Structural and biochemical characterization of calhepatin, an S100-like calcium-binding protein from the liver of lungfish ( Lepidosiren paradoxa ) Santiago M. Di Pietro and Jose ´ A. Santome ´ Instituto de Quı ´ mica y Fisicoquı ´ mica Biolo ´ gicas (IQUIFIB), Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquı ´ mica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina We report the biochemical characterization of calhepatin, a calcium-binding protein of the S100 family, isolated from lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxa) liver. The primary struc- ture, determined by Edman degradation and MS/MS, shows that the sequence identities with the other members of the family are lower than those between S100 proteins from different species. Calhepatin is composed of 75 residuesandhasamolecularmassof8670Da.Itissmaller than calbindin D 9k (78 residues), the smallest S100 des- cribed so far. Sequence analysis and molecular modelling predict the two EF-hand motifs characteristic of the S100 family. Metal-binding properties were studied by a direct 45 Ca 2+ -binding assay and by fluorescence titration. Calhepatin binds Ca 2+ and Cu 2+ but not Zn 2+ .Cu 2+ binding does not change the affinity of calhepatin for Ca 2+ . Calhepatin undergoes a conformational change upon Ca 2+ binding as shown by the increase in its intrinsic fluorescence intensity and k max , the decrease in the apo-calhepatin hydrodynamic volume, and the Ca 2+ - dependent binding of the protein to phenyl-Superose. Like most S100 proteins, calhepatin tends to form noncova- lently associated dimers. These data suggest that calhepatin is probably involved in Ca 2+ -signal transduction. Keywords: calcium-binding protein; EF-hand; liver; lungfish; S100. Cytoplasmic Ca 2+ is a ubiquitous second messenger. The rise in intracellular Ca 2+ is a widely established signal controlling a variety of processes in eukaryotic cells, such as cell growth and differentiation, cell motility, muscle con- traction, gene expression, secretion, nerve impulse trans- mission, and apoptosis. The signal is partly transduced into metabolic or mechanical responses by calcium-binding proteins (CaBPs) which interact with cellular effectors in a Ca 2+ -dependent fashion [1]. S100 is a multigenic family of small dimeric CaBPs (78–119 amino acid residues) of the EF-hand superfamily, comprising 16 known members from mammalian species (S100 A1 to S100 A13, S100 B, Calbindin D 9k ,S100P)and two putative additional members identified in chicken and channel catfish (MRP126 and ictacalcin, respectively). They have two EF-hand Ca 2+ -binding motifs, the N-terminal one having an extended loop characteristic of the S100 family [1–5]. S100 proteins show tissue-specific and cell-specific expression [4]. Some members of the family also bind Zn 2+ and/or Cu 2+ [5]. Most S100 proteins can form noncovalent dimers by a symmetric homodimeric fold mediated by hydrophobic contacts not found in other CaBPs [5–7]. Some S100 proteins form disulfide cross-linked homodimers [5]. The location of target protein-binding sites on opposite sides of the S100 homodimers could allow an S100 dimer to cross-bridge two homologous or heterologous S100 target proteins [2]. Calbindin D 9k is the only S100 protein identified so far that does not form dimers [2,5–8]. We previously identified S100 A8 and S100 A9 from pig granulocytes [9] and discovered another member of the S100 family, the S100 A12 [10]. Hofmann et al. [11] proved that S100 A12, and possibly other members of the S100 family, mediates the activation of a novel proinflammatory axis by binding to RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end products), a cell surface receptor. In this work, we focus on the characterization of a CaBP from lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxa) liver, an S100 protein that apparently does not belong to any known S100 member. Its isolation, primary structure, metal-binding properties, and tissue expression pattern are described. As it is expressed mainly in hepatic cells andnootherS100memberhasbeenreportedinliver,this protein will be referred to as calhepatin. MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials 45 