Membrane-dependent cleavage of the human placental lactogen precursor to its native form in ascites cell-free extracts

Expression of different-sized placental alkaline phosphatase mRNAs in placenta and choriocarcinoma cells

The expression of human placental-type alkaline phosphatase (ALPase) in the placenta and in three choriocarcinoma cell lines was examined by translation in vitro and RNA blot analysis using a cDNA for placental ALPase. Placental RNA directed the synthesis of two polypeptides that could be immunoprecipitated with antiserum to placental ALPase. Translation of RNA from the choriocarcinoma cell lines, with or without sodium butyrate treatment, yielded a single immunoprecipitable product of molecular weight intermediate between those of the products from the placenta mRNA. Two cDNA clones for placental ALPase were isolated by antibody screening of a placental cDNA library constructed in lambda gt11. The overlapping cDNAs include 462 nucleotides of coding sequence. RNA blot analysis has confirmed that induction of placental-type ALPase levels during placental development is accompanied by an increase in steady-state placental ALPase mRNA concentrations. Examination of the mRNAs revealed a placental ALPase mRNA of 3.0 kilobases (kb) and a distinct choriocarcinoma placental-type ALPase mRNA of 2.6 kb, implying that transformation of normal to malignant trophoblast is associated with the expression of a distinct placental-type ALPase gene transcript and its protein product.

DNA-binding proteins of human placenta: purification and characterization of an endonuclease

DNA binding proteins present in the cytoplasm and nuclei of term placenta were isolated by DNA-cellulose chromatography and analysed by electrophoresis in high resolution polyacrylamide gradient gels. A denatured DNA specific protein of approximate molecular weight 34 000 daltons was the predominant DNA binding protein of the cytoplasm; this protein consisted of over 65% of the total DNA binding proteins of the 0.15 M NaCl eluate of the cytoplasm. The cytoplasmic extracts contained two additional DNA binding proteins of molecular weight 24 000 and 18 000 daltons and these proteins bound preferentially to ds DNA. All the three DNA binding proteins were also present in the nuclei and electrophoresis of histones in adjacent lanes indicated that they are not histones. The 34 000-dalton DNA binding protein has been purified by ammonium sulphate fractionation followed by phosphocellulose (PC) chromatography. The DBP eluted from the PC column between 0.125-0.15 M potassium phosphate. PC fractions containing electrophoretically pure 34 KD DBP showed an endonuclease activity capable of converting plasmid pBR 322 DNA to the linear form. Maximum endonucleolytic activity was observed in the presence of 3-5 mM Mg2+ and the enzyme activity was completely inhibited by 3 mM ethylenediamine tetraacetate.

Erythrocyte membrane protein band 3: its biosynthesis and incorporation into membranes

Band 3, a transmembrane protein that provides the anion channel of the erythrocyte plasma membrane, crosses the membrane more than once and has a large amino terminal segment exposes on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane. The biosynthesis of band 3 and the process of its incorporation into membranes were studied in vivo in erythroid spleen cells of anemic mice and in vitro in protein synthesizing cell-free systems programmed with polysomes and messenger RNA (mRNA). In intact cells newly synthesized band 3 is rapidly incorporated into intracellular membranes where it is glycosylated and it is subsequently transferred to the plasma membrane where it becomes sensitive to digestion by exogenous chymotrypsin. The appearance of band 3 in the cell surface is not contingent upon its glycosylation because it proceeds efficiently in cells treated with tunicamycin. The site of synthesis of band 3 in bound polysomes was established directly by in vitro translation experiments with purified polysomes or with mRNA extracted from them. The band-3 polypeptide synthesized in an mRNA-dependent system had the same electrophoretic mobility as that synthesized in cells treated with tunicamycin. When microsomal membranes were present during translation, the in vitro synthesized band-3 polypeptide was cotranslationally glycosylated and inserted into the membranes. This was inferred from the facts that when synthesis was carried out in the presence of membranes the product had a lower electrophoretic mobility and showed partial resistance to protease digestion. Our observations indicate that the primary translation product of band-3 mRNA is not proteolytically processed either co- or posttranslationally. It is, therefore, proposed that the incorporation of band 3 into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane is initiated by a permanent insertion signal. To account for the cytoplasmic exposure of the amino terminus of the polypeptide we suggest that this signal is located within the interior of the polypeptide. a mechanism that explains the final transmembrane disposition of band 3 in the plasma membrane as resulting from the mode of its incorporation into the ER is presented.

