AE1 is present in the basolateral face of the α-intercalated cells of the collecting ducts of the nephron, which are the main acid-secreting cells of the kidney. They generate hydrogen ions and bicarbonate ions from carbon dioxide and water – a reaction catalysed by carbonic anhydrase. The hydrogen ions are pumped into the collecting duct tubule by vacuolar H+ ATPase, the apical proton pump, which thus excretes acid into the urine. kAE1, the kidney isoform of AE1, exchanges bicarbonate for chloride on the basolateral surface, essentially returning bicarbonate to the blood. Here it performs two functions:[citation needed]
Electroneutral chloride and bicarbonate exchange across the plasma membrane on a one-for-one basis. This is crucial for CO2 uptake by the red blood cell and conversion (by hydration catalysed by carbonic anhydrase) into a proton and a bicarbonate ion. The bicarbonate is then excreted (in exchange for a chloride) from the cell by AE1.
Physical linkage of the plasma membrane to the underlying membrane skeleton (via binding with ankyrin and protein 4.2). This appears to be to prevent membrane surface loss, rather than having to do with membrane skeleton assembly.
The erythrocyte and kidney forms are different isoforms of the same protein.
The erythrocyte isoform of AE1, known as eAE1, is composed of 911 amino acids. eAE1 is an important structural component of the erythrocyte cell membrane, making up to 25% of the cell membrane surface. Each red cell contains approximately one million copies of eAE1.[citation needed]
The kidney isoform of AE1, known as kAE1 (which is 65 amino acids shorter than erythroid AE1) is found in the basolateral membrane of alpha-intercalated cells in the cortical collecting duct and medullary collecting duct of the kidney.
Clinical significance
It is an important cell membrane protein for interactions between red blood cells (RBC) and Plasmodium falciparum during malaria infection, particularly for strains of P. falciparum that do not exhibit sialic acid dependence for RBC invasion. It is the most abundant protein in the RBC cell membrane.
Mutations of kidney AE1 cause distal (type 1) renal tubular acidosis, which is an inability to acidify the urine, even if the blood is too acidic. These mutations are disease causing as they cause mistargeting of the mutant AE1 proteins so that they are retained within the cell or occasionally addressed to the wrong (i.e. apical) surface.[citation needed]
Mutations of erythroid AE1 affecting the extracellular domains of the molecule may cause alterations in the individual's blood group, as AE1 determines the Diego antigen system (blood group).[citation needed]
More importantly erythroid AE1 mutations cause 15–25% of cases of hereditary spherocytosis (a disorder associated with progressive red cell membrane loss), and also cause the hereditary conditions of hereditary stomatocytosis and Southeast Asian ovalocytosis.
AE1 was discovered following SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) of erythrocyte cell membrane. The large 'third' band on the electrophoresis gel represented AE1, which was thus initially termed 'Band 3'.
↑Bruce LJ, Robinson HC, Guizouarn H, Borgese F, Harrison P, King MJ, etal. (2005). "Monovalent cation leaks in human red cells caused by single amino-acid substitutions in the transport domain of the band 3 chloride-bicarbonate exchanger, AE1". Nat. Genet. 37 (11): 1258–1263. doi:10.1038/ng1656. PMID16227998. S2CID23554234.
↑Vince JW, Carlsson U, Reithmeier RA (November 2000). "Localization of the Cl−/HCO3− anion exchanger binding site to the amino-terminal region of carbonic anhydrase II". Biochemistry. 39 (44): 13344–13349. doi:10.1021/bi0015111. PMID11063570.
↑Vince JW, Reithmeier RA (May 2000). "Identification of the carbonic anhydrase II binding site in the Cl−/HCO3− anion exchanger AE1". Biochemistry. 39 (18): 5527–5533. doi:10.1021/bi992564p. PMID10820026.
↑Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P (2002). Molecular Biology of the Cell (Fourthed.). Garland Science. p.604. ISBN0815332181.
Further reading
Tanner MJ (1993). "Molecular and cellular biology of the erythrocyte anion exchanger (AE1)". Semin. Hematol. 30 (1): 34–57. PMID8434259.
Chambers EJ, Askin D, Bloomberg GB, Ring SM, Tanner MJ (1998). "Studies on the structure of a transmembrane region and a cytoplasmic loop of the human red cell anion exchanger (band 3, AE1)". Biochem. Soc. Trans. 26 (3): 516–520. doi:10.1042/bst0260516. PMID9765907.
Inaba M (2002). "[Band 3: expanding knowledge on its functions]". Seikagaku. 73 (12): 1431–1435. PMID11831035.