Studies on the turnover of plasma membranes in cultured mammalian cells.: II. Rates of synthesis and degradation of plasma membrane proteins and carbohydrates

The rate of turnover of membrane proteins and membrane-bound carbohydrates in exponentially growing and in confluent contact-inhibited cultures of strain MK-2 cells was investigated. Cells were labelled with [¹⁴C]leucine and [³H]glucosamine, incubated in isotope-free medium and, at various times thereafter, the cells were harvested and membranes isolated from them. The rate of decay of the protein and carbohydrate components was determined from specific activity dilution of the labeled components in the isolated membranes.Although the rate of membrane synthesis is different in exponential and contact-inhibited cells, the rate of degradation (turnover) of membrane proteins and carbohydrates was found to be the same (25%, per generation (42 h) or 0.6%/h).     

Studies on the turnover of plasma membranes in cultured mammalian cells. II. Demonstration of heterogeneous rates of turnover for plasma membrane proteins and glycoproteins.

The relative rate of turnover of individual membrane proteins and glycoproteins in exponentially growing and contact-inhibited MK2 cells was investigated. Plasma membranes were isolated from cells that had been sequentially labelled with 14-C and 3-H isotopes of leucine and glucosamine. The membranes were then solubilized in sodium dodecylsulfate and their polypeptides separated by acrylamide gel electrophoresis. The 3-H/14-C ratios of the individual polypeptides reflected their relative rates of turnover. The proteins and glycoproteins of the exponentially growing cells exhibited markedly heterogeneous rates of turnover. In contrast, polypeptides in membranes of contact-inhibited cells exhibited a lesser degree of heterogeneity of turnover. In both exponential and contacted cell membranes a glycoprotein with a high apparent molecular weight exhibited the fastest rate of turnover.     

Studies on the turnover of plasma membranes in cultured mammalian cells.: II. Demonstration of heterogeneous rates of turnover for plasma membrane proteins and glycoproteins

The relative rate of turnover of individual membrane proteins and glycoproteins in exponentially growing and contact-inhibited MK₂ cells was investigated. Plasma membranes were isolated from cells that had been sequentially labelled with ¹⁴C and ³H isotopes of leucine and glucosamine. The membranes were then solubilized in sodium dodecylsulfate and their polypeptides separated by acrylamide gel electrophoresis. The ³H/¹⁴C ratios of the individual polypeptides reflected their relative rates of turnover. The proteins and glycoproteins of the exponentially growing cells exhibited markedly heterogeneous rates of turnover. In contrast, polypeptides in membranes of contact-inhibited cells exhibited a lesser degree of heterogeneity of turnover. In both exponential and contacted cell membranes a glycoprotein with a high apparent molecular weight exhibited the fastest rate of turnover.     

Isolation of plasma membranes from cultured glioma cells and application to evaluation of membrane sphingomyelin turnover

A rapid and reliable method for the isolation of plasma membranes and microsomes of high purity and yield from cultured glioma cells is described. The procedure involves disruption by N2 cavitation, preliminary separation by centrifugation in Tricine buffer, and final separation on a gradient formed from 40% Percoll at pH 9.3. Enzyme and chemical markers indicated greater than 60% yield with six- to eightfold enrichment for plasma membranes and greater than 25% yield with three- to fourfold enrichment for a microsomal fraction consisting mainly of endoplasmic reticulum. The final fractions were obtained with high reproducibility in less than 1 h from the time of cell harvesting. Application of this procedure to human fibroblasts in culture is assessed. The isolation procedure was applied to investigations of synthesis and turnover of sphingomyelin and phosphatidylcholine in plasma membranes of glioma cells following incubation for 4-24 h with [methyl-3H]choline. These studies indicated that radioactivity from phosphatidylcholine synthesized in microsomes from exogenous choline may serve as a precursor of the head-group of sphingomyelin accumulating in the plasma membrane.     