Translocation of proteins across the endoplasmic reticulum III. Signal recognition protein (SRP) causes signal sequence-dependent and site-specific arrest of chain elongation that is released by microsomal membranes

The previously observed (Walter, et al. 1981 J. Cell Biol. 91:545-550) inhibitory effect of SRP selectively on the cell-free translation of mRNA for secretory protein (preprolactin) was shown here to be caused by a signal sequence-induced and site-specific arrest in polypeptide chain elongation. The Mr of the SRP-arrested nascent preprolactin chain was estimated to be 8,000 corresponding to approximately 70 amino acid residues. Because the signal sequence of preprolactin comprises 30 residues and because approximately 40 residues of the nascent chain are buried (protected from protease) in the large ribosomal subunit, we conclude that it is the interaction of SRP with the amino-terminal signal peptide of the nascent chain (emerged from the large ribosomal subunit) that modulates translation and thereby causes an arrest in chain elongation. This arrest is released upon SRP-mediated binding of the elongation-arrested ribosomes to the microsomal membrane, resulting in chain completion and translocation into the microsomal vesicle.

Translocation of proteins across the endoplasmic reticulum. II. Signal recognition protein (SRP) mediates the selective binding to microsomal membranes of in-vitro-assembled polysomes synthesizing secretory protein

Translocation-competent microsomal membrane vesicles of dog pancreas were shown to selectively bind nascent, in vitro assembled polysomes synthesizing secretory protein (bovine prolactin) but not those synthesizing cytoplasmic protein (alpha and beta chain of rabbit globin). This selective polysome binding capacity was abolished when the microsomal vesicles were salt-extracted but was restored by an 11S protein (SRP, Signal Recognition Protein) previously purified from the salt-extract of microsomal vesicles (Walter and Blobel, 1980. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 77:7112-7116). SRP-dependent polysome recognition and binding to the microsomal membrane was shown to be a prerequisite for chain translocation. Modification of SRP by N-ethyl maleimide abolished its ability to mediate nascent polysome binding to the microsomal vesicles. Likewise, polysome binding to the microsomal membrane was largely abolished when beta-hydroxy leucine, a Leu analogue, was incorporated into nascent secretory polypeptides. The data in this and the preceding paper provide conclusive experimental evidence that chain translocation across the endoplasmic reticulum membrane is a receptor-mediated event and thus rule out proposals that chain translocation occurs spontaneously and without the mediation by proteins. Moreover, our data here demonstrate conclusively that the initial events that lead to translocation and provide for its specificity are protein-protein (signal sequence plus ribosome with SRP) and not protein-lipid (signal sequence with lipid bilayer) interactions.

Mechanism of compartmentation of secretory proteins: transport of exocrine pancreatic proteins across the microsomal membrane