CaCl 2 (12.89 CiÆg )1 ) was from Dupont NEN. Endopro- teinases Glu-C and Lys-C were obtained from Promega. All other reagents were purchased from Sigma, Baker, Bio-Rad, Amersham Pharmacia Biotech and/or Applied Biosystems. Correspondence to J. A. Santome ´ ,IQUIFIB,Facultadde Farmacia y Bioquı ´ mica, UBA, Junı ´ n 956, Buenos Aires (1113), Argentina. Fax: + 54 11 4508 3652, Tel.: + 54 11 4508 3651, E-mail: santome@qb.ffyb.uba.ar Abbreviations: CaBP, calcium-binding protein; MALDI-TOF, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight. Note: The amino-acid sequence reported in this work has been deposited in the SWISS-PROT databank under accession number P82978. (Received 21 March 2002, accepted 24 May 2002) Eur. J. Biochem. 269, 3433–3441 (2002) Ó FEBS 2002 doi:10.1046/j.1432-1033.2002.03023.x Preparation of the lungfish liver cytosolic fraction and purification of calhepatin Livers were excised from L. paradoxa weighing 600–700 g, cut into small pieces, suspended in homogenization buffer (40 m M sodium phosphate, 150 m M KCl, 4 m M EDTA, pH 7.4), and disrupted in a glass/Teflon homogenizer. The homogenate was then centrifuged at 20 000 g for 15 min, and the resulting supernatant further centrifuged at 105 000 g for 90 min in a Beckman XL-90 ultracentrifuge. The entire procedure was carried out at 4 °C. The superna- tant (4 mL) was loaded on a Sephadex G-75 column (2.5 · 40 cm) equilibrated with 15 m M Tris/HCl (pH 9.0)/ 1m M EDTA. Elution was performed at 4 °Cwiththesame buffer at a flow rate of 16 mLÆh )1 . The 6–18-kDa fraction was applied to a DEAE-cellulose column (1.1 · 10 cm) equilibrated with 15 m M Tris/HCl(pH9.0).Thematerial bound to the column was subsequently eluted with 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 m M NaCl in the same buffer. A portion of each fraction was concentrated and changed into 50 m M Tris/HCl buffer (pH 7.4) by using a CentriprepÒ concen- trator (Amicon) and assayed for 45 Ca 2+ -binding activity as described below. The 10 m M fraction containing the calhep- atin was concentrated by using the above concentrator and loaded on a Mono Q HR 5/5 column (Pharmacia LKB) previously equilibrated with 15 m M Tris/HCl (pH 9.0). The column was developed on an FPLC system (Pharmacia LKB), at a flow rate of 0.8 mLÆmin )1 , with a 0–100 m M linear gradient of NaCl concentration over 60 min. Calhep- atin was eluted at % 40 m M NaCl. Protein purity was checked by SDS/PAGE (16% gel), isoelectric focusing, and RP-HPLC in a Vydac C 4 column (4.6 · 250 mm). Preparation of the cytosolic fraction from lungfish and rat tissues Tissues were cut into small pieces, suspended in 40 m M sodium phosphate (pH 7.4) containing 150 m M KCl, 4 m M EDTA and 4 m M dithiothreitol, and homogenized in a Teflon Potter homogenizer. Homogenates were then cen- trifuged at 20 000 g for 15 min, and the resulting super- natants further centrifuged at 105 000 g for 90 min in a Beckman XL-90 ultracentrifuge. Electrophoresis SDS/PAGE (16% gel) was carried out as described by Scha ¨ gger & von Jagow [12]. Isoelectric focusing was performed in a Phast System (Pharmacia). Antiserum production Calhepatin (500 lg) was mixed with Freund’s adjuvant and injected subcutaneously into a rabbit (first immunization), followed by a 250-lg boost 3 weeks later (second immun- ization). After 3 weeks, the animal was bled from the marginal ear vein and the serum was obtained. The antibodies were purified using conventional methods invol- ving ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-cellulose chromatography, and gel filtration on a Superdex 200 column. They were then concentrated with the Centriprep concentrator up to a concentration of 10 mgÆmL )1 and stored at )40 °C. Western blotting and immunoprecipitation experiments Western blotting was carried out as described by Harlow & Lane [13]. Immunoprecipitation was performed at 4 °C using protein A–Sepharose beads [13]. Chromatographic analysis Gel-filtration analysis of pure calhepatin was performed as described by Drohat et al. [7] by FPLC on a Superose 12 HR 10/30 column (Pharmacia) calibrated with standard proteins. The column was equilibrated and eluted with 50 m M Tris/HCl/120 m M KCl/0.1 m M