scholarly journals Determination of the intracellular sites and topology of glucosylceramide synthesis in rat liver

1991 ◽  
Vol 280 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
A H Futerman ◽  
R E Pagano

We examined the intracellular site(s) and topology of glucosylceramide (GlcCer) synthesis in subcellular fractions from rat liver, using radioactive and fluorescent ceramide analogues as precursors, and compared these results with those obtained in our recent study of sphingomyelin (SM) synthesis in rat liver [Futerman, Stieger, Hubbard & Pagano (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 8650-8657]. In contrast with SM synthesis, which occurs principally at the cis/medial Golgi apparatus, GlcCer synthesis was more widely distributed, with substantial amounts of synthesis detected in a heavy (cis/medial) Golgi-apparatus subfraction, a light smooth-vesicle fraction that is almost devoid of an endoplasmic-reticulum marker enzyme (glucose-6-phosphatase), and a heavy vesicle fraction. Furthermore, no GlcCer synthesis was detected in an enriched plasma-membrane fraction after accounting for contamination by Golgi-apparatus membranes. These results suggest that a significant amount of GlcCer may be synthesized in a pre- or early Golgi-apparatus compartment. Unlike SM synthesis, which occurs at the luminal surface of the Golgi apparatus, GlcCer synthesis appeared to occur at the cytosolic surface of intracellular membranes, since (i) limited proteolytic digestion of intact Golgi-apparatus vesicles almost completely inhibited GlcCer synthesis, and (ii) the extent of UDP-glucose translocation into the Golgi apparatus was insufficient to account for the amount of GlcCer synthesis measured. These findings imply that, after its synthesis, GlcCer must undergo transbilayer movement to the luminal surface to account for the known topology of higher-order glycosphingolipids within the Golgi apparatus and plasma membrane.

1970 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 492-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Cheetham ◽  
D. James Morré ◽  
Wayne N. Yunghans

Enzymatic activities associated with Golgi apparatus-, endoplasmic reticulum-, plasma membrane-, mitochondria-, and microbody-rich cell fractions isolated from rat liver were determined and used as a basis for estimating fraction purity. Succinic dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase (mitochondria) activities were low in the Golgi apparatus-rich fraction. On the basis of glucose-6-phosphatase (endoplasmic reticulum) and 5'-nucleotidase (plasma membrane) activities, the Golgi apparatus-rich fraction obtained directly from sucrose gradients was estimated to contain no more than 10% endoplasmic reticulum- and 11% plasma membrane-derived material. Total protein contribution of endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, plasma membrane, microbodies (uric acid oxidase), and lysosomes (acid phosphatase) to the Golgi apparatus-rich fraction was estimated to be no more than 20–30% and decreased to less than 10% with further washing. The results show that purified Golgi apparatus fractions isolated routinely may exceed 80% Golgi apparatus-derived material. Nucleoside di- and triphosphatase activities were enriched 2–3-fold in the Golgi apparatus fraction relative to the total homogenate, and of a total of more than 25 enzyme-substrate combinations reported, only thiamine pyrophosphatase showed a significantly greater enrichment.


1977 ◽  
Vol 55 (8) ◽  
pp. 876-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia L. Chang ◽  
John R. Riordan ◽  
Mario A. Moscarello ◽  
Jennifer M. Sturgess

To study membrane biogenesis and to test the validity of the endomembrane flow hypothesis, incorporation of 32P and [Me-3H]choline in vivo into membranes of the rat liver was followed. Rough microsomal, Golgi-rich, and plasma membrane fractions were monitored with marker enzyme assays and shown with morphometric analysis to contain 82% rough microsomes, at least 70% Golgi complexes, and 88% plasma membranes, respectively. Membrane subfractions from the rough microsomal and Golgi-rich fractions were prepared by sonic disruption.At 5 to 30 min after 32P injection, the specific radioactivity of phosphatidylcholine was higher in the rough microsomal membranes than in the Golgi membranes. From 1 to 3 h, the specific activity of phosphatidylcholine in Golgi membranes became higher and reached the maximum at about 3 h. Although the plasma membrane had the lowest specific radioactivity throughout 0.25–3 h, it increased rapidly thereafter to attain the highest specific activity at 5 h. Both rough microsomal and plasma membranes reached their maxima at 5 h.The specific radioactivity of [32P]phosphatidylethanolamine in the three membrane fractions was similar to that of [32P]phosphatidylcholine except from 5 to 30 min, when the specific radioactivity of phosphatidylethanolamine in the Golgi membranes was similar to the rough microsomal membranes.At 15 min to 5 h after [Me-3H]choline injection, more than 90% of the radioactivity in all the membranes was acid-precipitable. The specific radioactivities of the acid-precipitated membranes, expressed as dpm per milligram protein, reached the maximum at 3 h. After [Me-3H]choline injection, the specific radioactivity of phosphatidylcholine separated from the lipid extract of the acid-precipitated membranes (dpm per micromole phosphorus) did not differ significantly in the three membrane fractions. The results indicated rapid incorporation of choline into membrane phosphatidylcholine by the rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi, and plasma membranes simultaneously.The data with both 32P and [Me-3H]choline precursors did not support the endomembrane flow hypothesis. The Golgi complexes apparently synthesized phosphatidylethanolamine and incorporated choline into phosphatidylcholine as well as the endoplasmic reticulum. The results are discussed with relevance to current hypotheses on the biogenesis and transfer of membrane phospholipids.


