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¹ Laboratory of Cardiac/Membrane Physiology, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021
² Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021

Address correspondence to David C. Gadsby, Laboratory of Cardiac/Membrane Physiology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021. Fax: (212) 327-7589; E-mail: gadsby{at}mail.rockefeller.edu

	ABSTRACT

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES

 
CFTR, the product of the gene mutated in cystic fibrosis, is an ATPase that functions as a Cl^- channel in which bursts of openings separate relatively long interburst closed times (ib). Channel gating is controlled by phosphorylation and MgATP, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain controversial. To investigate them, we expressed CFTR channels in Xenopus oocytes and examined, in excised patches, how gating kinetics of phosphorylated channels were affected by changes in [MgATP], by alterations in the chemical structure of the activating nucleotide, and by mutations expected to impair nucleotide hydrolysis and/or diminish nucleotide binding affinity. The rate of opening to a burst (1/ib) was a saturable function of [MgATP], but apparent affinity was reduced by mutations in either of CFTR's nucleotide binding domains (NBDs): K464A in NBD1, and K1250A or D1370N in NBD2. Burst duration of neither wild-type nor mutant channels was much influenced by [MgATP]. Poorly hydrolyzable nucleotide analogs, MgAMPPNP, MgAMPPCP, and MgATPS, could open CFTR channels, but only to a maximal rate of opening 20-fold lower than attained by MgATP acting on the same channels. NBD2 catalytic site mutations K1250A, D1370N, and E1371S were found to prolong open bursts. Corresponding NBD1 mutations did not affect timing of burst termination in normal, hydrolytic conditions. However, when hydrolysis at NBD2 was impaired, the NBD1 mutation K464A shortened the prolonged open bursts. In light of recent biochemical and structural data, the results suggest that: nucleotide binding to both NBDs precedes channel opening; at saturating nucleotide concentrations the rate of opening to a burst is influenced by the structure of the phosphate chain of the activating nucleotide; normal, rapid exit from bursts occurs after hydrolysis of the nucleotide at NBD2, without requiring a further nucleotide binding step; if hydrolysis at NBD2 is prevented, exit from bursts occurs through a slower pathway, the rate of which is modulated by the structure of the NBD1 catalytic site and its bound nucleotide. Based on these and other results, we propose a mechanism linking hydrolytic and gating cycles via ATP-driven dimerization of CFTR's NBDs.

Key Words: ABC transporters • single-channels kinetics • ATP binding and hydrolysis • nonhydrolyzable analogs • catalytic site mutations

	INTRODUCTION

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES

 
CFTR, the protein product of the gene mutated in cystic fibrosis patients (Riordan et al., 1989), comprises two homologous halves linked by a regulatory domain, each half including a transmembrane domain and a cytosolic nucleotide binding domain (NBD),^* alternatively called ATP binding cassette (ABC) (Fig. 1). CFTR belongs to the superfamily of ABC transport proteins and, like other members, shows intrinsic ATP binding and hydrolytic activity (Li et al., 1996). But, unlike other ABC proteins, CFTR functions as a gated ion channel which, when open, allows Cl^- ions to flow passively down their electrochemical gradient. CFTR is also an unusual ion channel, as it will open only after its regulatory domain has been phosphorylated by PKA (Cheng et al., 1991; Tabcharani et al., 1991; Picciotto et al., 1992), and the phosphorylated channel requires the continuous presence of hydrolyzable nucleoside triphosphates to sustain normal gating. Despite much investigation, the relationship between binding and hydrolysis of nucleotide at CFTR's two NBDs and the conformational changes that open and close the channel pore remains controversial and poorly understood (e.g., Aleksandrov and Riordan, 1998; Gadsby and Nairn, 1999; Sheppard and Welsh, 1999).

View larger version (45K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 1. (Top) Cartoon of CFTR's domain topology, comprising two transmembrane domains (TMDs), a regulatory (R) domain, and NBD1 (green) and NBD2 (blue). (Below) Ribbon representations of homology models of NBD1 (green) and NBD2 (blue), based on the crystal structure of HisP-ATP (Hung et al., 1998), showing exposed positions of ATP molecules (yellow), Walker A lysines (red), and NBD2 Walker B aspartate (green). Homology models were built using the automated comparative modeling server "Swiss-model" (http://www.expasy.ch/swissmod/SWISS-MODEL.html; Guex and Peitsch, 1997) with alignments optimized on the basis of a ClustalW multiple sequence alignment of 20 bacterial and human NBDs.

In the structures of NBD monomers, the ATP binding site is surprisingly open (Fig. 1), suggesting that, in vivo, the catalytic site is likely to be completed by interaction with another domain. Evidence of physical proximity (Hunke et al., 2000; Loo and Clarke, 2001; Qu and Sharom, 2001) and of functional interactions between NBDs (e.g., Senior and Bhagat, 1998; Ueda et al., 1999; Gao et al., 2000; Hou et al., 2000) suggests that a second NBD monomer completes the catalytic site. This is supported by the finding of NBD homodimers in certain crystals (Hung et al., 1998; Diederichs et al., 2000; Hopfner et al., 2000; Chang and Roth, 2001; Junop et al., 2001; Locher et al., 2002). Moreover, in two of the most complete structures of ABC-like proteins (Hopfner et al., 2000; Locher et al., 2002), the two NBDs were found to interact in a head-to-tail configuration that sandwiches two active sites in the dimer interface, each with Walker A and B motifs of one NBD and the signature sequence of the other NBD contacting the same ATP molecule (compare Jones and George, 1999).

Unlike these homodimeric bacterial proteins, however, CFTR belongs to the ABC-C subfamily of human ABC proteins, within which sequence similarity between NH₂- and COOH-terminal NBDs of each member is lower (e.g., NBD1 vs. NBD2 in CFTR: 27% identity) than between corresponding NBDs of different members (e.g., CFTR NBD1 vs. multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1) NBD1: 42% identity; CFTR NBD2 vs. MRP1 NBD2: 40%). This structural divergence between NBD1s and NBD2s in the ABC-C subfamily implies a conserved functional asymmetry, with each NBD likely playing a distinct role. Biochemical evidence indeed suggests that, in CFTR and its close relatives MRP1 and sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1), NBD1 is a site of low turnover from which nucleotide dissociates only slowly, whereas NBD2 is a catalytically more active site (Matsuo et al., 1999, 2000; Szabó et al., 1999; Gao et al., 2000; Aleksandrov et al., 2001, 2002; Basso et al., 2002; Hou et al., 2002).