EDTA (pH 7.4) for the apo-calhepatin or with 50 m M Tris/HCl/120 m M KCl/2 m M CaCl 2 (pH 7.4) for the holo-protein, at a flow rate of 0.5 mLÆmin )1 . Both protein forms (7 l M monomer concentration) were incubated in the corresponding equili- bration buffer for 30 min before being loaded. The mono- meric and dimeric fractions obtained from the Superose column were incubated at room temperature for 12 h and applied again to the gel-filtration column under the same buffer and flow rate conditions. Hydrophobic interaction chromatography was carried out on a phenyl-Superose HR 5/5 column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with 50 m M Tris/HCl/120 m M KCl/1 m M CaCl 2 (pH 7.4). After injection of 30 lgpureproteinon the equilibration buffer, the column was eluted with 4 column vol. of the same buffer and then with 4 column vol. of 50 m M Tris/HCl/120 m M KCl/5 m M EDTA (pH 7.4). Enzymatic digestion and peptide purification For Glu-C protease digestion, 250 lg calhepatin was incubated in 0.1 M Tris/HCl (pH 7.9)/2 M guanidine hydrochloride with 4 lg enzyme, at 20 °C for 24 h. For Lys-C protease digestion, 250 lg calhepatin was incubated in 0.1 M Tris/HCl (pH 8.5)/2 M guanidine hydrochloride with 5 lg enzyme, at 20 °C for 24 h. Peptides were separated by RP-HPLC (Pharmacia LKB) on a Vydac C 18 column (4.6 · 250 mm) equilibrated with solvent A [0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid in water]. Elution was performed at a flow rate of 0.8 mLÆmin )1 with a 0–50% linear gradient of solvent B [80% (v/v) acetonitrile, 0.08% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid] over 80 min. Amino-acid analysis and sequencing Peptide amino-acid analyses and automatic amino-acid sequence determination by Edman degradation were carried out in an Applied Biosystems 420A Amino Acid Analyzer and an Applied Biosystems 477A Protein Sequencer, respectively, at the LANAIS-PRO (National Protein Sequen- cing Facility, UBA-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Amino-acid sequence determination of the N-terminal peptide by MS/MS was performed in an Electrospray Ionization Ion Trap (Finnigan LCQ) at the Harvard University Microchemistry Facility, Cambridge, MA, USA. In-gel digestion and peptide purification Isolated calhepatin from lungfish intestine was digested with sequencing-grade trypsin by the in-gel procedure of 3434 S. M. Di Pietro and J. A. Santome ´ (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) Ó FEBS 2002 Rosenfeld et al. [14], as modified by Hellman et al.[15].The resulting peptides were recovered by passive elution and then separated by HPLC on a Brownlee TM Aquapore RP 300 C 18 column (2.1 · 220 mm) by using a combination of linear gradients of acetonitrile in 0.1% aqueous trifluoro- acetic acid. Sequence alignment Multiple sequence alignment was performed by using MUL- TALIN (http://pbil.ibcp.fr/cgi-bin/npsa_automat.pl?page= /NPSA/npsa_multalin.html) with a BLOSUM 62 matrix and parameter default values. Evolutionary tree It was constructed with CLUSTAL W (http:/www.ebi.ac.uk/ clustalw/) by the Neighbour Joining method and using Kimura’s distance correction procedure. Mass spectrometry The molecular mass of lungfish calhepatin was deter- mined with a Bruker Biflex III matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometer. Molecular modelling The three-dimensional structure of lungfish calhepatin was modelled using SWISS - MODEL , an automated modelling package of the ExPASy Molecular Biology Server, available through the internet (http://www.expasy.ch/swissmod/ SWISS-MODEL.html) [16]. Calhepatin was modelled with the PROMOD program on the basis of its similarity to homologous structures existing in the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank. After primary modelling, the structure was energy-minimized using GROMOS . The model was checked with the WHAT - IF program which utilizes WHAT - CHECK verification routines. 45 Ca 2+ -Binding assay Apo-(lungfish calhepatin) was prepared by incubation of freshly purified protein with 2 m M EGTA and 2 m M EDTA and subsequent dialysis against 50 m M Tris/HCl (pH 7.4). 