Studies on the turnover and subcellular localization of membrane gangliosides in cultured neuroblastoma cells

To compare the subcellular distribution of endogenously synthesized and exogenous gangliosides, cultured murine neuroblastoma cells (N1E-115) were incubated in suspension for 22h in the presence ofd-[1-³H]galactose or [³H]GM1 ganglioside, transferred to culture medium containing no radioisotope for periods of up to 72 hr, and then subjected to subcellular fractionation and analysis of lipidsialic acid and radiolabeled ganglioside levels. The results indicated that GM2 and GM3 were the principal gangliosides in the cells with only traces of GM1 and small amounts of disialogangliosides present. About 50% of the endogenously synthesized radiolabelled ganglioside in the four major subcellular membrane fractions studied was recovered from plasma membrane and only 10–15% from the crude mitochondrial membrane fraction. In contrast, 45% of the exogenous [³H]GM1 taken up into the same subcellular membrane fractions was recovered from the crude mitochondrial fraction; less than 15% was localized in the plasma membrane fraction. The results are similar to those obtained from previously reported studies on membrane phospholipid turnover. They suggest that exogenous GM1 ganglioside, like exogenous phosphatidylcholine, does not intermix freely with any quantitatively major pool of endogenous membrane lipid.     

Density of newly synthesized plasma membrane proteins in intracellular membranes. I. Stereological studies

As the spike proteins of Semliki Forest virus (SFV) pass from their site of synthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the cell surface, they must be concentrated and freed from endogenous proteins. To determine the magnitude of this sorting process we have measured the density of spike proteins in membranes of the intracellular transport pathway. In this first paper, using stereological procedures, we have estimated the surface areas of the ER, Golgi complex, and plasma membrane of infected and mock-infected baby hamster kidney cells. First, we estimated the mean cell volume in absolute units. This was done using a novel in situ method which is described in detail. Infection by SFV was found to have no effect on any of the parameters measured. In the accompanying paper ( Quinn , P., G. Griffiths, and G. Warren, 1984, J. Cell Biol., 2142-2147) these stereological estimates were combined with biochemical estimates of the amount of spike proteins in ER, Golgi complex, and plasma membrane to determine the density in the membranes of these compartments.     

Degradation of exogenous membrane proteins implanted into the plasma membrane of cultured hepatoma cells

A method for implanting exogenous membrane proteins into recipient hepatoma cells is described. Red cell band 3 and Sendai virus envelope proteins HN and F were extracted from their respective sources and purified by centrifugation to equilibrium through sucrose step gradients in the presence of octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside. 0.05-0.15 micron vesicles were formed by adding lipid to combined detergent solubilized, isolated membrane proteins and removing detergent by dialysis. The vesicles were hybrid band 3-Sendai envelope vesicles and not a mixture of two distinct vesicle types as judged by (1) the ability of Sendai specific antibody to immunoprecipitate greater than 99% of band 3 from vesicle suspensions and (2) comigration of band 3 and Sendai envelope proteins on isopyknic sucrose density gradients. The hybrid vesicles (virosomes) were not fusogenic but did bind to cultured hepatoma cells in the cold. Subsequent treatment of virosomes absorbed onto cultured cells with polyethylene glycol resulted in a stable association of 2-10% of added band 3 and Sendai envelope proteins with the cells. Efficient transfer of virosome-associated band 3 to the cells was dependent on both lipid and Sendai envelope proteins. Fluid phase marker transfer, immunofluorescence, and protease digestion experiments demonstrate that the majority of the virosomes were implanted into recipient hepatoma membranes and not simply adsorbed onto their surface or immediately endocytosed. The hybrid membrane protein-viral envelope vesicles thus offer an efficient means for insertion of foreign proteins into the membranes of recipient cultured cells.     

HeLa cell plasma membranes : IV. Iodination of membrane proteins in synchronized cells

Intact HeLa cells and isolated HeLa cell plasma membranes were subjected to lactoperoxidase-catalysed iodination. The ¹²⁵I-labelled proteins were separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Six protein species with apparent molecular weights from 32 000 to 200 000 were accessible to labelling from the outer cell surface, while most of the proteins present in the plasma membrane were labelled when isolated plasma membranes were iodinated. Iodination of synchronized intact cells revealed that the labelling obtained was cell cycle dependent with maximal labelling at mitosis. No changes in the distribution of radioactivity among the labelled proteins were observed when cells from different phases were iodinated.     