The mechanism by which secretory proteins are segregated within the cisternal space of microsomal vesicles was studied using dog pancreas mRNA which directs the synthesis of 14 well-characterized nonglycosylated pancreatic exocrine proteins. In the absence of microsomal membranes, each of the proteins was synthesized as larger polypeptide chains (presecretory proteins). 1,000-2,000 daltons larger than their authentic counterparts as judged by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in SDS. Conditions optimal for the study of reconstituted rough microsomes in the reticulocyte lysate system were examined in detail using mRNA and microsomal membranes isolated from dog pancreas. Functional reconstitution of rough microsomes was considerably more efficient in the presence of micrococcal nuclease- treated membranes than in the presence of EDTA-treated membranes. Analysis for segregation of nascent secretory proteins by microsomal vesicles, using post-translational incubation in the presence of trypsin and chymotrypsin, 50 mug/ml each, was shown to be inadequate, because of the disruption of vesicles by protease activity. Addition of 1-3 mM tetracaine or 1 mM dibucaine stabilized microsomal membranes incubated in the presence of trypsin and chymotrypsin at either 0 degrees or 22 degrees C. Each of the pancreatic presecretory proteins studied was correctly processed to authentic secretory proteins by nuclease-treated microsomal membranes, as judged by both one-dimensional and two-dimensional gel electophoresis. Post-translational addition of membranes did not result in either segregation or processing of nascent polypeptide chains. Post- translational proteolysis, carried out in the presence of 3 mM tetracaine, indicated that each of the 14 characterized dog pancreas secretory proteins was quantitatively segregated by nuclease-treated microsomal vesicles. Segregation of nascent secretory proteins was irreversible, since radioactive amylase, as well as the other labeled secretory proteins, remained quantitatively sequestered in microsomal vesicles during a 90-min incubation at 22 degrees C after the cessation of protein synthesis. Studies employing synchronized protein synthesis and delayed addition of membranes indicated that all pancreatic presecretory proteins contain amino terminal peptide extensions. These peptide extensions are shown to mediate the cotranslational binding of presecretory proteins to microsomal membranes and the transport of nascent secretory proteins to the vesicular space. The maximum chain lengths which, during synthesis, allow segregation of nascent polypeptide chains varied between 61 (pretrypsinogen 2 + 3) and 88 (preprocarboxypeptidase A1) amino acid residues among dog pancreas presecretory proteins. Reconstitution studies using homologous and heterologous mixtures of mRNA (dog, guinea pig, and rat pancreas; rat liver) and micrococcal nuclease-treated microsomal membranes (dog, guinea pig, and rat liver; dog pancreas), in the presence of placental ribonuclease inhibitor, suggest that the translocation mechanism described is common to the rough endoplasmic reticulum of all mammalian tissues.

Conformational studies of the synthetic precursor-specific region of preproparathyroid hormone

the secondary structure of a synthetic peptide representing the NH2-terminal, precursor-specific extension sequence of preproparathyroid hormone was studied. NH2-terminal extensions, or leader sequences, may serve a critical role in determining and facilitating the cellular secretion of proteins. These precursor regions, including the synthetic hormonal fragment studied, share common features of amino acid sequence and also may be similar in secondary structure. The secondary structure of the synthetic precursor peptide was predicted as described [Chou, P. Y. & Fasman, G. D. (1978) Adv. Enzymol. 47, 45-148]. The secondary structure was derived from circular dichroism spectra in both an aqueous buffer at physiological pH and in a nonpolar solvent selected to approximate the intramembranous environment. Two highly structured conformations were observed. In the aqueous buffer the secondary structure was 27% alpha-helix, 43% beta-sheet, and 30% random coil. In the nonpolar solvent the secondary structure was 46% alpha-helix, 0% beta-sheet, and 54% random coil. These findings correlated well with the two highest-probability structures predicted from the amino acid sequence. Both the relatively high content of secondary structure in a peptide of this size (30 amino acids) and the conformational transition observed in changing from aqueous to nonpolar environments may reflect structural properties critical to the physiological function of NH2-terminal extension sequences, and both are consistent with current theories regarding the role of precursor regions in the intracellular transport and secretion of proteins.