45 Ca 2+ binding was determined by the method of Mani and Kay[77]using15l M apo-(lungfish calhepatin) as described by Dell’Angelica et al. [10]. Binding data were analyzed by nonlinear regression curve fitting using the following equation, where v is the number of moles of Ca 2+ bound per mol of monomer, x is the free Ca 2+ concentration, n is the number of binding sites per monomer, and K a1 and K a2 are macroscopic binding constants:  ¼½ðn=2ÞK a1 x þ nK a1 K a2 x 2 =ð1 þ K a1 x þ K a1 K a2 x 2 Þ Fluorescence measurements The intrinsic fluorescence of 2 l M calhepatin was recorded at 20 °C on a Jasco FP-770 spectrofluorimeter (Japan Spectroscopic Co., Hachioji City, Japan). The excitation wavelength was set to 278 ± 5 nm. Each spectrum (285– 420 nm) represents an average of three scans. The fluores- cence intensity was corrected for sample dilution, the latter never exceeding 4%. Curve fitting was performed as described by Dell’Angelica et al.[10].Datawereanalyzed by the following equation where F 0 is the fluorescence at zero ligand concentration, F m is the maximum fluorescence change, T is the total ligand concentration, P is the protein monomer concentration, and K a is the apparent association constant: F ¼ F 0 þ F m ð2PÞ À1  T þ P þ K À1 a À½ðT þ P þ K À1 a Þ 2 À 4PT  1=2 no The Cu 2+ -binding-induced fluorescence change was corrected for nonspecific quenching by subtracting the values of a linear term obtained from the final portion of the Cu 2+ -binding curve, corresponding to fluorescence quench- ing before binding saturation. Uncorrected Cu 2+ fluores- cence quenching data were also analyzed by direct fitting to an equation containing an additional linear term, but the value obtained for the association constant was indistin- guishable from that obtained with corrected data. RESULTS Purification of lungfish calhepatin The 105 000 g supernatant from lungfish liver was frac- tionated on a Sephadex G-75 column. The 6- to 18-kDa fraction containing the calhepatin was applied to a DEAE- cellulose column, and the 10 m M NaCl fraction containing Ca 2+ -binding activity was further purified by anion- exchange chromatography on a Mono Q column. The protein was eluted at 40 m M NaCl from the last column in a symmetric peak that was homogeneous as confirmed by SDS/PAGE (Fig. 1), isoelectric focusing and RP-HPLC (not shown). Fig. 1. SDS/PAGE analysis of calhepatin-containing samples at different stages of purification. Lane 1, 105 000 g supernatant of lungfish liver homogenate; lane 2, after Sephadex G-75 gel filtration; lane 3, after DEAE-cellulose chromatography; lane 4, after Mono Q chromatography. Ó FEBS 2002 Hepatic S100 calcium-binding protein (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) 3435 Biochemical properties of lungfish calhepatin The protein migrates on SDS/PAGE as a 6-kDa polypep- tide (Fig. 1) showing an aberrant mobility, in the same way as other CaBPs [10,18–20]. The molecular mass as deter- mined by MALDI-TOF MS is 8672 Da. Analysis of the apo-calhepatin, at 7 l M monomer concentration, by Superose 12 gel filtration showed two peaks of apparent molecular mass 6.1 ± 0.1 and 16.8 ± 0.1 kDa (mean ± SD), respectively, showing that the protein exists as both a monomer (15%) and a dimer (85%). Taking into account the chromatography time scale (% 25 min) the existence of the two well-separated forms suggests a very slow monomer–dimer equilibrium. To confirm that there is an equilibrium between the two forms, the monomeric (0.3 l M monomer concentration) and dimeric (1.1 l M monomer concentration) fractions obtained from the Superose column were incubated for 12 h and applied again to the gel-filtration column. In both cases, the two forms were obtained again and the ratio of monomer to dimer fraction was % 60 : 40 and 40 : 60, respectively, indicating that the dissociation constant is in the micro- molar order. When the same determination was performed with the holo-calhepatin, at 7 l M monomer concentration, almost 100% of the protein was recovered as a dimer of apparent molecular mass 14.6 ± 0.2 kDa. The holodimeric fraction obtained from the Superose column (0.9 l M monomer concentration) was incubated for 12 h and applied again to the gel-filtration column. Almost 100% of the protein was again recovered