Studies on the turnover of proteins of the rat erythrocyte membrane

The membrane proteins of erythrocytes were labeled by injecting L-[14C]-leucine and later L-[3H]leucine into rats, the two injections being 31 days apart. Control animals received the two isotopic forms of L-leucine simultaneously. Deviations in labeling ratio from control patterns were found on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophorograms in restricted regions suggestive of turnover or loss of a few small proteins from the membrane between the 31 days. Most of the ghost proteins show no turnover.     

Dynamic turnover of arabinogalactan proteins in cultured Arabidopsis cells

Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are very large proteoglycans thought to have more of a signaling than a structural role when secreted into the plant cell wall. AGPs are also the first known family of abundant plant proteins synthesized with glycosylphosphatidylinositol(GPI) anchors. Nascent cellular Arabidopsis AGPs, still bearing an intact GPI anchor, and AGPs copiously discharged into the culture medium after phospholipase-cleavage of their anchor were each represented by more than 15 seemingly homologous molecular species of increasing size. In washed cells ³H-ethanolamine was slowly incorporated into each AGP’s GPI anchor via phosphatidylethanolamine. Pulse labeling of AGPs by ³H-acetate and by ³H-galactose was much more rapid, allowing labeled AGP detection in the growth medium within 1 h. HPLC analysis of the radiolabel distribution in AGPs secreted within 1–8 h revealed a sharp preference for the larger molecular species. After several hours a population of smaller radioactive AGP species began to appear in the medium. Following certain manipulations of the cells newly secreted AGP species measured by HPLC on a relative mass basis formed a pattern surprisingly different from the radioactivity pattern, although larger species still dominated. Thus Arabidopsis cells appear capable of releasing higher mass AGP species apparently stored in cell wall sites along with a unique mixture of freshly synthesized AGPs in combinations potentially active in signaling.     

Externally disposed plasma membrane proteins. I. Enzymatic iodination of mouse L cells

The enzymatic iodination technique has been utilized in a study of the externally disposed membrane proteins of the mouse L cell. Iodination of cells in suspension results in lactoperoxidase-specific iodide incorporation with no loss of cell viability under the conditions employed, less than 3% lipid labeling, and more than 90% of the labeled species identifiable as monoiodotyrosine. 90% of the incorporated label is localized to the cell surface by electron microscope autoradiography, with 5-10% in the centrosphere region and postulated to represent pinocytic vesicles. Sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gels of solubilized L-cell proteins reveals five to six labeled peaks ranging from 50,000 to 200,000 daltons. Increased resolution by use of gradient slab gels reveals 15-20 radioactive bands. Over 60% of the label resides in approximately nine polypeptides of 80,000 to 150,000 daltons. Various controls indicate that the labeling pattern reflects endogenous membrane proteins, not serum components. The incorporated 125-I, cholesterol, and one plasma membrane enzyme marker, alkaline phosphodiesterase I, are purified in parallel when plasma membranes are isolated from intact, iodinated L cells. The labeled components present in a plasma membrane-rich fraction from iodinated cells are identical to those of the total cell, with a 10- to 20-fold enrichment in specific activity of each radioactive peak in the membrane.     

Sorting of plasma membrane proteins in epithelial cells.

Proteins follow two routes to reach the correct surface (apical or basolateral) of a polarized epithelial cell: direct sorting from the trans-Golgi network and transcytosis from early endosomes. Several signals have been identified recently that control these sorting events, namely a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol anchor for apical targeting, a 14-residue cytoplasmic segment of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor for basolateral targeting, and phosphorylation of a Ser residue for transcytosis of this receptor. The machinery involved is still poorly understood.     

Participation of plasma membrane proteins in the formation of tight junction by cultured epithelial cells

