Sterine sind essentielle Komponenten der Zellmembran, deren Konzentration und Lokalisierung genau kontrolliert wird. Die Hefe Saccharomyces cerevisiae ist ein fakultativ anaerober Organismus, der in Abwesenheit von Sauerstoff auxotroph für Sterine wird. Die Proteine Aus1p und Pdr11p gehören zur Familie der ABC Proteine und spielen eine wichtige Rolle in diesem Prozess, da die gleichzeitige Deletion beider Protein die Aufnahme von Sterinen unter anaeroben Wachstumsbedingungen blockiert.In dieser Arbeit wurde das Gen AUS1 in voller Länge kloniert. Methoden für die Extraktion und Reinigung dieses Transporters wurden entwickelt, damit dieser detailliert charakterisiert werden kann. Mit Hilfe von Detergenzien wurde das Protein löslich gemacht und zeigte ATP-Bindung und -Hydrolyse. Die ATP-Hydrolyse konnte durch die Mutation eines konservierten Lysins zu Methionin im Walker A Motif verhindert. Genauso konnte die ATP-Hydrolyse auch durch klassische Inhibitoren von ABC Transportern inhibiert werden. Nach der Rekonstitution von Aus1p in Proteoliposomen wurde die ATPase Aktivität spezifisch durch Phosphatidylserin in einer stereoselektiven Weise stimuliert.Zusätzlich konnte gezeigt werden, dass Änderungen im zellulären PS Spiegel die Aus1p-abhängige Aufnahme von Sterin an die Membran beeinflussen. Diese Ergebnisse schlagen eine für die Aktivität des Transporters wichtige, direkte Interaktion zwischen Aus1p und PS vor.Da es sich bei der Aufnahme von Sterin um einen komplexen Prozess handelt, könnten Komponenten exisitieren, die mit Aus1p interagieren. Der Hefestamm, der die Immunpräzipitation von Aus1p mit seinem Interaktionspartner ermöglicht, wurde erzeugt und der Einfluß von Mannoproteinen auf Sterinaufnahme wurde getestet. Außerdem wurde eine Methode entwickelt, mit der Aus1p in Giant Unilamellar Vesicles rekonstituiert werden kann. Mit diesen Liposomen kann das Verhalten und die Aktivität von Aus1p in Membranen mit einer komplexen Lipidzusammensetzung untersucht werden. / Sterols are essential components of cellular membranes and their concentration and localization are tightly controlled. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a facultative anaerobic organism which becomes auxotrophic for sterols in the absence of oxygen. However, the precise mechanism of sterol uptake remains to be revealed. Two proteins belonging to ABC protein family, Aus1p and Pdr11p were proposed to play a critical role in this process as simultaneous deletion of both of them blocks sterol uptake under anaerobiosis. In the present work, the full length AUS1 gene was cloned. An extraction and purification procedures were then developed to allow for detailed characterization of the transporter. The detergent solubilized protein was shown to bind and hydrolyse ATP. Mutagenesis of the conserved lysine to methionine in the Walker A motif abolished ATP hydrolysis. Likewise, ATP hydrolysis was inhibited by classical inhibitors of ABC transporters. Upon reconstitution into proteoliposomes, the ATPase activity of Aus1p was specifically stimulated by phosphatidylserine (PS) in a stereoselective manner. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that Aus1p-dependent sterol uptake, but not Aus1p expression and trafficking to the plasma membrane, was affected by changes in cellular PS levels. These results suggest a direct interaction between Aus1p and PS which is critical for the activity of the transporter. Because of the complexity of sterol incorporation process efforts were made to identify additional components of the sterol uptake machinery that interact with Aus1p protein. The yeast strain allowing for immunopercipitation of Aus1p with its interaction partners was generated and previously proposed influence of mannoproteins on the sterol uptake was tested. Additionally, method was developed to reconstitute Aus1p protein into Giant Unilamellar Vesicles. These liposomes can be used further for testing of the behaviour and activity of Aus1p in the membranes with complex lipid composition.