as a dimer, indicating that the monomer-dimer dissociation constant for the holoprotein is in the submicromolar range. On the other hand, differences between the apo-calhepatin and holo- calhepatin hydrodynamic volume (16.8 ± 0.1 kDa and 14.6 ± 0.2 kDa, respectively) suggest that calhepatin undergoes a conformational change on Ca 2+ binding. Ca 2+ binding affected the chromatographic behaviour of calhepatin on a phenyl-Superose column. The protein was completely bound to the column in the presence of 1 m M CaCl 2 but could be eluted from the column with 5 m M EDTA (not shown). Primary structure of lungfish calhepatin Purified protein (250 pmol) was subjected to four cycles of Edman degradation. No phenylthiohydantoin derivative could be identified, indicating that its N-terminal amino acid is blocked. Calhepatin fragments were generated by digestion with proteases Glu-C and Lys-C, fractionated by RP-HPLC (Fig. 2A,B) and submitted to Edman degra- dation and amino-acid analysis. Information on the complete amino-acid sequence except for the four - N-terminal residues was obtained. According to the amino-acid determination and the blocked N-terminal residue of the peptide, peak 1 from Lys-C digestion corresponds to the N-terminal portion of lungfish calhep- atin. The material corresponding to this peak was submitted to sequencing by MS/MS. A summary of the sequence analyses and the resulting primary structure of lungfish calhepatin is shown in Fig. 3. The protein is composed of 75 residues. From its amino- acid sequence, assuming that the N-terminus is an acetyl group, the molecular mass was calculated to be 8670 Da. This value is close to that obtained by MALDI-TOF MS (8672 Da). The calculated isoelectric point [21] (pI ¼ 5.12) agrees with the experimental value (pI ¼ 5.15 for both the holo and apo protein). Sequence comparison and evolutionary relationship The alignment of the amino-acid sequence of lungfish calhepatin with other members of the S100 family indicates that the number of amino-acid identities between calhepatin and other S100 proteins ranges from 12 to 21 (Fig. 3). These values are far lower than those between S100 proteins from different species. This is strong evidence that calhepatin is a novel S100 protein, as shown in the evolutionary tree of the S100 family in Fig. 4. Despite the above evolutionary relationships, according to the BLASTP program [22], the higher similarity when the calhepatin amino-acid sequence is compared with all database proteins corresponds to one or more segments of CaBPswithahighermolecularmassthanthatofS100 proteins. Identity can reach 41%. Structural modelling of lungfish calhepatin The three-dimensional structure of the lungfish calhepatin monomer was predicted by using the SWISS - MODEL model- ling package [16] (Fig. 5). Molecular modelling of the Fig. 2. RP-HPLC separation of calhepatin peptides generated by enzymatic digestion. (A) The peptide mixture obtained by Glu-C digestion was fractionated on a Vydac C 18 column (4.6 · 250 mm) equilibrated with solvent A [0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid in water]. The column was eluted with a 0–50% linear gradient (dashed line) of solvent B [80% (v/v) acetonitrile, 0.08% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid]. (B) The products of Lys-C digestion were separated as described for the Glu-C peptide mixture. Numbered peaks represent peptides submitted to sequencing and/or amino-acid analysis. 3436 S. M. Di Pietro and J. A. Santome ´ (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) Ó FEBS 2002 sequence was conducted with the PROMOD program using the known three-dimensional structures of other members of the S100 family as templates. The lungfish calhepatin monomer model has the same overall conformation as that of other members of the S100 family containing four a helix segments (Fig. 5A). Calhepatin residues present in sequence positions equivalent to residues crucial for dimerization and monomer stability, in Sl00 A4 and other S100 proteins [23] (Fig. 3), are clustered between helix I and IV (Fig. 5B), in the same way as in Sl00 A4 and other S100 proteins [23]. This agrees with biochemical data showing that calhepatin