Degradation of horseradish peroxidase after microinjection into mammalian cells

Autophagy and other vacuolar protein degradation mechanisms

Autophagic degradation of cytoplasm (including protein, RNA etc.) is a non-selective bulk process, as indicated by ultrastructural evidence and by the similarity in autophagic sequestration rates of various cytosolic enzymes with different half-lives. The initial autophagic sequestration step, performed by a poorly-characterized organelle called a phagophore, is subject to feedback inhibition by purines and amino acids, the effect of the latter being potentiated by insulin and antagonized by glucagon. Epinephrine and other adrenergic agonists inhibit autophagic sequestration through a prazosin-sensitive alpha 1-adrenergic mechanism. The sequestration is also inhibited by cAMP and by protein phosphorylation as indicated by the effects of cyclic nucleotide analogues, phosphodiesterase inhibitors and okadaic acid. Asparagine specifically inhibits autophagic-lysosomal fusion without having any significant effects on autophagic sequestration, on intralysosomal degradation or on the endocytic pathway. Autophaged material that accumulates in prelysosomal vacuoles in the presence of asparagine is accessible to endocytosed enzymes, revealing the existence of an amphifunctional organelle, the amphisome. Evidence from several cell types suggests that endocytosis may be coupled to autophagy to a variable extent, and that the amphisome may play a central role as a collecting station for material destined for lysosomal degradation. Protein degradation can also take place in a 'salvage compartment' closely associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In this compartment unassembled protein chains are degraded by uncharacterized proteinases, while resident proteins return to the ER and assembled secretory and membrane proteins proceed through the Golgi apparatus. In the trans-Golgi network some proteins are proteolytically processed by Ca(2+)-dependent proteinases; furthermore, this compartment sorts proteins to lysosomes, various membrane domains, endosomes or secretory vesicles/granules. Processing of both endogenous and exogenous proteins can occur in endosomes, which may play a particularly important role in antigen processing and presentation. Proteins in endosomes or secretory compartments can either be exocytosed, or channeled to lysosomes for degradation. The switch mechanisms which decide between these options are subject to bioregulation by external agents (hormones and growth factors), and may play an important role in the control of protein uptake and secretion.

Proteolysis of N-ethylmaleimide-modified aldolase loaded into erythrocyte ghosts: prevention by inhibitors of calpain

1. When rabbit muscle aldolase labelled with tritium and inactivated by N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) was loaded into erythrocyte ghosts, significant proteolysis of the loaded protein occurred. The major product of this proteolysis, separated by electrophoresis under dissociating conditions, was found to be approx. 2 kDa smaller than the parent protein. 2. Proteolysis was detectable during erythrocyte ghost loading at 0 degrees C, reaching a plateau after approx. 12 min. Subsequent incubation at 37 degrees C to allow resealing of the ghosts resulted in additional proteolysis, and up to 20% of the loaded protein was converted to the smaller 38 kDa derivative. 3. EDTA, EGTA, leupeptin and chymostatin, each inhibitors of calcium-activated neutral proteinases (calpains), were the most effective inhibitors of the proteolysis of NEM-inactivated aldolase in ghosts. Other proteinase inhibitors were ineffective, while phenylmethanesulphonyl fluoride was only partially effective. 4. Inhibition of the proteolysis by EGTA was prevented by CaCl2, supporting the involvement of erythrocyte calpain. 5. Pretreatment of ghosts with EGTA prior to loading of NEM-modified aldolase followed by microinjection of the protein into HeLa cells did not result in a different rate of its overall breakdown to acid-soluble products. EGTA is suggested as a useful agent for the erythrocyte ghost-mediated microinjection of calpain-sensitive proteins.

Effects of inhibitors on aldolase breakdown after its microinjection into HeLa cells

1. The regulation of protein breakdown as well as the generation of intermediates in the pathway from intact protein to amino acids was investigated by using 3H-labelled N-ethylmaleimide-modified aldolase (NEM-aldolase) as an indicator protein after its microinjection into HeLa cells. 2. NEM-aldolase degradation to acid-soluble products proceeded at a slower rate than that of endogenously labelled total cell protein, and was inhibited to a greater extent by 3-methyladenine, leupeptin and NH4Cl. The combination of leupeptin plus NH4Cl was particularly effective, decreasing the NEM-aldolase breakdown rate by 90%. 3. Measurements of the loss of radioactivity from the aldolase band located from fluorograms after SDS/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis showed that NEM-aldolase breakdown was much more rapid when measured by this method. The effects of insulin, 3-methyladenine, leupeptin and NH4Cl on this breakdown were also substantial. 4. Substantial amounts of peptide intermediates in the breakdown pathway of NEM-aldolase accumulated in cells. The production of small intermediates (less than 30 kDa) accounted for approx. 40% of the NEM-aldolase degraded in control cultures. Addition of NH4Cl increased the proportion of these intermediates. Large intermediates, between 31 and 38 kDa, were particularly evident in the presence of the cysteine proteinase inhibitor leupeptin, but almost no small intermediates were detected. 5. The results are best explained by the degradation of NEM-aldolase being predominantly a lysosomal process, with cysteine proteinases involved in early proteolytic steps and other proteinases that have acid pH optima required for the complete catabolism of small intermediates.

Inactivation kinetics of horseradish peroxidase microinjected into hepatocytes from mice of various ages

We have studied degradation of proteins in liver parenchymal cells in culture obtained from mice of various ages. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was microinjected into the cells by the hypertonic-hypotonic method of Okada and Rechsteiner (Cell, 29 (1982) 33-41). Rate of inactivation of HRP was examined biochemically. Average functional half-lives of the enzyme were 50 h, 53 h and 75 h in the cells of young (3-8 months old), middle-aged (18-20 months old) and old (28-30 months old) mice, respectively. Thus, half-life of the inactivation of the enzyme in "old" cells was about 50% longer than that in "young" or "middle-aged" cells, suggesting that rate of protein degradation is lowered in senescent animals.

Degradation of native and modified forms of fructose-bisphosphate aldolase microinjected into HeLa cells

The uptake and degradation of radiolabelled rabbit muscle fructose-bisphosphate aldolase (EC 4.1.2.13) was studied in HeLa cells microinjected by the erythrocyte ghost fusion system. Labelled aldolase was progressively modified by treatment with GSSG or N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) before microinjection to determine whether these agents, which inactivate and destabilize the enzyme in vitro, affect the half-life of the enzyme in vivo. Increasing exposure of aldolase to GSSG or NEM before microinjection increased the extent of aldolase transfer into the HeLa cells and decreased the proportion of the protein that could be extracted from the cells after water lysis. Some degradation of the GSSG- and NEM-inactivated aldolases was observed in the ghosts before microinjection; thus a family of radiolabelled proteins was microinjected in these experiments. In spite of the above differences, the 40 kDa subunit of each aldolase form was degraded with a half-life of 30 h in the HeLa cells. In contrast, the progressively modified forms of aldolase were increasingly susceptible to proteolytic action in vitro by chymotrypsin or by cathepsin B and in ghosts. These studies indicate that the rate of aldolase degradation in cells is not determined by attack by cellular proteinases that recognize vulnerable protein substrates; the results are most easily explained by a random autophagic process involving the lysosomal system.