The BAR Domain Protein PICK1 Controls Vesicle Number and Size in Adrenal Chromaffin Cells

Paulo César da Silva Pinheiro, Anna M Jansen, Heidi de Wit, Bassam Tawfik, Kenneth L Madsen, Matthijs Verhage, Ulrik Gether, Jakob Balslev Sørensen

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Protein Interacting with C Kinase 1 (PICK1) is a Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs (BAR) domain protein involved in AMPA receptor trafficking. Here, we identify a selective role for PICK1 in the biogenesis of large, dense core vesicles (LDCVs) in mouse chromaffin cells. PICK1 colocalized with syntaxin-6, a marker for immature granules. In chromaffin cells isolated from a PICK1 knockout (KO) mouse the amount of exocytosis was reduced, while release kinetics and Ca(2+) sensitivity were unaffected. Vesicle-fusion events had a reduced frequency and released lower amounts of transmitter per vesicle (i.e., reduced quantal size). This was paralleled by a reduction in the mean single-vesicle capacitance, estimated by averaging time-locked capacitance traces. EM confirmed that LDCVs were fewer and of markedly reduced size in the PICK1 KO, demonstrating that all phenotypes can be explained by reductions in vesicle number and size, whereas the fusion competence of generated vesicles was unaffected by the absence of PICK1. Viral rescue experiments demonstrated that long-term re-expression of PICK1 is necessary to restore normal vesicular content and secretion, while short-term overexpression is ineffective, consistent with an upstream role for PICK1. Disrupting lipid binding of the BAR domain (2K-E mutation) or of the PDZ domain (CC-GG mutation) was sufficient to reproduce the secretion phenotype of the null mutant. The same mutations are known to eliminate PICK1 function in receptor trafficking, indicating that the multiple functions of PICK1 involve a conserved mechanism. Summarized, our findings demonstrate that PICK1 functions in vesicle biogenesis and is necessary to maintain normal vesicle numbers and size.

Original languageEnglish
JournalThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
Volume34
Issue number32
Pages (from-to)10688-700
Number of pages13
ISSN0270-6474
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Aug 2014

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The BAR Domain Protein PICK1 Controls Vesicle Number and Size in Adrenal Chromaffin Cells'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this