is able to dimerize. Fluorescence titration The intrinsic emission spectrum of calhepatin and those of the protein with increasing amounts of Ca 2+ are shown in Fig. 6A. Figure 6B displays the corrected maximum of fluorescence intensity for each Ca 2+ concentration and allows detection of one binding site with K a(app) ¼ (3.6 ± 0.5) · 10 5 M (mean ± SD, n ¼ 3). Intrinsic fluorescence determinations were also applied to study the binding of Zn 2+ ,Mg 2+ and Cu 2+ . Neither Zn 2+ nor Mg 2+ changes calhepatin fluorescence, suggesting that they have no binding sites in the protein. In addition, they have no effect on Ca 2+ binding (not shown). Calhepatin fluorescence intensity decreased, and k max changed with Cu 2+ additions (Fig. 7A). The analysis of the corrected maximum of fluorescence (Fig. 7B) provides evidence of the presence of a single site with K a(app) ¼ (1.5 ± 0.2) · 10 7 M (mean ± SD, n ¼ 3). Direct Ca 2+ -binding studies The 45 Ca 2+ -binding isotherm of calhepatin at 20 °Cin 25 m M Tris/HCl (pH 7.4) is shown in Fig. 8. The binding constants determined are K a1 ¼ (2.9 ± 0.3) · 10 5 M and K a2 ¼ (6.0 ± 0.7) · 10 3 M (n ¼ 2.1 ± 0.05). In the presence of 1 m M Cu 2+ , binding constants are K a1 ¼ (2.0 ± 0.3) · 10 5 M and K a2 ¼ (4.6 ± 0.6) · 10 3 M (n ¼ 2.2 ± 0.2), thus Cu 2+ binding does not significantly change the affinity of calhepatin for Ca 2+ (values are all mean ± SD; n ¼ 3). Tissue expression of calhepatin To investigate the pattern of calhepatin expression in lungfish tissues, cytosolic fractions from liver, skeletal muscle, intestine, lung, brain, adipose tissue, heart and skin were submitted to electrophoresis and immunoblot- ting. Rabbit antibodies to calhepatin only detected the protein in liver and at a much lower level in intestine (Fig. 9). Furthermore, the antibodies did not cross-react with cytosolic proteins from rat liver or intestinal tissues (Fig. 9), suggesting that calhepatin-like proteins are not expressed in rat and that the antibodies do not cross-react with calbindin D 9k . Consistently with the immunoblotting results, when cytosolic fractions from lungfish and rat tissues were submitted to immunopre- cipitation experiments with the calhepatin antibodies followed by SDS/PAGE analysis, only lungfish liver and intestine showed the calhepatin band (data not shown). Fig. 3. Primary structure of calhepatin and its sequence alignment with S100 family members. Peptide fragments are indicated by solid arrows when determined by sequencing, and by a dotted line arrow for those inferred on the basis of their amino-acid analysis. Each peptide is labelled with a letter (E for peptides derived by Glu-C digestion and K for peptides obtained by Lys-C digestion) and a number that agrees with that of Fig. 2. Numbers above the sequence indicate residue positions in the protein. aaaaa correspond to predicted a helices. Underlined residues are equivalent to the residues of S100 A4 critical for S100 A4 dimerization [23]. The amino-acid sequence of calhepatin was aligned with those of the human form of each S100 protein, except for MRP126 and ictacalcin, which have only been isolated from chicken and catfish, respectively. The number of identities between each S100 protein and calhepatin is indicated after each amino-acid sequence. Both canonical (C) and noncanonical (NC) EF-hands are also indicated. Ó FEBS 2002 Hepatic S100 calcium-binding protein (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) 3437 To confirm that the lungfish intestinal protein recognized by the antibodies is calhepatin, it was submitted to in-gel tryptic digestion by the procedure of Rosenfeld et al.