The four cytoplasmically made subunits of yeast mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase are synthesized individually and not as a polyprotein

Subunit-specific antisera prepared against each of the four cytoplasmically made subunits (IV, V, VI, and VII) of yeast mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (EC 1.9.3.1) were used to precipitate immunoreactive polypeptides that were synthesized either in vitro, in a cell-free protein-synthesizing system programmed with total yeast mRNA, or in vivo, in intact cells and in spheroplasts, under conditions of pulse labeling, pulse-chase labeling, and continuous labeling. Using N-formyl-[35S]Met-rTNA as the only radioactively labeled component in the cell-free system, we demonstrated (i) that each of the four cytoplasmically made subunits is synthesized as a separate entity and not as part of a polyprotein as was claimed by others; (ii) that subunits IV, V, and VI are synthesized as precursors, larger by 1500-3000 daltons than their mature counterparts; in contrast, subunit VII is not synthesized as a larger precursor. Precursor forms of subunits IV, V, and VI identical to those synthesized in vitro were also detected in vivo by pulse-labeling of spheroplasts. The observed disappearance of these larger forms after a chase is compatible with the notion that they represent short-lived precursors that are rapidly converted to their mature counterparts during or shortly after import into mitochondria. Furthermore, using N-formyl-[35S]Met-tRNA, we provide definitive evidence that two of the cytoplasmically made subunits (beta and gamma) of another oligomeric inner mitochondrial membrane protein (F1-ATPase, EC 3.6.1.3) are not synthesized as part of a polyprotein but as individual precursors.

Early events in the cellular formation of proparathyroid hormone

Early events in the cellular synthesis and subsequent transfer into membrane-limited compartments of pre-proparathyroid hormone (pre-proPTH) and proparathyroid hormone (proPTH) were investigated by electrophoretic analyses of newly synthesized proteins in subcellular fractions of parthyroid gland slices pulse-labeled for 0.5-5 min with [(35)S] methionine. During these short times of incubation, both pre-proPTH and proPTH were confined to the microsomal fraction. Labeled pre-proPTH and proPTH were detected in a 30-s interval between 0.5 and 1.0 min of incubation. The radioactivity in proPTH became relatively constant between 3 and 5 min, whereas the radioactivity in ProPTH increased markedly over this period. When corrected for the known content of methionine in the prohormone and the prohormone, we found four times as much radiolabeled prohormone as prehormone between 0.5 and 1.0 min of synthesis. Sequestration of labeled prohomrone into endoplasmic reticulum compartments was shown by treatment of the microsomal fraction with chymotrypsin and trypsin, which resulted in the degradation of the prehormone but not of the prohormones. Approximately 50 percent of pre-prohormone and 25 percent of prohormone were released from the microsomes by their extraction with 1.0 M KCl, whereas 80-90 percent of both was released by treatment with Triton X-100. These results in intact cells support the signal hypothesis proposed by Blobel and his co-workers in studies utilizing cell-free systems, inasmuch as the results indicate transfer of prohormone into the cisternal space of the rough endoplasmic reticulum concomitant with the growth of the nascent polypeptide chain. Appearance of membrane-sequestered proPTH takes place without entry of pre-proPTH into the cisternal space, suggesting that proteolytic removal of the leader peptide occurs during transfer of the polypeptide through the lipid bilayer. Further evidence in support of this process is that pre-proPTH is only partly extracted from the microsomes by treatment with 1.0 M KCl, suggesting that a substantial fraction of the nascent pre-proPTH is integrally inserted into the membranes before it is cleaved to form proPTH.

Inhibition of preprotein processing in ascites tumor lysates by incorporation of a leucine analog

Leucine analogs were tested in the Krebs II ascites cell-free translation system for the ability to inhibit preprotein cleavage by replacing leucine in nascent chains of bovine preprolactin, rat preprolactin, human placental prelactogen (pre-hPL), and pre-alpha subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (alpha-hCG). In the absence of analog, ascites microsomal membranes cleaved these preproteins to their mature forms and sequestered the processed products. Also, two asparagine residues in alpha-hCG were glycosylated. When 4 mM beta-DL-hydroxyleucine was added to the lysate instead of L-leucine, cotranslational processing and sequestration of both species of preprolactin and pre-hPL were inhibited. Sequential Edman degradation confirmed that pre-hPL was not cleaved. The inhibition of processing by beta-hydroxyleucine resulted from its incorporation into protein. This was shown by reversal of the effect by addition of leucine and by inhibition of [(3)H]leucine incorporation into protein. Of significance, the processing of pre-alpha-hCG was less sensitive to beta-hydroxyleucine because its prepeptide contains only four scattered leucine residues, whereas the presegments of hPL and the prolactins contain six to eight clustered leucine residues. These experiments demonstrate that translocation and processing of secretory proteins require structural features determined by the primary amino acid sequence.

