A Weak Base-Generating System Suitable for Selective Manipulation of Lysosomal pH

pH varies widely among the different intracellular compartments. The establishment and maintenance of a particular pH appears to be critical for proper organellar function. This has been deduced from experiments where intraorganellar pH was altered by means of weak acids or bases, ionophores or inhibitors of the vacuolar H+-ATPase (V-ATPase). These manipulations, however, are not specific and simultaneously alter the pH of multiple compartments. As a result, it is difficult to assign their effect to a defined organelle. To circumvent this limitation, we designed and implemented a procedure to selectively manipulate the pH of a compartment of choice, using lysosomes as a model organelle. The approach is based on the targeted and continuous enzymatic generation of weak electrolyte, which enabled us to overcome the high buffering capacity of the lysosomal lumen, without altering the pH of other compartments. We targeted jack-bean urease to lysosomes and induced the localized generation of ammonia by providing the membrane-permeant substrate, urea. This resulted in a marked, rapid and fully reversible alkalinization that was restricted to the lysosomal lumen, without measurably affecting the pH of endosomes or of the cytosol. The acute alkalinization induced by urease-urea impaired the activity of pH-dependent lysosomal enzymes, including cathepsins C and L, without altering endosomal function. This approach, which can be extended to other organelles, enables the analysis of the role of pH in selected compartments, without the confounding effects of global disturbances in pH or vesicular traffic.