Measurements of the transepithelial electrical resistance correlated with freeze-fracture observations have been used to study the process of tight junction formation under various experimental conditions in monolayers of the canine kidney epithelial cell line MDCK. Cells derived from previously confluent cultures and plated immediately after trypsin- EDTA dissociation develop a resistance that reaches its maximum value of several hundred ohms-cm(2) after approximately 24 h and falls to a steady-state value of 80-150 ohms- cm(2) by 48 h. The rise in resistance and the development of tight junctions can be completely and reversibly prevented by the addition of 10 μg/ml cycloheximide at the time of plating, but not when this inhibitor is added more than 10 h after planting. Thus tight junction formation consists of separable synthetic and assembly phases. These two phases can also be dissociated and the requirement for protein synthesis after plating eliminated if, following trypsinization, the cells are maintained in spinner culture for 24 h before plating. The requirement for protein synthesis is restored, however, if cells maintained in spinner culture are treated with trypsin before plating. Actinomycin D prevents development of resistance only in monolayers formed from cells derived from sparse rather than confluent cultures, but new mRNA synthesis is not required if cells obtained from sparse cultures are maintained for 24 h in spinner culture before plating. Once a steady-state resistance has been reached, its maintenance does not require either mRNA or protein synthesis; in fact, inhibition of protein synthesis causes a rise in the resistance over a 30-h period. Following treatments that disrupt the junctions in steady- state monolayers recovery of resistance also does not require protein synthesis. These observations suggest that proteins are involved in tight junction formation. Such proteins, which do not turn over rapidly under steady-state conditions, are destroyed by trypsinization and can be resynthesized in the absence of stable cell-cell or cell-substratum contact. Messenger RNA coding for proteins involved in tight junction formation is stable except when cells are sparsely plated, and can also be synthesized without intercellular contacts or cell-substratum attachment.     

Peroxidase synthesis in and membranes from cultured peanut cells

Peroxidase synthesis in peanut cells grown in suspension culture was only affected by incubation with actinomycin D during a brief time following the lag phase of growth. A greater effect was noted at that time using cycloheximide, with lesser effects at later phases. Incubation with chloramphenicol had no effect. These observations along with the presence of peroxidase linked to the endoplasmic reticulum, suggest synthesis of the enzyme occurs on these organelles.     

Studies on the turnover of endogenous choline-containing phospholipids of cultured neuroblastoma cells

The effects of two polypeptide antibiotics, polymixin B and gramicidin S, on the intracellular pool size and turnover of guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp) were analyzed in stringent (relA+) and relaxed (relA) strains of Escherichia coli. When either one of these two drugs was added to stringent bacteria cultures at a final concentration that blocked protein and RNA synthesis, ppGpp was found to accumulate. Under similar conditions of inhibition of macromolecular synthesis, ppGpp also appeared to accumulate in relaxed bacteria. Moreover, in either type of strain, no significant accumulation of guanosine pentaphosphate (pppGpp) could be detected upon drug treatment. It was, therefore, concluded that polymixin and gramicidin elicit ppGpp accumulation through a mechanism independent of the relA gene product and, consequently, quite distinct from the stringent control system triggered by amino acid starvation. Further experiments performed by using tetracycline as an inhibitor of ppGpp synthesis, showed that the increase in the level of this nucleotide induced by drug action was due, in fact, to a strong restriction of its degradation rate.     

Dynamics of four rat liver plasma membrane proteins and polymeric IgA receptor. Rates of synthesis and selective loss into the bile.

We have determined the half-lives and amounts per hepatocyte of the polymeric IgA receptor (pIgA-R) and four rat hepatocyte plasma membrane proteins and subsequently have predicted their rates of synthesis and possible routes of degradation. Using in vivo pulse-chase metabolic labeling with L-[35S]cysteine, we found that the pIgA-R had an apparent half-life of 1.1 h. Additional metabolic labeling experiments showed that CE9, HA4, and HA321 had apparent half-lives of 4-5 days, and dipeptidyl peptidase IV had an apparent half-life of 9 days. To quantify the amount of each protein per hepatocyte, homogenates and a standard curve of purified protein were compared by immunoblotting. We found that these proteins were present at 1-8 x 10(6) molecules/hepatocyte. The calculated rate of synthesis for pIgA-R was 1.6 x 10(6) molecules/hepatocyte/h, whereas the others were synthesized at much lower rates (0.9-5 x 10(4) molecules/hepatocyte/h). Using immunoblot analysis, we found that pIgA-R was released into bile at a rate of 30%/h (700%/day), whereas dipeptidyl peptidase IV and HA4 were released at a rate of 2-3%/day. While the majority of the loss of pIgA-R from hepatocytes occurred by release into the bile, less than 30% of the degradation of dipeptidyl peptidase IV and HA4 could be accounted for by this pathway, suggesting that the remaining molecules must be retrieved from the apical surface before degradation.