Studies on the release of barley aleurone cell proteins: Autoradiography

Summary Both uptake and incorporation of radioactivity from ³H]l-leucine into gibberellic-acid (GA₃)-treated aleurone layers of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) was enhanced by pretreatment with 5 mM potassium bromate. The effect of 5 mM KBrO₃ on amino-acid incorporation was quantitative rather than qualitative and could be partly reversed by the addition of neutralized casein hydrolysate at 10 mg/ml. Autoradiographs of GA₃-treated aleurone cells pulsed with ³H]leucine showed distribution of silver grains predominantly over the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and aleurone grains. After chasing with carrier l-leucine for 60 min, fewer silver grains were associated with the ER and aleurone grains while nearly half of the silver was associated with the ground cytoplasm of the cell. Autoradiographs were prepared from aleurone cells previously stratified by ultracentrifugation. After a 10-min pulse of label, the silver grains were found over the central ER zone of centrifuged cells; however, with an increase in duration of the chase, label was found distributed throughout the aleurone grain and spherosome region of the cell. The silver grains which were located over the central zone of centrifuged cells at the end of the pulse were almost exclusively associated with the ER. There is no evidence for association of label with dictyosomes or with vesicles derived from dictyosomes. The experimental evidence indicates that labelled amino acids are incorporated into aleurone cells on the ER and are released from these cells without the participation of a membrane-bound vesicle.