In CFTR, the different consequences of introducing equivalent mutations in either NBD1 or NBD2 hint at this functional asymmetry. In several other ABC proteins, mutation of the Walker A lysine or Walker B aspartate in either NBD abolishes both ATP hydrolysis and substrate transport (for review see Schneider and Hunke 1998). However, in CFTR the Walker A NBD2 mutation K1250A abolished ATP hydrolysis, whereas the NBD1 mutation K464A simply reduced overall hydrolytic activity (Ramjeesingh et al., 1999); and biochemical studies of Walker B aspartate mutations in CFTR (D572N in NBD1, D1370N in NBD2) have not yet been performed. The consequences of NBD mutations for CFTR channel gating were even more asymmetric. Thus, the K1250A mutation dramatically prolonged burst duration, suggesting that hydrolysis at NBD2 might be coupled to burst termination (Carson et al., 1995; Gunderson and Kopito, 1995), whereas the NBD1 mutations K464A, Q552A, and Q552H somewhat slowed channel opening to a burst, suggesting that NBD1 might be a site of ATP interactions governing opening (Carson et al., 1995; Carson and Welsh 1995). But, since mutations and chemical modifications at NBD2 also strongly affected opening rates, a possible interaction between the two NBDs during channel opening was postulated (Carson et al., 1995; Gunderson and Kopito, 1995; Cotten and Welsh, 1998), and more recent studies of Walker A lysine mutants have suggested that NBD1 might also be involved in controlling burst duration (Powe et al., 2002).

In an attempt to unravel some of this complexity, we have examined the gating kinetics of wild-type (WT) and mutant CFTR channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes. We studied in detail the dependence of channel gating on [MgATP], gating in the presence of poorly hydrolyzable nucleotide analogs, as well as the effects of mutating residues in the Walker A (K464A and K1250A) and Walker B motifs (in particular, D1370N in NBD2). We addressed two main questions. First, do NBD1 and NBD2 in CFTR regulate separate steps of the channel gating cycle, and are the NBDs independent or do they interact? The second question concerns the relationship between nucleotide binding and hydrolysis and CFTR channel gating. In conventional ligand-gated channels, binding of ligand favors channel opening, and closing is simply the reverse of that process. In CFTR, interaction with ligand (MgATP) is also necessary for gating, but there is disagreement about whether the ligand dissociates unchanged (in which case gating can be described by linear, equilibrium models: Venglarik et al., 1994; Schultz et al., 1995; Aleksandrov and Riordan, 1998) or is hydrolyzed at some point in the gating cycle (cyclical models, violating microscopic reversibility: Baukrowitz et al., 1994; Hwang et al., 1994; Gunderson and Kopito, 1995; Zeltwanger et al., 1999).

We interpret our results to suggest that ATP must bind at both catalytic sites before a CFTR channel can open, that opening is rate limited by a slow step after binding that is sensitive to the structure of the polyphosphate chain, that there is no further nucleotide binding to the open channel, that hydrolysis at NBD2 precedes normal rapid channel closing, and that the integrity of the NBD1 Walker A motif, and nucleotide bound there, influences the rate of exit from locked-open burst states.

	MATERIALS AND METHODS

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES

 
Molecular Biology
Human epithelial CFTR in a Xenopus expression vector was used as a template (pGEMHE-WT: Chan et al., 2000) for all point mutations, introduced using a QuickChange site-directed mutagenesis kit (Stratagene). Sequences were checked by automated sequencing. Plasmid DNA was linearized by NheI digestion and in vitro transcribed from the T7 promoter with mMessage mMachine kit (Ambion) as described (Chan et al., 2000).

Xenopus Oocyte Expression
Xenopus laevis oocytes were isolated, collagenase treated, and injected as described (Chan et al., 2000). Amounts of cRNA injected were adjusted to vary the level of expression: up to 40 ng/oocyte was required for high expression of K1250A or K464A/K1250A mutant channels, whereas 0.1–0.25 ng/oocyte sufficed for single channel recordings of WT, K464A, or D1370N channels.

Electrophysiology
Starting 12-h postinjection, recordings in excised inside-out patches were essentially as described (Chan et al., 2000). After removal of the vitelline layer, oocytes were transferred to a petri dish with standard bath solution (designed to minimize cation channel currents) containing (in mM): 138 NMDG, 2 Mg sulfamate, 5 HEPES, 0.5 EGTA, 134 sulfamic acid (pH 7.1 with sulfamic acid). 2–7 M fire-polished pipettes were filled with pipette solution containing (in mM): 138 NMDG, 2 MgCl₂, 5 HEPES, 136 HCl (pH 7.4 with HCl). After seal formation (>100 G), patches were excised and transferred to the recording chamber where the cytosolic face was continuously superfused (0.2–0.6 ml/min) with standard bath solution supplemented, when indicated, with PKA catalytic subunit (300 nM) and/or nucleotides, at room temperature (21–26°C). Solutions were switched by computer-driven electric valves (General Valve) and solution exchange time was monitored from decay of endogenous Ca²⁺-activated Cl^- currents after brief exposure to bath solution supplemented with 2 mM Ca sulfamate. Outward CFTR channel currents were recorded at a membrane potential of 40 mV (pipette potential -40 mV) using an Axopatch 200B amplifier (Axon Instruments, Inc.), filtered at 50 Hz (8-pole Bessel, Frequency Devices), digitized at 1 kHz via a Digidata 1200 interface (Axon Instruments, Inc.), and saved to a PC hard disc using Clampex 7 acquisition software (Axon Instruments, Inc.). MgATP (stock solution in H₂0; pH 7.0 with NMDG), Li₄ adenosine 5'-(ß,-imido)triphosphate (AMPPNP), Li₄ adenosine 5'-[-thio]triphosphate (ATPS), and Na₂ adenosine 5'-(ß,-methylene)triphosphate (AMPPCP) (stock solutions in standard bath solution supplemented with equimolar Mg sulfamate; pH 7.0 with NMDG) were from Sigma. PKA was purified from bovine heart (Kaczmarek et al., 1980).

Data Analysis
Data analysis was essentially as described (Chan et al., 2000; Csanády et al., 2000). CFTR channels typically open from relatively long closures into open "bursts" interrupted by short "flickery" closures. This is reflected in analyses of records from a single channel that clearly identify, within the bandwidth of our measurements, the presence of a single population of open states (average duration mean interval between flickery closures) but two distinct populations of closed states. [MgATP] or phosphorylation status do not affect the duration of the short-lived, intraburst flickery closures, or the duration of individual openings within bursts, but they do influence the duration (ib) of the long-lived interburst closures, and phosphorylation increases the number of openings occurring within one burst (Table I; Gunderson and Kopito, 1994; Winter et al., 1994). In this paper we analyze and discuss the dependence on [MgATP] and phosphorylation of the duration, b, of bursts and of their frequency of occurrence, 1/ib, which we usually refer to as the "rate of channel opening to a burst," but we sometimes simply call it channel "opening rate." Changes in burst duration signal changes in the "rate of channel closing from a burst," sometimes called channel "closing rate." Because we find that the burst duration distributions are described by single exponentials under almost all conditions (see Fig. 4, below; though the lifetimes vary between conditions), this confines extraction of relevant steady state kinetic parameters to determination of mean burst and interburst durations.