[14]. The peptide mixture was fractionated by RP-HPLC, and the two peptides sequenced (SGTLSVDELY and IIEK) were found to be identical with those corresponding to calhepatin fragments 19–28 and 46–49, respectively. DISCUSSION The Ca 2+ signal is transduced by a variety of CaBPs. Whereas a number of Ca 2+ -dependent responses are mediated by calmodulin, a ubiquitous CaBP universally present in cells, the S100 proteins are cell-type-specific mediators of the Ca 2+ signal [3]. Kligman & Hilt [3] described the structural features that determine whether a protein is a member of the S100 family. They have two EF-hands per monomer. One of them, located in the C-terminal region, comprises 12 amino-acid residues and is similar to those found in calmodulin. The other differs from the calmodulin-related protein EF-hand as it contains 14 residues. The N-terminal and C-terminal regions contain conserved hydrophobic amino-acid domains. The CaBP reported here, calhepatin, shares all these structural characteristics. Members of the S100 family are acidic CaBPs comprising between 78 (calbindin D 9k ) and 119 (MRP126) residues, whereas calhepatin consists of 75 residues, this being the smallest S100 protein reported. As far as we know, this is the first time that an S100 has been described in liver. Calhepatin probably has specific functions in this organ taking into account that most S100 proteins are often expressed in a tissue-specific manner [3–5,24] and calhepatin is expressed almost exclusively in liver. In the evolutionary tree of the S100 family (Fig. 4), calhepatin appears as a new member, calbindin D 9k being the most closely related to it. The two S100 proteins share the characteristic of having a low number of residues, although divergence between their genes seems to have occurred long ago. The lack of cross-reaction between the calhepatin antibodies and rat intestinal calbindin D 9k agrees with their gene divergence. Interestingly, calbindin D 9k is the Fig. 4. Evolutionary tree of the S100 protein family. Unrooted evolu- tionary tree based on the multiple sequence alignment of 59 S100 protein primary structures constructed with CLUSTAL W (http:/ www.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw/) by the Neighbour Joining method and using the Kimura correction of distances. hu, human (Homo sapiens); ca, catfish (Ictalurus punctatus); ra, rat (Rattus norvegicus); bo, bovine (Bos taurus); mo, mouse (Mus musculus); rb, rabitt (Oryctolagus cuniculus); ch, chiken (Gallus gallus); ho, horse (Equus caballus); lf, lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxa); pi, pig (Sus scrofa). Fig. 5. Structural modelling of calhepatin monomer. (A) Three-dimensional structure of lungfish calhepatin predicted using the Swiss- Model automated modelling package based on the crystal and/or NMR structures of other members of the family. The molecule is depicted in strand representation, and a helices are numbered from I to IV. (B) Residues Leu7, Arg8 and Phe11 from a-helix I, and Trp60, Phe63, Ala66 and Phe67 from a helix IV (located at equivalent positions to those cru- cial for S100 A4 dimerization and monomer stability [23]) are shown in dark and light grey representation, respectively. The figure was generated using the RASMOL program. 3438 S. M. Di Pietro and J. A. Santome ´ (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) Ó FEBS 2002 only family member identified so far that does not form dimers, acting as a Ca 2+ modulator, rather than as a Ca 2+ sensor [25]. Analysis of apo-calhepatin and holo-calhepatin by Superose 12 gel filtration showed that the protein is in a monomer–dimer equilibrium and that the dissociation constant is in the micromolar range for the apoprotein and in the submicromolar range for the holoprotein, as reported for other S100 family members [7]. Tarabykina et al. [23] studied crucial residues for dimerization in Sl00A4 and found that three residues in helix I and four in helix IV are critical for S100A4 dimerization. Figure 3 shows these residues and those present in equivalent positions in the other S100 proteins. Most of the critical residues are present in calhepatin and calbindin D 9k . However, the latter has a shorter helix IV, a characteristic that could explain its inability to dimerize. Kligman & Hilt [3] proposed that the interaction of a particular S100 protein with an effector protein occurs after Ca 2+ binding induces a conformational change, exposing hydrophobic domains which then interact with corresponding hydrophobic domains in the effector. According to this currently accepted mechanism [2,26], calhepatin should undergo the Ca 2+ -dependent con- formational changes responsible for the transmission of information to effector proteins. Our fluorescence experi- ments indicate a Ca 2+ -induced change in the environment of at least the tryptophan residue located in one of the Fig. 6. Ca 2+ fluorescence titration. (A) Fluorescence spectra of 2 l M calhepatin in 25 m M Tris/HCl, pH 7.4, with 0–810 l M Ca 2+ .