Membrane topology and cell surface targeting of microsomal epoxide hydrolase. Evidence for multiple topological orientations.

Microsomal epoxide hydrolase (mEH) is a bifunctional membrane protein that plays a central role in the metabolism of xenobiotics and in the hepatocyte uptake of bile acids. Numerous studies have established that this protein is expressed both in the endoplasmic reticulum and at the sinusoidal plasma membrane. Preliminary evidence has suggested that mEH is expressed in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane with two distinct topological orientations. To further characterize the membrane topology and targeting of this protein, an N-glycosylation site was engineered into mEH to serve as a topological probe for the elucidation of the cellular location of mEH domains. The cDNAs for mEH and this mEH derivative (mEHg) were then expressed in vitro and in COS-7 cells. Analysis of total expressed protein in these systems indicated that mEHg was largely unglycosylated, suggesting that expression in the ER was primarily of a type I orientation (Ccyt/Nexo). However, analysis, by biotin/avidin labeling procedures, of mEHg expressed at the surface of transfected COS-7 cells, showed it to be fully glycosylated, indicating that the topological form targeted to this site originally had a type II orientation (Cexo/Ncyt) in the ER. The surface expression of mEH was also confirmed by confocal fluorescence scanning microscopy. The sensitivity of mEH topology to the charge at the N-terminal domain was demonstrated by altering the net charge over a range of 0 to +3. The introduction of one positive charge led to a significant inversion in mEH topology based on glycosylation site analysis. A truncated form of mEH lacking the N-terminal hydrophobic transmembrane domain was also detected on the extracellular surface of transfected COS-7 cells, demonstrating the existence of at least one additional transmembrane segment. These results suggest that mEH may be integrated into the membrane with multiple transmembrane domains and is inserted into the ER membrane with two topological orientations, one of which is targeted to the plasma membrane where it mediates bile acid transport.