View larger version (38K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 2. [MgATP] dependence of rates of opening to, and closing from, a burst of WT and mutant CFTR channels in inside-out patches. (A) WT channels, prephosphorylated by 300 nM PKA and 5 mM MgATP, shown during exposure to 5 mM, then 50 µM, and again 5 mM MgATP, as indicated; expanded segments at 5 mM and 50 µM MgATP are shown below. (B and C) Representative traces for prephosphorylated K464A and D1370N channels. Relative opening (D) and closing (E) rates (mean ± SEM, 2 n 7) from analysis of records as in A–C for WT (blue circles), K464A (red triangles), and D1370N (green squares) channels at 10 µM [MgATP] 5 mM, plotted on semilogarithmic axes. Opening rate and closing rate at each test [MgATP] were normalized to the mean values measured for bracketing segments at 5 mM MgATP (procedure (b), MATERIALS AND METHODS). Curves in D show Michaelis-Menten fits, yielding K0.5 of 56 ± 5, 807 ± 185, 391 ± 118 µM, and rCOmax of 1.02, 1.16, and 1.08, for WT, K464A, and D1370N, respectively. For display, the data were further normalized to these rCOmax values. Mean absolute opening rates at 5 mM MgATP are given in Table I B. In E, the measured relative closing rates at each [MgATP] have been multiplied by the mean absolute closing rate for each construct in 5 mM MgATP (Table I B).

View larger version (36K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 4. Burst duration distributions are similar for WT (A–C) and K464A (D–F) channels under comparable conditions, as indicated (PKA present for left column only). Fitted curves (through data points) show single exponentials from maximum-likelihood fits. Improvement of the fit by inclusion of a second exponential component was judged using the algorithm described in Csanády et al. (2000). Only for K464A at µM MgATP (F) could the likelihood be significantly increased by including a second component, though with a shorter (but not longer; Ikuma and Welsh, 2000) mean: 1 = 30 ms, a1 = 0.17; 2 = 263 ms, a2 = 0.83; increase in log likelihood, LL = 8.3; number of bursts fitted, M = 263; giving (LL - ln(2M) = 2.0). The small differences between means at mM and µM MgATP (B vs. C, E vs. F) may be only apparent, as the mean b, estimated by multichannel kinetic fits, from these same stretches of record at µM MgATP is not significantly different from that during intervening stretches in 5 mM MgATP (for WT: bµM/b5mM = 1.03 ± 0.07, n = 9; for K464A: bµM/b5mM = 0.95 ± 0.13, n = 7). (G and H) Representative traces showing gating of K464A and D1370N channels at 15 µM MgATP (after PKA removal). Prolonged bursts of K464A channels (Ikuma and Welsh, 2000) are not evident. Though variability among the four patches containing sufficiently few D1370N channels precluded pooling the data for burst distribution analysis, in none of those patches (analyzed separately) did introduction of a second component significantly improve the maximum likelihood fit.

in which "C" is the long interburst closed state, "C_F" is the short flickery closed state, and so the simple r_CO and r_OC rate constants describe directly the rates of opening to a burst and closing from a burst. However, the parameters derived to describe the observed bursting behavior (burst duration, b, interburst duration, ib, as well as rates of opening to and closing from a burst) are essentially model independent: only the particular combination of elementary rate constants used to derive them (see Table I, legend), not the numerical values of the parameters, would be different had we instead fitted the alternative three-state "C₁-C₂-O" model to determine burst parameters. An artificial dead time of 6.5 ms (> filter dead time of 3.6 ms) was imposed to implement a correction for events missed due to the limited bandwidth (Csanády, 2000).

Our measurements can be grouped in three main classes: (a) those from patches containing 8 observed channels (Table I, A and B, Fig. 5); (b) those from patches containing >8 observed channels, which we analyzed only in conditions of low open probability (P_o) when opening and closing of individual channels could be discerned and the highest conductance level attained was less than or equal to level 8 (Figs. 2, 7, 8, and 11, Table I, C and D); and (c) records from patches containing hundreds of channels, in which individual gating events could not easily be discerned (Figs. 3, 9, and 10).

View larger version (38K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 5. Mutations at the NBD1 catalytic site do not markedly alter open burst duration of channels exposed to 5 mM MgATP and 300 nM PKA. Patches contained one WT (A), K464A (B), or S573E (D) channel, or more than one D572N (C) channel. (E) Summary of mean (±SEM) b values at 5 mM MgATP and 300 nM PKA (n = 30, 21, 9, and 7 for WT, K464A, D572N, and S573E, respectively).

View larger version (43K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 7. Opening of WT CFTR channels by poorly hydrolyzable ATP analogs. (A) Representative recordings from four patches containing many channels, previously phosphorylated by PKA; each patch was exposed to 10 µM MgATP, to (mM) analogue, and to 5 mM MgATP (shown for only two patches). Maximum likelihood fits using C-O-CF model gave, for MgATPS b = 2.0 ± 0.6 s (n = 5), for MgAMPPNP b = 1.6 ± 0.2 s (n = 32), and for MgAMPPCP b = 0.36 ± 0.05 (n = 11). (B) Summary of rCO values for nonhydrolyzable analogs normalized to rCO at 10 µM MgATP (which is 11% of maximum, Fig. 2 D) in the same patch.

View larger version (24K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 8. MgAMPPNP inhibits MgATP-induced opening of WT channels. (A) Representative record of prephosphorylated channels, exposed alternately to 50 µM MgATP or to 50 µM MgATP plus 200 µM MgAMPPNP, and then to 200 µM MgAMPPNP alone. (B) Summary of rCO values (mean ± SEM, n = 3) normalized to the average of that obtained from the stretches in 50 µM MgATP.

View larger version (33K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 11. Gating of prephosphorylated K464A channels by poorly hydrolyzable ATP analogs, as indicated. Unlike WT (Fig. 7 A), K464A burst duration was not increased during exposure to MgAMPPNP (A and B, b = 270 ± 50 ms, n = 8), and was only slightly increased during exposure to ATPS (C, b = 655 ± 170 ms, n = 8), compared with bursts in MgATP (b = 276 ± 21 ms, n = 16) in the same patches. Note that, due to the lower apparent affinity of K464A for MgATP (Fig. 2), the relative opening rate of mutant channels at 10 µM MgATP averaged only 2.3 ± 0.8% (n = 3) of that in saturating MgATP (compared with 11% for WT), so the opening rate of K464A channels was similar in the presence of millimolar concentrations of the poorly hydrolyzable analogs or of 10 µM MgATP.

