Regulation of K+-dependent Na+/Ca2+-exchanger subtype 4, NCKX4, by palmitoylation
Bibliographic record
Abstract
• NCKX4 is palmitoylated on Cys118 and Cys425. • Palmitoylated NCKX4 has a subcellular distribution similar to total NCKX4 protein. • The level of NCKX4 palmitoylation can change more than two-fold within 6 h. • Altering the level of NCKX4 palmitoylation influences its subcellular distribution. • Altering palmitoylation has no effect on cellular NCKX4-mediated Ca2+ transport. Mammalian K + -dependent Na + /Ca 2+ exchangers (NCKX), encoded by the SLC24 gene family, are crucial for maintaining Ca 2+ homeostasis. NCKX4, widely expressed in the brain and sensory neurons, plays a key role in neuronal satiety and enamel formation. Despite its importance, the regulatory mechanisms of NCKX4 remain largely unexplored. This study investigates how palmitoylation, a post-translational modification affecting membrane proteins, regulates NCKX4 and influences its cellular localization and function. Using Acyl-RAC and palmitate-based click-chemistry, we found that approximately 14% of NCKX4 is palmitoylated at steady-state in both endogenous and transfected systems. The level of this modification is highly dynamic, being regulated by inhibitors of palmitoylation (2-bromopalmitate) and depalmitoylation (palmostatin B), resulting in greater than a two-fold decrease or increase, respectively. Site-directed mutagenesis of six cysteine residues revealed two key sites (Cys118 and Cys425) critical for NCKX4 palmitoylation. The subcellular distribution of palmitoylated NCKX4 was examined via proximity ligation and click-chemistry. NCKX4 was found across multiple membrane compartments, with a higher fraction localizing to the plasma membrane when palmitoylation was inhibited by 2-bromopalmitate. However, a Ca 2+ imaging assay in HEK293T cells showed no significant change in aggregate cellular NCKX4-mediated Ca 2+ transport upon modulation of palmitoylation status. These data suggest palmitoylation promotes internalization of the NCKX4 protein while also activating it, counter-acting effects that result in unchanged NCKX4-mediated cellular Ca 2+ transport activity. In summary, NCKX4 is subject to dynamic palmitoylation, which influences both distribution across cellular compartments and intrinsic Ca 2+ transport activity. These findings contribute to our understanding of the regulation and functional roles of NCKX4 in cellular physiology.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".