A specific substrate from rabbit cerebellum for guanosine 3':5'-monophosphate-dependent protein kinase. I. Purification and characterization

A protein that exhibits greater substrate specificity for cGMP-dependent protein kinase than for cAMP-dependent protein kinase has been purified 8,000-fold from cytosol of rabbit cerebellum to apparent homogeneity as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The protein, termed G-substrate, is a monomer of 23,000 daltons. It is heterogeneous on isoelectric focusing, exhibiting three isoelectric forms over the pH range of 5.2-5.6 cGMP-dependent protein kinase catalyzes the incorporation of 2 mol of phosphate/mol of G-substrate, both into threonine residues. The protein has a high content of aspartate, glutamate, and proline. The hydrodynamic properties, heat stability, and acid solubility of this protein are consistent with an unfolded, nonglobular structure. G-substrate is localized primarily in the cytosol of cerebellum, although low concentrations of a phosphorylated protein with a similar molecular weight are detected in other brain regions.     

Biosynthesis and processing of presumed neurosecretory proteins in single identified neurons of Aplysia californica

The biosynthesis and processing of low molecular weight protein (presumed neurosecretory protein) in cells R15, R14 and L11 of Aplysia californica was studied at high resolution by polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecylsulfate. The number of low molecular weight proteins detected in each cell ranges from 3 in R14 and L11 to 5 or 6 in R15. In each of the cells studied, the low molecular weight protein consists of a primary precursor of ca. 12,000 daltons, and its proteolytic processing products. In each cell, the smallest protein, or in the case of R14, one of the two smallest proteins, accumulates to a significant extent, suggesting that it might correspond to a final processed neurohormone. In cell R15, the biosynthesis of the primary precursor and its subsequent processing to smaller peptides is largely unaffected by removal of extracellular calcium, by replacement of calcium with cobalt or by inhibition of spontaneous bursting via stimulation of the brachial nerve.     

Identification and Topography of Substrates for Protein Carboxyl Methyltransferase in Synaptic Membrane and Myelin-Enriched Fractions of Bovine and Rat Brain

The major components of crude brain synaptosomes (synaptic membranes, mitochondria, and myelin) have been separated and analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for the presence of proteins that serve as substrates for protein carboxyl methyltransferase. Of the three fractions, synaptic membranes contain the largest number of individual methyl acceptors (at least seven), while mitochondria contain no well-defined methyl acceptors. Undisrupted myelin contains a single major methyl acceptor with a very low apparent molecular weight. The patterns of protein methylation in synaptic membranes prepared from cerebral cortex, hippocampus, striatum, thalamus, and tectum showed marked differences; however, these differences could largely be explained by differential degrees of myelin contamination in synaptic membranes from the different regions. The effect of trypsin pretreatment on the carboxyl methylation of intact and lysed synaptosomes was studied to estimate the sidedness of the major methylation sites on synaptic membranes. One of the methyl acceptors (Mr 48K) appears to be facing the intracellular surface of the synaptosome, but most sites appear to be outward facing.