View larger version (19K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 3. The K1250A mutation strongly shifts the [MgATP] dependence of Po to higher [MgATP]. (A) steady state level of macroscopic current of prephosphorylated WT CFTR channels was 2-fold lower at 50 µM MgATP than during bracketing exposures to 5 mM MgATP (as expected from Fig. 2); lines below traces mark MgATP applications. Rapid current decay on MgATP washout gave (exponential fit lines superimposed on traces) = 0.45 s, = 0.40 s, = 0.38 s, from left to right (mean = 0.54 ± 0.04 s, n = 21, pooled from all [MgATP]). (B) Macroscopic current of K1250A channels was reduced 2-fold on lowering [MgATP] from 5 to 1 mM. Superimposed exponential fit lines show slower current decay (note 10-fold contracted time scale relative to A) with, from left to right, = 28 s, = 30 s, = 32 s (mean = 39 ± 5, n = 9, from all [MgATP]). (C) Semilog plot of Po versus [MgATP]. Steady currents (averaged over final 20 s) at each [MgATP], normalized to the mean bracketing level at 5 mM MgATP, yielded least-squares. Michaelis fit parameters for WT: Po max = 1.04 ± 0.01, K0.5 = 57 ± 2 µM; for K1250A: Po max = 2.45 ± 0.88, K0.5 = 6.5 ± 4.8 mM; for display, WT (circles) and K1250A (inverted triangles) data (mean ± SD, 3 n 9) were renormalized to these Po max values. Because 10 mM, the highest [MgATP] used, was still far from saturating for K1250A channels, the fit for this mutant is less accurate, evident from large errors on fit parameters.

View larger version (26K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 9. Exit from MgAMPPNP-locked burst states is slower when bursts are initiated in the presence of MgATP. Patches with hundreds of prephosphorylated WT CFTR channels were repeatedly subjected to 30-s long exposures to nucleotides (as in inset), in varied sequence. Each trace in the main figure is the sum of 21 recordings, synchronized upon nucleotide washout (arrow; also in inset), from 12 patches, each exposed to 0.5 mM MgATP, 5 mM MgAMPPNP, or 0.5 mM MgATP + 5 mM MgAMPPNP alternately, an equal number of times. Exponential decay fit parameters are: after MgATP, a = 33 pA, = 0.8 s; after AMPPNP, single a = 8 pA, = 6.8 s; double af = 6 pA, as = 6 pA, f = 0.7s, s = 8.8 s; after MgATP + MgAMPPNP, af = 20 pA, as = 18 pA f = 2 s, s = 36.6 s. As solution exchange time was 0.5–1s, fast components do not accurately reflect channel closing.

View larger version (23K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 10. The K464A mutation speeds exit from locked open burst states. (A) Macroscopic WT channel current activated by a mixture of 0.5 mM MgATP and 5 mM MgAMPPNP (+PKA) decays slowly upon removal of nucleotides. (B) Current decay is much faster for the K464A mutant in the same conditions. Blue fit lines in A and B show only the slow components of double exponential fits, with s = 67.8s, as = 0.92 for WT, and s = 8.7s, as = 0.79 for K464A. (C and D) Summaries of fractional amplitude, as (C), and time constant, s (D), of the slow component from 18 WT and 16 K464A experiments. In controls with no MgAMPPNP, closure after exposure to MgATP and PKA yielded = 1.9 ± 0.2 s (n = 35) for WT and = 1.0 ± 0.1 s (n = 34) for K464A, and both constructs sometimes showed a small amplitude slower component: for WT, s = 7.6 ± 1.7 s, as = 0.1 ± 0.03 (in 13/35 patches); for K464A, s = 5.9 ± 0.8 s, as = 0.24 ± 0.04 (20/24 patches). (E) Macroscopic K1250A currents, activated by 5 mM MgATP + PKA, decay slowly on nucleotide withdrawal. (F) The additional K464A mutation accelerates channel closure from bursts: for the traces shown, = 71.7s (K1250A) and = 29.7s (K464A/K1250A). (G) Mean time constants of all 9 K1250A and 9 K464A/K1250A relaxations, each well fit by a single exponential.

(a) . Multichannel kinetic analysis from patches containing 8 simultaneously open channels

(b) . Multichannel kinetic analysis from patches containing >8 simultaneously open channels
For kinetic analysis in conditions of lower P_o, we used patches with higher numbers of channels to obtain a sufficient number of events. Due to the practical limits imposed by computer processing times (Csanády, 2000), the maximum likelihood fitting programs allow a maximum N of eight. We therefore analyzed records only from patches in which the maximum conductance level did not exceed eight open channels under all test and reference conditions used, and the maximum likelihood fit was done assuming N = 8. We do not report absolute values for ib and r_CO in these cases, but only values relative to some other experimental condition applied to the same patch, and these should be relatively insensitive to N. Thus, for MgATP dose-response curves (Fig. 2), rates were normalized to those in bracketing segments at 5 mM MgATP; for the poorly hydrolyzable nucleotides, rates were normalized to those obtained in the same patches at 10 µM (Figs. 7 and 11) or 50 µM MgATP (Fig. 8); for K1250A mutant openings in 10 µM MgATP, rates were normalized to those in nominally MgATP-free bath solution.

(c) . Macroscopic current relaxation analysis
To obtain information on b for mutants or conditions in which slow gating made it difficult to collect a sufficient number of events for the multichannel kinetic analyses described above, we analyzed macroscopic current decay upon nucleotide removal. Records (Figs. 3 and 10), or sums of records (Fig. 9), with several tens of open channels at t = 0 were fitted with single or double exponential decay functions by nonlinear least squares (Sigmaplot; Jandel Scientific).

Analysis of isolated burst distributions
We also examined the distribution of isolated (i.e., containing no superimposed openings) bursts from experiments of type (a) and (b) (Csanády et al., 2000). For each recording, a threshold duration was chosen to distinguish flickery closures from interburst closures, by minimizing the total number of misclassified events (Jackson et al., 1983). Bursts collected in the same condition from several patches were pooled and fitted, using an unbinned maximum likelihood optimization, with either a single- or a double-exponential distribution. Isolated bursts from records that also included a few superimposed openings were added to the pool only if distribution analysis of that burst population rid of superimposed openings yielded a mean b within 10% of that obtained by our standard multichannel kinetic analysis. To display the distributions and fits (Fig. 4, A–F), dwell times were ranked from the longest to the shortest and rank number was divided by the total number of bursts included, yielding the ordinate used for the plots, i.e., the fraction of observed bursts with duration greater than or equal to the dwell time given on the abscissa; the plot approximates the survivor function 1 - F(t), where F(t) is the distribution function, for the random variable open-burst dwell time (t). Unless otherwise noted, data are given as mean ± SEM (n), where n represents the number of observations.