(B)Ca 2+ titration curve showing corrected maximum fluorescence at each Ca 2+ concentration. Curve fitting was performed as indicated in Materials and methods. Fig. 7. Cu 2+ fluorescence titration. (A) Fluorescence spectra of 2 l M calhepatin in 25 m M Tris/HCl, pH 7.4, with 0–100 l M Cu 2+ . (B) Cu 2+ titration curve showing corrected maximum fluorescence at each Cu 2+ concentration. Curve fitting was performed as indicated in Materials and methods. Fig. 8. 45 Ca 2+ -Binding isotherms. 45 Ca 2+ binding to 15 l M calhepatin in 25 m M Tris/HCl, pH 7.4, was determined by the method of Mani & Kay [17] following the procedure of Dell’Angelica et al.[10].Curve fitting was performed as indicated in Materials and Methods. Ó FEBS 2002 Hepatic S100 calcium-binding protein (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) 3439 four positions critical for dimerization in helix IV (Figs 3 and 5). The binding of Ca 2+ to calhepatin increases its intrinsic fluorescence intensity and k max . This result, the decrease in the protein hydrodynamic volume, and the fact that Ca 2+ -loaded calhepatin is retained on a phenyl- Superose column and can be eluted with EDTA suggests that calhepatin undergoes a conformational change on Ca 2+ binding that exposes hydrophobic regions. This probably involves residues shown in spacefill representa- tion in Fig. 5B. Unfortunately, although preliminary immunoprecipitation experiments do precipitate calhepa- tin, they fail to coprecipitate calhepatin effector protein partners. The metal-binding properties of calhepatin were studied by a direct 45 Ca 2+ -binding assay and fluorescence titration. The binding of 2 Ca 2+ /monomer is consistent with the presence of two EF-hand motifs. The affinity constants determined agree with the fact that S100 protein affinity for Ca 2+ is low, the affinity of the C-terminal EF-hand being greater than that of the N-terminal EF-hand [3]. Such characteristics suggest that S100 proteins may be activated only in subcellular compartments where the Ca 2+ concen- tration reaches a relatively high level [3]. Additional modes of affinity control may involve other factors such as other cations. The affinity of S100 proteins for Ca 2+ can be modulated by Zn 2+ binding in some subfamilies such as S100B [27], S100A5 [28], S100A6 [20] and S100A12 [10]. Our results indicate that Cu 2+ , unlike Zn 2+ and Mg 2+ , binds to calhepatin. Copper binding does not change calhepatin affinity for Ca 2+ , but it is not unlikely that in some cases calhepatin biological activity could be regulated by Cu 2+ instead of Ca 2+ [5]. Preliminary cross-linking experiments show that both Ca 2+ and Cu 2+ increased the dimer/monomer ratio, suggesting that, like Ca 2+ ,Cu 2+ also enhance calhepatin dimerization. Surprisingly, according to the BLASTP program [22], the higher scores of similarity when the calhepatin amino-acid sequence is compared with all database proteins correspond to one or more segments of CaBPs of higher molecular mass than S100 proteins. This contains several EF-hands such as Ca 2+ -dependent protein kinases from Arabidopsis thaliana, Zea mays, Glycine max, Dunaliella tertiolecta, Picea mari- ana, Solanum tuberosum, Plasmodium falciparum and other species. In addition, calmodulin-like proteins from A. thali- ana, Z. mays, Mus musculus, Homo sapiens skin and Suberites domuncula have two fragments with similar characteristics. As some CaBPs appear to have evolved from a single ur-domain by two cycles of gene duplication and fusion [8], calhepatin may be related to that ancient domain. 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Structural and biochemical characterization of calhepatin, an S100-like calcium-binding protein from the liver of lungfish ( Lepidosiren paradoxa ) Santiago. report the biochemical characterization of calhepatin, a calcium-binding protein of the S100 family, isolated from lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxa) liver. The