Impaired endosomal recycling in proximal tubules is mechanistically linked to proteinuria

Through substitution mapping studies, we previously identified that a <330kb region from a rat strain with no renal pathology (the Lewis rat), which when introgressed onto the genetic background of a rat with renal disease (the Dahl Salt-sensitive (S) rat), caused an increase rather than the expected decrease in proteinuria. The purpose of this study was to prioritize a candidate gene and further delineate the mechanism underlying the observed increased in proteinuria. A higher level of proteinuria independent of dietary salt was observed in the congenic rat at a very young age (50-52 day old). The critical congenic segment was further mapped to <42.5kb containing a single candidate gene, rififylin. Rififylin was expressed 1.59 fold higher in the congenic strain compared with S. Overexpression of rififylin is known to delay recycling of endosomes. Renal transcriptome analysis indicated that Atp1a1 one of the most highly differentially expressed genes. Atp1a1 was 5.33 fold higher in the congenic strain compared with S. The protein product of Atp1a1, the alpha subunit of Na+K+ATPase, was also significantly higher in the endosomes of proximal tubules from the congenic strain compared with S. To determine whether the higher amounts of this protein in the endosomes is due to a delay in recycling of endosomes caused by the overexpression of rififylin in the congenic strain, recycling of exogenously labeled-transferrin by single cell cultures of proximal tubules was monitored by confocal microscopy. Recycling of transferrin was significantly delayed in the congenic strain compared with S. These results suggest that impaired endosomal recycling in the proximal tubules from the congenic strain caused by the overexpression of rififylin is a novel molecular mechanism linked to the observed increase in proteinuria of the congenic strain.

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