	RESULTS

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES

 
[MgATP] Dependence of Rate of Opening to a Burst for Catalytic Site Mutants Suggests Involvement of Both NBDs in Channel Opening
WT and mutant CFTR channels in inside-out patches excised from oocytes were activated by phosphorylation to steady state with 300 nM PKA catalytic subunit plus 5 mM MgATP applied to the cytosolic surface. Withdrawal of the kinase, leaving the MgATP, resulted in a rapid partial reduction in channel activity, believed due to incomplete dephosphorylation by persistently active membrane-bound phosphatases (Hwang et al., 1994), after which channel activity remained relatively constant for several minutes (Csanády et al., 2000). After this prephosphorylation, patches were exposed to a range of [MgATP], each test interposed between periods at the reference [MgATP] of 5 mM (Fig. 2 A). CFTR openings occur in bursts, which typically include one or more short shut periods. Reducing [MgATP] did not change the average burst duration, b (or the duration of the short, intraburst flickery closures, _F, or the average duration of individual intraburst openings, see Table I). However, the long closed times separating bursts (interburst duration, ib) were visibly longer at the lower [MgATP] (Fig. 2 A, Table I). Maximum likelihood fitting of dwell-time distributions at all conductance levels (Csanády, 2000) confirmed that the rate of closing from a burst (r_OC, in terms of a C-O-C_F scheme, see MATERIALS AND METHODS) was approximately the same at all [MgATP] tested (Fig. 2 E, blue circles), whereas the rate of opening to a burst (r_CO = 1/ib) was a saturable function of [MgATP] yielding, for WT, an effective dissociation constant (K_0.5) of 56 ± 5 µM for MgATP (Fig. 2 D, blue circles).

As the rate of opening, r_CO, does not increase linearly with [MgATP], channel opening cannot be a simple bimolecular MgATP-binding reaction, CO, but must require at least a C1-C2-O scheme (compare Fig. 12 A, below) with distinct MgATP binding (C1C2) and channel-opening (C2O) steps. This three-state scheme reduces kinetically to C1O if MgATP binding is fast compared with channel opening, and it predicts a Michaelis-Menten dependence of r_CO on [MgATP], as we observe (Fig. 2 D). Evidently, at saturating [MgATP], opening of a WT CFTR channel to a burst is rate limited by a slow MgATP-independent step, but at subsaturating [MgATP] a MgATP binding step appears to limit the rate of channel opening to a burst (Fig. 2 D).

View larger version (20K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 12. (A) Simplified scheme illustrating proposed linking of steps in WT CFTR channel gating, and nucleotide binding and hydrolytic cycles. Yellow ovals depict MgATP complexes, smaller red oval is inorganic phosphate, Pi (colored orange in prehydrolysis complex on open channel); the CFTR protein is represented as a green (NBD1) and blue (NBD2) semicircle, with shape altered (signifying induced-fit conformational changes in the NBDs; Karpowich et al., 2001) upon nucleotide binding. "C" represents closed interburst states of the channel and "O" symbolizes the collection of states during open bursts. Thickness and length of arrows indicate relative rates of individual steps. There is no evidence for strict sequential binding of the two MgATP complexes, but the alternative pathway to the doubly occupied closed state, in which nucleotide binds first at NBD2, probably occurs infrequently in WT CFTR (though not necessarily in mutants) and so was omitted for clarity. (B) Cartoon illustrating a possible physical interpretation of the scheme in A, in which NBD dimerization couples ATP binding and hydrolysis at the catalytic sites to opening and closing of the channel pore. Two semicircles represent NBD1 (green) and NBD2 (blue), and the transmembrane domains are represented by straight-line segments connected to the NBDs. Closed and Open channels are indicated by converging or near-parallel transmembrane domains, respectively. Catalytic sites and Cl- permeation pathway are structurally connected such that NBD dimer formation results in opening of the channel pore.

Similar kinetic analysis of patches containing few channels proved technically difficult for K1250A CFTR (NBD2 Walker A lysine mutant) due to the extremely prolonged bursts (see Fig. 6 C, below), which precluded collection of enough events to reliably estimate absolute values of r_CO or P_o. So we recorded macroscopic current in patches with hundreds or thousands of WT or K1250A channels (Fig. 3, A and B), and determined relative P_o as a function of [MgATP] (Fig. 3 C) by normalizing current amplitude at each test [MgATP] to that during bracketing exposures at 5 mM MgATP (Fig. 3, A and B). The curve for K1250A was strongly shifted to higher [MgATP] and was still not saturated at 10 mM MgATP. This shift could reflect effects of the mutation on [MgATP] dependence of rates of opening to and/or closing from bursts. However, single exponential fits to the macroscopic current decay upon nucleotide removal showed that the time constant, which reflects only channel closure from bursts (since, in the absence of MgATP, r_CO = 0) and provides an estimate of mean burst duration, was unaffected by changes in [MgATP] (Fig. 3 B and legend). Thus, the ratios of the time constants at each [MgATP] between 300 µM and 10 mM to those in the bracketing tests at 5 mM MgATP in the same patches, [MgATP]/[5mM], averaged 0.9 ± 0.1 (n = 5). Therefore, in K1250A, as in WT CFTR, it is only the dependence of channel opening rate on [MgATP] that underlies the [MgATP] dependence of P_o. If indeed r_CO is a Michaelis function of [MgATP], and burst duration is [MgATP] independent (Figs. 2 E and 3), the dose-response curve for opening rate would be shifted to higher [MgATP] relative to the curve for P_o: specifically, K_0.5rco K_0.5Po*[1 + (r_COmax/r_OC)] (Csanády et al., 2000; Dousmanis et al., 2002). In fact, this relationship implies that the effective dissociation constant for MgATP activation of opening of K1250A channels is likely even larger than is apparent in Fig. 3 C because the other effect of the K1250A mutation, marked slowing of channel closure from bursts, would by itself shift the P_o versus [MgATP] curve to lower [MgATP], opposite to our experimental observation.

View larger version (38K): [in this window] [in a new window]   FIGURE 6. Mutations at the NBD2 catalytic site slow channel exit from open bursts. WT (A), D1370N (B), K1250A (C), and E1371S (D) CFTR channels were activated by 5 mM MgATP plus PKA as indicated: burst termination (0.4-pA downward steps) after nucleotide washout was slowed for NBD2 mutants, relative to WT. Note persistence of brief (intraburst) closures during K1250A and E1371S bursts, long after nucleotide withdrawal.