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) may lead to the formation of the Abeta peptide, the major constituent of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer`s disease. The full-length APP is a substrate for at least 2 different (alpha and beta) proteases ("secretases"). The beta-secretase, BACE, cleaves APP in the first step of processing leading to the formation of the neurotoxic Abeta. BACE competes for APP with alpha-secretase, which cleaves APP within its Abeta sequence, thus precluding Abeta formation. It is thus important to understand how is the access of the alpha- and beta-secretase to APP regulated and how are the individual activities of these secretases modulated. Both these regulatory mechanisms, access to substrate and direct activity modulation, can be determined by the lipid composition of the membrane. Integral membrane proteins (like APP and BACE), can be viewed as solutes in a two-dimensional liquid membrane, and as such their state, and biological activity, critically depend on the physico-chemical character (fluidity, curvature, surface charge distribution, lateral domain heterogeneity etc.) of the lipid bilayer. These collective membrane properties will influence the activity of embedded membrane proteins. In addition, activity regulation may involve a direct interaction with a specific lipid (cofactor or co-structure function). Interactions of membrane proteins are furthermore affected by lateral domain organization of the membrane. Previous results had suggested that the regulation of the activity of the alpha- and beta-secretases and of their access to APP is lipid dependent, and involves lipid rafts. Using the baculovirus expression system, we have purified recombinant human full-length APP and BACE to homogeneity, and reconstituted them in large (~100nm, LUVs) and giant (10-150microm, GUVs) unilamellar vesicles. Using a soluble peptide substrate mimicking the beta-cleavage site of APP, we have examined the involvement of individual lipid species in modulating BACE activity in LUVs of various lipid compositions. We have identified 3 groups of lipids that stimulate proteolytic activity of BACE: 1.cerebrosides, 2.anionic glycerophospholipids, 3. cholesterol. Furthermore, we have co-reconstituted APP and BACE together in LUVs and demonstrated that BACE cleaves APP at the correct site, generating the beta-cleaved ectodomain identical to that from cells. We have developed an assay to quantitatively follow the beta-cleavage in proteoliposomes, and we have shown that the rate of cleavage in total brain lipid proteoliposomes is higher than in phosphatidylcholine vesicles. We have also studied partitioning of APP and BACE in GUVs between liquid ordered (lo) and liquid disordered (ld) phases. In this system, significant part of the BACE pool (about 20%) partitions into the lo phase, and its partitioning into lo phase can be further enhanced by cross-linking of membrane components. Only negligible fraction of APP can be found in the lo phase. We continue to study the behavior of co-reconstituted APP and BACE in GUVs The work presented in this thesis has yielded some interesting results and raised further questions. One of the important assignments of this project will in the next stage be the characterization of the impact of membrane domain organization on the beta-cleavage. Different domain arrangements that can be hypothesized in cell membranes can be modeled by varying the degree of phase fragmentation in proteoliposomes comprising reconstituted APP and BACE.

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) may lead to the formation of the Abeta peptide, the major constituent of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer`s disease. The full-length APP is a substrate for at least 2 different (alpha and beta) proteases ("secretases"). The beta-secretase, BACE, cleaves APP in the first step of processing leading to the formation of the neurotoxic Abeta. BACE competes for APP with alpha-secretase, which cleaves APP within its Abeta sequence, thus precluding Abeta formation. It is thus important to understand how is the access of the alpha- and beta-secretase to APP regulated and how are the individual activities of these secretases modulated. Both these regulatory mechanisms, access to substrate and direct activity modulation, can be determined by the lipid composition of the membrane. Integral membrane proteins (like APP and BACE), can be viewed as solutes in a two-dimensional liquid membrane, and as such their state, and biological activity, critically depend on the physico-chemical character (fluidity, curvature, surface charge distribution, lateral domain heterogeneity etc.) of the lipid bilayer. These collective membrane properties will influence the activity of embedded membrane proteins. In addition, activity regulation may involve a direct interaction with a specific lipid (cofactor or co-structure function). Interactions of membrane proteins are furthermore affected by lateral domain organization of the membrane. Previous results had suggested that the regulation of the activity of the alpha- and beta-secretases and of their access to APP is lipid dependent, and involves lipid rafts. Using the baculovirus expression system, we have purified recombinant human full-length APP and BACE to homogeneity, and reconstituted them in large (~100nm, LUVs) and giant (10-150microm, GUVs) unilamellar vesicles. Using a soluble peptide substrate mimicking the beta-cleavage site of APP, we have examined the involvement of individual lipid species in modulating BACE activity in LUVs of various lipid compositions. We have identified 3 groups of lipids that stimulate proteolytic activity of BACE: 1.cerebrosides, 2.anionic glycerophospholipids, 3. cholesterol. Furthermore, we have co-reconstituted APP and BACE together in LUVs and demonstrated that BACE cleaves APP at the correct site, generating the beta-cleaved ectodomain identical to that from cells. We have developed an assay to quantitatively follow the beta-cleavage in proteoliposomes, and we have shown that the rate of cleavage in total brain lipid proteoliposomes is higher than in phosphatidylcholine vesicles. We have also studied partitioning of APP and BACE in GUVs between liquid ordered (lo) and liquid disordered (ld) phases. In this system, significant part of the BACE pool (about 20%) partitions into the lo phase, and its partitioning into lo phase can be further enhanced by cross-linking of membrane components. Only negligible fraction of APP can be found in the lo phase. We continue to study the behavior of co-reconstituted APP and BACE in GUVs The work presented in this thesis has yielded some interesting results and raised further questions. One of the important assignments of this project will in the next stage be the characterization of the impact of membrane domain organization on the beta-cleavage. Different domain arrangements that can be hypothesized in cell membranes can be modeled by varying the degree of phase fragmentation in proteoliposomes comprising reconstituted APP and BACE.