Hamilton, P.J., Belovich, A.N., Khelashvili, G., Saunders, C., Erreger, K., Javitch, J.A., Sitte, H.H., Weinstein, H., Matthies, H.J., Galli, A. (2014). PIP2 regulates psychostimulant behaviors through its interaction with a membrane protein. Nat. Chem. Biol. 10(7): 582--589.
FlyBase ID
FBrf0225365
Publication Type
Research paper
Abstract
Phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate (PIP2) regulates the function of ion channels and transporters. Here, we demonstrate that PIP2 directly binds the human dopamine (DA) transporter (hDAT), a key regulator of DA homeostasis and a target of the psychostimulant amphetamine (AMPH). This binding occurs through electrostatic interactions with positively charged hDAT N-terminal residues and is shown to facilitate AMPH-induced, DAT-mediated DA efflux and the psychomotor properties of AMPH. Substitution of these residues with uncharged amino acids reduces hDAT-PIP2 interactions and AMPH-induced DA efflux without altering the hDAT physiological function of DA uptake. We evaluated the significance of this interaction in vivo using locomotion as a behavioral assay in Drosophila melanogaster. Expression of mutated hDAT with reduced PIP2 interaction in Drosophila DA neurons impairs AMPH-induced locomotion without altering basal locomotion. We present what is to our knowledge the first demonstration of how PIP2 interactions with a membrane protein can regulate the behaviors of complex organisms.