Influence of [MgATP] and Phosphorylation Status on Burst Duration of WT CFTR Channels
Although the average rate of WT channel closing from bursts does not depend on [MgATP] (Fig. 2 E; see also Anderson and Welsh, 1992; Gunderson and Kopito, 1994; Venglarik et al., 1994; Winter et al., 1994; Csanády et al., 2000; but cf. Zeltwanger et al., 1999), the mean closing rate is reduced roughly twofold by strong phosphorylation (Table I; see also Hwang et al., 1994; Csanády et al., 2000). Because these values are averages extracted from fits to kinetic data from multichannel records, we examined the distribution of isolated burst dwell times to determine whether more than one component was present. Durations of isolated bursts were obtained from records with few, if any, superimposed openings (see MATERIALS AND METHODS and Csanády et al., 2000). Values were pooled for each of three conditions: at saturating, 5 mM, [MgATP] during exposure to PKA (Fig. 4 A) and after PKA washout (Fig. 4 B), and at 10 or 15 µM [MgATP] after PKA washout (Fig. 4 C). In all three conditions, the distribution of WT CFTR channel burst durations revealed a single population, and the distribution means confirmed the results of multichannel kinetic analysis: viz., highly phosphorylated CFTR channels closed on average about twofold more slowly than partially phosphorylated channels (Table I; Fig. 4, A and B), and the average closing rate varied little with [MgATP] (Figs. 2 E, and 4, B and C).

Catalytic Site Mutations at NBD1 Do Not Alter Channel Closing from Normal, MgATP-elicited Bursts
The average rate of closure of K464A mutant CFTR channels from open bursts was closely similar to that of WT CFTR under comparable conditions (Figs. 4, A–F, and 5, A, B, and E); it was likewise approximately independent of [MgATP] (Fig. 2 E, red triangles) and it was similarly reduced roughly twofold by strong phosphorylation (Fig. 4, D and E; Table I). Also like WT, the burst duration distributions of K464A mutant channels were well described by single exponential functions (Fig. 4, D–F).

We performed a limited analysis of the gating kinetics of CFTR channels mutated at two other presumed catalytic site residues in NBD1, the invariant Walker B aspartate, D572 (Fig. 5, C and E), and the adjacent residue, which is a serine (S573, Fig. 5, D and E) in CFTR's NBD1 but is the conserved Walker B glutamate in most NBDs (though it is an aspartate in NBD1 of some ABC-C subfamily members). The mean closing rate from bursts was not substantially altered by these NBD1 mutations (compare Fig. 5 E and Table I): for D572N, r_OC(5 mM MgATP + PKA) = 1.4 ± 0.2 s^-1 (n = 9), and r_OC(5 mM MgATP) = 3.1 ± 0.6 s^-1 (n = 3); for S573E, r_OC(5 mM MgATP + PKA) = 2.2 ± 0.3 s^-1 (n = 7).

Nor was the opening rate of either mutant orders of magnitude lower than that of WT channels in the presence of PKA and saturating [MgATP] (Fig. 5, A–D). Thus, for D572N CFTR, r_CO(5 mM MgATP + PKA) = 0.34 ± 0.1 s^-1 (n = 9), and r_CO(5 mM MgATP) = 0.35 ± 0.1 s^-1 (n = 3), although these values ("total" estimates, see MATERIALS AND METHODS) likely overestimate true opening rate, as the somewhat lower maximal P_o (0.18 vs. 0.29 for WT) of this mutant precluded accurate determination of the number of active channels in each patch. For S573E channels, r_CO(5 mM MgATP + PKA) = 0.9 ± 0.2 s^-1 (n = 7, total estimate) and 1 ± 0.2 s^-1 (n = 4, best estimate).

Catalytic Site Mutations at NBD2 Slow Channel Closing from Bursts
In contrast to NBD1, corresponding mutations expected to impair hydrolysis in NBD2 substantially slowed exit of CFTR channels from open bursts. D1370N channels closed 4–5-fold more slowly than WT CFTR (Figs. 2 E and 6, A vs. B; Table I), and this reduced closing rate was constant at all [MgATP] tested (Figs. 2 E and 4 H), although, as for WT CFTR, strong phosphorylation slowed closing of D1370N channels roughly twofold (Table I). The K1250A mutation more dramatically slowed channel closing from bursts, resulting in prolonged bursts lasting tens of seconds (Fig. 6 C; cf. Carson et al., 1995; Gunderson and Kopito, 1995; Ramjeesingh et al., 1999; Zeltwanger et al., 1999). Analysis of the macroscopic current relaxation upon nucleotide withdrawal in patches containing many K1250A channels indicates that their average burst duration was 80 s in the presence of PKA (see below, Fig. 10, E and G) but 40 s after PKA had been removed (Fig. 3 B), at least two orders of magnitude longer than bursts of WT channels under the same conditions (Fig. 3, A vs. B; Fig. 6, A vs. C). Moreover, for both K1250A and D1370N mutants, this macroscopic current decay followed a single exponential time course, implying the presence of a single population of open bursts (for K1250A, see Figs. 3 B and 10 E; for D1370N, decay time constants were: [after 5 mM MgATP + PKA] = 6.4 ± 1.6 s, n = 6; [after 5 mM MgATP] = 2.2 ± 0.5 s, n = 7; [after 300 µM MgATP] = 1.9 ± 0.3 s, n = 8; cf. Table I). We also found that mutation of the conserved Walker B glutamate in NBD2, E1371, to serine (to mimic the native equivalent residue in NBD1) caused a marked slowing of channel closing from bursts (Fig. 6 D).

Overall, these very different consequences of mutating corresponding key catalytic site residues in NBD1 and NBD2 suggest that, in the gating cycle of a normal WT CFTR channel, termination of the open burst is timed by an event occurring at the NBD2 catalytic site, likely hydrolysis of the nucleotide bound there.

