The long-term goal of our research program is to understand the molecular basis whereby exchangeable apolipoproteins regulate plasma lipid homeostasis. Recent comparative studies of human and mouse genome sequences led to the discovery of a new member of the exchangeable apolipoprotein family, apolipoprotein A-V (apoA-V). Transgenic and gene disruption experiments in mice have revealed a correlation between apoA-V and plasma triacylglycerol (TG) levels. Given the strong relationship between elevated plasma TG and risk for cardiovascular disease, apoA-V is a potential target for therapeutic intervention. The hypothesis that apoA-V modulates plasma TG levels by influencing hepatic lipoprotein assembly or secretion will be tested in primary hepatocytes from apoA-V knockout and transgenic mice as well as cultured human hepatoma cells. Studies will evaluate the extent to which apoA-V expression in liver cells affects the assembly or secretion of TG-rich lipoproteins. Conditioned medium from cultured cells will be analyzed for lipoprotein content and composition, including apoA-V levels. Fluorescence studies will examine the intracellular localization or trafficking of apoA-V in HepG2 and hepatocytes. Far U.V. circular dichroism spectroscopy will be used to characterize the free energy of unfolding and domain organization of lipid-free and lipid-associated apoA-V. Chemical cleavage of apoA-V will be performed to obtain fragments for examination of the hypothesis that the protein possesses independently folded domains. N- or C-terminal truncation variants will be engineered and characterized in terms of stability, lipid binding and biological effects. ApoA-V tertiary structure and lipid-induced conformational changes will be evaluated by fluorescence resonance energy transfer studies. Site directed mutagenesis will be performed to sequentially replace Trp residues in apoA-V, thereby generating a panel of discrete single Trp apoA-V variants. Cysteine 204 will be labeled with an extrinsic fluorescent probe and distance determinations between these donor/ acceptor pairs made. Taken together, proposed research will employ a combination of functional studies and structural characterization to improve our understanding of the mechanism whereby apoA-V modulates plasma TG levels.
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