Chicken ovalbumin contains an internal signal sequence

Ovalbumin is shown to contain an internal rather than an amino-terminal signal sequence. This internal signal can be recovered in a tryptic fragment which comprises residues 229--276 of mature ovalbumin and contains a region of striking sequence homology to amino-terminal cleaved signals of two other oviduct secretory proteins. The isolated tryptic fragment is used as a probe to demonstrate that a signal receptor is present in membrane vesicles derived from the rough but not in those derived from the smooth endoplasmic reticulum.

The wheat germ cell-free system possesses processing activity for the precursor of human placental lactogen

1. Total RNA was extracted from human term placenta and mRNA purified by chromatography on oligo(dT)-cellulose. The poly(A)-containing fraction stimulated amino acid incorporation 5- to 10-fold in the wheat germ cell-free system. Immunoprecipitation with an anti-lactogen serum indicated that 14-27% of the peptides synthesized in vitro contained antigenic determinants of this hormone. 2. Analysis of the [3H]leucine labelled product in the immunoprecipitate on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels revealed a complex mixture of polypeptides. Two heavily labelled bands (I and III) were seen corresponding in mobility with pre-lactogen (Mr = 25 000) and native lactogen (Mr = 22 200), each accounting for about 30% of the immunoprecipitable radioactivity. Two additional bands with an intermediate mobility were also observed. 3. Synthesis of the hormone was inhibited by 7-methylguanosine-5'-monophosphate suggesting the presence of a 7-methylguanosine 'cap' on the 5'-end of the mRNA for lactogen. 4. Peptide analysis of the cyanogen bromide cleavage products of band I, band III and authentic lactogen showed marked similarities in their primary structure. The precursor molecule, however, was lacking the N-terminal peptide present in authentic hormone indicating the presence of an extension of 25 amino acids at this side of the molecule. 5. The presence of one or several processing enzymes in the wheat germ cell-free system was indicated by the effect of Triton X-100. Low concentrations of this detergent (0.04%) while inhibiting the protein synthesizing activity for only 15%, completely abolished the precursor cleavage activity. Under these conditions only pre-lactogen was detected in the immunoprecipitate.

Distribution of the messenger RNA coding for the common precursor of corticotropin and beta-lipotropin within the bovine pituitary

The distribution of the mRNA coding for the common precursor of corticotropin and beta-lipotropin among different parts of the bovine pituitary has been investigated by quantifying the mRNA activity with the use of a cell-free protein-synthesizing system. The results obtained have demonstrated that this mRNA activity is located both in the anterior lobe and in the intermediate lobe, while it is essentially not detectable in the neural lobe nor in the stalk. The structural identity of the translation products of corticotropin/beta-lipotropin mRNA from the anterior and from the intermediate lobe has been indicated by their molecular weight as well as by the electrophoretic patterns of the peptide fragments formed from them upon partial enzymatic proteolysis or upon cyanogen bromide cleavage. The specific activity of corticotropin/beta-lipotropin mRNA in the intermediate lobe is about 20-fold higher than that in the anterior lobe, and the total activity of this mRNA in the former is about 2-fold higher than that in the latter. In the intermediate lobe, the translation product of corticotropin/beta-lipotropin mRNA amounts to almost one-third of the products encoded by total translatable mRNA. These results indicate that corticotropin/beta-lipotropin mRNA represents a major mRNA species in intermediate lobe of the pituitary, thus suggesting that this lobe may perform a highly specialized function in producing a large amount of the common precursor of corticotropin and beta-lipotropin.