Poorly Hydrolyzable ATP Analogs Can Open WT CFTR Channels, but Only at a Low Rate
Like closing from a burst, opening of a WT CFTR channel to a burst at saturating [MgATP] is also rate limited by a slow step, distinct from nucleotide binding (Fig. 2 D). Similarly, we have shown recently that in cardiac CFTR channels opening to a burst is rate limited by a Mg²⁺-dependent slow step that is distinct from, and follows, ATP binding (Dousmanis et al., 2002). To further investigate the nature of this slow step, we compared the opening kinetics of WT CFTR channels exposed to MgATP with those of the very same channels exposed to poorly hydrolyzable ATP analogs. In patches containing hundreds of WT CFTR channels (Fig. 7 A), the superposition of numerous opening and closing transitions at saturating (5 mM) MgATP precluded kinetic analysis, but at 10 µM MgATP individual transitions could be identified and single-channel gating parameters extracted. All channels closed promptly upon ATP removal, and exposure to millimolar concentrations of MgATPS, MgAMPPNP, or MgAMPPCP elicited measurable channel activity, but in all cases with less frequent bursts than seen at 10 µM MgATP (Fig. 7 A). For each analogue, we measured the rate of opening to a burst relative to that in 10 µM MgATP in the same patch (Fig. 7 B). Using the fact that at 10 µM MgATP r_CO is 11.1 ± 3.1% (n = 3) of the maximal opening rate attainable at high [MgATP] (Fig. 2 D), we can express the relative opening rate for each analogue as percentage of maximal: 5.3 ± 0.5% (n = 32) at 5 mM and 3.5 ± 0.9% (n = 7) at 0.5 mM MgAMPPNP, 3.8 ± 1.0% (n = 11) at 5 mM MgAMPPCP, and 6.0 ± 1.0% (n = 5) at 2 mM MgATPS.

Two findings argue that this observed low efficacy of millimolar MgAMPPNP in promoting channel opening cannot be overcome by applying even higher concentrations, as might be anticipated if the phosphate chain modification greatly reduced nucleotide binding affinity. First, assuming a hyperbolic relationship between relative opening rate and [MgAMPPNP] (as established for MgATP; Fig. 2 D), the two data points at 0.5 and 5 mM suggest that MgAMPPNP supports a V_max of 5.4% of the maximal opening rate in MgATP, with a K_0.5 = 280 µM. Second, addition of 200 µM MgAMPPNP to a 50 µM MgATP-containing solution (Fig. 8 A) reduced the rate of opening to bursts of WT CFTR channels by 40% on average (Fig. 8 B). Ignoring the relatively infrequent openings due to the 200 µM MgAMPPNP itself, and treating MgAMPPNP as a simple competitive inhibitor of MgATP action, we estimate an apparent K_i for MgAMPPNP of 230 ± 70 µM (n = 3).

The apparent affinity of CFTR channels for MgAMPPCP is comparable. Thus, a mixture of 10 µM MgATP with 5 mM MgAMPPCP was found to be less than half as effective as 10 µM MgATP alone in opening the channels (r_{CO[5 mM AMPPCP + 10µM ATP]}/r_{CO[10 µM ATP]} = 0.41 ± 0.05, n = 8). In this case, with such a high concentration of the analogue, many of the openings would have been due to MgAMPPCP binding alone, i.e., the analogue would have acted both as a ligand causing channels to open and as a competitive inhibitor of ATP-induced opening. From the ratio r_{CO[5 mM AMPPCP + 10 µM ATP]}/r_{CO[10 µM ATP]} and the measure of relative opening rate in 5 mM MgAMPPCP alone, we can estimate an effective dissociation constant for MgAMPPCP of 360 µM.

In principle, the gating we observe in MgAMPPNP alone could reflect contaminating MgATP, as ATP can form during AMPPNP synthesis if conditions are not kept strictly anhydrous (Thomas Billert, personal communication). Indeed Carson and Welsh (1993) reported contamination of AMPPNP by up to 0.5% ATP, and HPLC analysis (JenaBioScience GmbH) of our Sigma-Aldrich AMPPNP preparations revealed a small contamination (1%) that might have been ATP. To examine this possibility, AMPPNP stock solutions were pretreated with hexokinase, which transfers the terminal phosphate from ATP, but not from AMPPNP (Yount, 1971), to glucose. Compared with parallel "mock" pretreatments omitting glucose, inclusion of glucose during AMPPNP treatment with hexokinase did not result in a consistent reduction in opening rate (r_{CO HK+}/r_{CO HK-} = 0.9 ± 0.2, n = 15; compared in the same patch). Also, MgAMPPNP from Sigma-Aldrich and MgAMPPNP from Roche Diagnostics were equally effective in stimulating channel opening (r_{CO Sigma}/r_{CO Roche} = 1.1 ± 0.2, n = 7; compared in the same patch), even though HPLC analysis of Roche AMPPNP samples showed no peak at retention times close to that of ATP. These results indicate that the channel openings in MgAMPPNP alone were not due to traces of contaminating ATP but resulted from interaction of CFTR with the imidotriphosphate.

WT Channel Closing from Locked-open Bursts Is Faster After Activation in MgAMPPNP Alone than After Activation in Mixtures of MgAMPPNP with MgATP
During exposure of WT CFTR channels to MgAMPPNP or MgATPS alone, channel closing from bursts, as well as opening, differs from that seen in MgATP (Fig. 7 A). Thus, during exposures to MgAMPPNP or to MgATPS (but, interestingly, not to MgAMPPCP) apparently prolonged bursts could be observed. Assuming a single population of open bursts (i.e., a C-O-C_F gating model, possibly an oversimplification) and applying our standard kinetic analysis, we obtained an approximation for the mean burst duration in the presence of each analogue (e.g., Table ID) and normalized it to that at 10 µM MgATP in the same patch, yielding average ratios of 7.5 ± 3.5 (n = 4), 4.7 ± 0.6 (n = 32), and 1.2 ± 0.2 (n = 11) for MgATPS, MgAMPPNP, and MgAMPPCP, respectively.

In contrast to this 5–10-fold average lengthening of bursts in the presence of MgAMPPNP or MgATPS alone, mixtures of either analogue with MgATP have been shown to "lock open" WT CFTR channels in prolonged bursts 50–100-fold longer than those in MgATP alone (Gunderson and Kopito, 1994; Hwang et al., 1994; Zeltwanger et al., 1999; Csanády et al., 2000; see also Fig. 10, A and D). To address whether this quantitative difference reflects a direct influence of the simultaneous presence of MgATP and analogue on burst duration, we prephosphorylated WT channels, removed the PKA, and then directly compared closing after exposure to MgATP alone, to MgAMPPNP alone, or to a mixture of MgAMPPNP and MgATP, applied in random order (Fig. 9, inset). For each condition, current traces after nucleotide withdrawal were summed to give ensemble pseudomacroscopic current relaxations (Fig. 9, main panel), which revealed that closing after washout of MgAMPPNP alone (Fig. 9, red trace) was clearly slower than after exposure to MgATP alone (Fig. 9, black trace), in qualitative agreement with the standard kinetic analysis above. However, the relaxation after removal of MgATP + MgAMPPNP (Fig. 9, blue trace), although biexponential, was far slower than expected if the two components reflected closing of two populations of channels, each one independently activated by either just MgATP or just MgAMPPNP. Indeed, the slow component was visibly slower (_s = 37 s) than the decay after removal of MgAMPPNP alone (7 s), suggesting that the combined presence of MgATP and MgAMPPNP further stabilized the locked-open channel burst states. This synergy cannot be explained by models in which timing of closing depends on interactions of each channel with a single nucleotide. It implies that interactions between a single channel and at least two nucleotide molecules determine the rate of exit from a locked-open burst.

