, the results support a direct or indirect role of mCLCA6 in transepithelial anion conductance in the mouse intestine.

Key Words: calcium-activated chloride channel, mCLCA6, non-goblet cell enterocytes, mouse, intestine, cystic fibrosis, CFTR, membrane protein

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