Closing from Locked-open Bursts Is Faster for K464A Mutants than for WT Channels
Although the K464A mutation did not alter open burst duration of channels exposed to MgATP (Figs. 2 E, 4, and 5), regardless of phosphorylation status (Fig. 4; Table I), it did significantly reduce the duration of certain unusually prolonged bursts. For example, nucleotide withdrawal from patches containing hundreds of WT CFTR channels opened with MgATP plus MgAMPPNP mixture in the presence of PKA resulted in a slow biexponential current decay (Fig. 10 A). On average, 87 ± 4% (n = 18) of the total amplitude of the relaxation was attributable to the slow component (Fig. 10 C) whose time constant, _s = 48.3 ± 4.5 s (n = 18; Fig. 10 D), provides an estimate of the mean dwell time in the locked-open burst (Csanády et al., 2000). The much smaller fast component (fractional amplitude, a_f = 0.13) had a time constant, _f = 2.0 ± 0.5 s (n = 18), not greatly different from the normal burst duration of WT channels opened by MgATP in the presence of PKA. For K464A channels, on the other hand (Fig. 10 B), the slow component comprised a somewhat smaller fraction (a_s = 0.63 ± 0.04, n = 16, Fig. 10 C) of the current decay, but its time constant, _s = 9.5 ± 0.8 s (n = 16; Fig. 10 D), was markedly reduced.

The smaller fractional amplitude of the slow component for K464A channels can be explained by this observed shortening of their locked-open bursts without the mutation markedly altering the frequency of entry into such bursts. At steady state, the average fraction of time a single channel spends in a particular state is identical to the average fraction of the population of such channels that occupies that state at any instant. Accordingly, because at the moment of nucleotide withdrawal (steady state in the presence of MgATP + MgAMPPNP + PKA) a fraction a_f of open channels was in short bursts (lasting _f seconds), and a fraction a_s was in long bursts (lasting _s seconds), each single channel may be expected to have spent (at steady state) a_f of its open time in short bursts, and a_s of its open time in long bursts. So the ratio of the fast to slow fractional amplitudes, a_f/a_s, equals the ratio n_f/m_s, where n and m are the average numbers of short and long bursts, respectively, entered by each channel in a given (sufficiently long) time interval. We may therefore calculate m/(n + m) = 0.2 for WT channels, i.e., 1 in every 5 openings results in a long burst. The analogous estimate for K464A channels gives an average of 1 locking in every 6 openings. Thus, although mutation of the Walker A lysine at NBD1 substantially shortened locked-open bursts, the mutation apparently altered the frequency of entering these locked bursts little, if at all.

The K464A mutation also shortened (Fig. 10, E–G) the similarly prolonged bursts of NBD2 mutant K1250A channels exposed to MgATP alone (Fig. 6 C). The control record (Fig. 10 E) illustrates the slow decay of macroscopic current after washout of MgATP and PKA from a patch containing hundreds of K1250A CFTR channels. The current relaxation followed a single exponential time course (Fig. 10 E, blue fit line), with an average time constant = 83 ± 14 s (n = 9; Fig. 10 G) (vs. WT = 1.9 ± 0.2 s, n = 35). However, in double mutant K464A/K1250A CFTR channels (Fig. 10 F) the current relaxation time constant ( = 36 ± 4 s, n = 9), and hence the mean open-burst dwell time, was less than half that of channels bearing the K1250A mutation alone (Fig. 10 G).

Closing from Bursts During Activation by Poorly Hydrolyzable Analogs Alone Is Faster for K464A Mutants than for WT Channels
Like WT CFTR (Fig. 7), mutant K464A channels could be opened by millimolar concentrations of the analogs MgAMPPNP or MgATPS alone (Fig. 11), with rates of opening to bursts of 1.5 ± 0.2% (n = 4) at 0.5 mM and 2.9 ± 0.3% (n = 4) at 5 mM MgAMPPNP, and 5.0 ± 0.6% (n = 8) at 2 mM MgATPS, of the maximal rate at saturating [MgATP], values not very different from those for WT channels under the same conditions. However, the 5–10-fold prolongation of WT bursts by these analogs (Fig. 7 A) was not evident in K464A channels (Fig. 11): for K464A channels opened by MgAMPPNP or MgATPS alone, the mean b values were only 1.1 ± 0.2 (n = 8) or 2.2 ± 0.5 (n = 8) times larger, respectively, than at 10 µM MgATP. Because this consequence of the K464A mutation is manifest during exposure to essentially nonhydrolyzable ATP analogs it cannot be ascribed to any failure of the mutant channel to hydrolyze nucleotide at the NBD1 catalytic site, but instead must be attributed to the alteration of NBD1 structure per se.

	DISCUSSION

TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES

 
We may draw several conclusions from these analyses of gating kinetics of WT and of NBD mutant CFTR channels, in the presence of MgATP and/or of poorly-hydrolyzable analogs: (a) nucleotide binds at both NBD1 and NBD2 catalytic sites before channel opening; (b) the slow opening transition, after nucleotide binding, is highly sensitive to the structures of the ß- phosphate bridging group and of the phosphate; (c) no further nucleotide binding is required to terminate an open burst; (d) hydrolysis of the nucleotide at NBD2 precedes normal, rapid closing from bursts; (e) if that hydrolysis is prevented, the structure of the NBD1 catalytic site and of the nucleotide bound there can modulate rate of exit from the resulting prolonged (locked) open burst. Together, these findings define asymmetric yet interacting roles for the two NBDs in controlling MgATP-dependent channel gating, and they suggest schemes that describe the underlying molecular mechanisms. In the following, we critically evaluate the information and arguments upon which these conclusions are based.

CFTR Cl^- Channel Opening to a Burst
Opening is preceded by nucleotide binding to both catalytic sites
That CFTR channel opening rate varies with [MgATP] (Gunderson and Kopito 1994; Venglarik et al., 1994; Winter et al., 1994; Zeltwanger et al., 1999; Csanády et al., 2000) implies that channel opening to a burst requires at least one MgATP binding step. The saturable dependence of r_CO on [MgATP] (Fig. 2 D) means that some (relatively slow) step unrelated to nucleotide binding sets the maximal rate of channel opening at saturating [MgATP]. In principle, that slow step could precede or follow MgATP binding. But, because