1972 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 781-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Morin ◽  
S. Tay ◽  
H. Simpkins

Plasma-membrane as well as smooth-, rough- and degranulated-endoplasmic-reticulum-membrane fractions were isolated from the microsomal pellet of rat liver. The purity of these fractions, as determined by marker-enzyme activities, electron microscopy, cholesterol content and RNA content, was found to be adequate for a comparative structural study. Major differences in lipid and protein composition were found to exist between the plasma membrane and the endoplasmic reticulum, but not between the smooth and the rough fractions of the endoplasmic reticulum. Differences in the location of membrane protein thiol groups and the mobility of the membrane phospholipids were observed between the plasma membranes and the endoplasmic reticulum, and these could be explained by differences in protein and lipid composition. However, by employing fluorescence and spin-labelling techniques structural changes were also observed between the smooth and the rough endoplasmic-reticulum fractions. These results suggest that the structural heterogeneity existing between the two latter membrane fractions occurs near or on their membrane surfaces and is not due to the greater number of ribosomes bound to the rough endoplasmic-reticulum fraction.


1979 ◽  
Vol 180 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
M J Smith ◽  
J B Schreiber ◽  
G Wolf

The subcellular distribution of the enzyme catalysing the conversion of retinyl phosphate and GDP-[14C]mannose into [14C]mannosyl retinyl phosphate was determined by using subcellular fractions of rat liver. Purity of fractions, as determined by marker enzymes, was 80% or better. The amount of mannosyl retinyl phosphate formed (pmol/min per mg of protein) for each fraction was: rough endoplasmic reticulum 0.48 +/- 0.09 (mean +/- S.D.); smooth membranes (consisting of 60% smooth endoplasmic reticulum and 40% Golgi apparatus), 0.18 +/- 0.03; Golgi apparatus, 0.13 +/- 0.03; and plasma membrane 0.02.


1979 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
E D Jarasch ◽  
J Kartenbeck ◽  
G Bruder ◽  
A Fink ◽  
D J Morré ◽  
...  

Fractions of plasma membranes, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and nuclear envelope were isolated from rat liver and were characterized by electron microsocpe and biochemical methods. The purity of the fractions was controlled by morphometry and by marker enzyme activities. Amounts of cytochromes b5, P-450, and P-420 were measured, as well as the NADPH- and NADPH-cytochrome c reductase activities. The pigments of the microsomal electron transport system were found in all membrane fractions in relatively high amounts, thus excluding an origin by microsomal contamination. Purified preparations of plasma membrane and Golgi apparatus contained approximately 30% of the cytochrome b5 and cytochrome P-450 + P-420 found in ER membranes. Plasma membranes were also characterized by a high ratio of P-420/450. Degradation of cytochromes P-450 and P-420 was relatively rapid in all fractions, except in the ER. Cytochrome b5 extracted from plasma membranes was spectrophotometrically and enzymatically indistinguishable from ER cytochrome b5. However, immunnlogical characterization with rabbit antibodies against the trypsin-resistant core of microsomal cytochrome b5 showed the presence of at least two types of cytochrome b5 in ER membranes, in contrast to the plasma membranes in which only one of these components was detected. This immunological differentiation also demonstrates that the plasma membrane-bound cytochrome b5 is endogenous to this membrane and does not reflect contamination by ER elements. We conclude that cytochromes b5, P-450, and P-420 are not confined only to ER and nuclear membranes but also occur in signficant amounts in Golgi apparatus and plasma membranes. The findings are discussed in relation to observations of similar redox components in Golgi apparatus, secretory vesicles, and plasma membranes of other cells.


1978 ◽  
Vol 174 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
T J Peters ◽  
C A Seymour

1. Fragments (2-20 mg wet wt.) of closed needle-biopsy specimens from human liver were disrupted in iso-osmotic sucrose and subjected to low-speed centrifugation. The supernatant was layered on a linear sucrose-density gradient in the Beaufay small-volume automatic zonal rotor. The following organelles, with equilibrium densities (g/ml) and principal marker enzyme shown in parentheses, were resolved: plasma membrane (1.12-1.14; 5′-nucleotidase); lysosomes (1.15-1.20; N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase); mitochondria (1.20; malate dehydrogenase); endoplasmic reticulum (1.17-1.21; neutral alpha-glucosidase); peroxisomes (1.22-1.24; catalase). 2. The distribution of particulate alkaline phosphatase and, to a lesser degree, leucine 2-naphthylamidase followed that of 5′-nucleotidase. gamma-Glutamyltransferase was associated with membranes of significantly higher equilibrium density than was 5′-nucleotidase. 3. The distribution of 12 acid hydrolases was determined in the density-gradient fractions. beta-Glucosidase had a predominantly cytosolic localization, but the other enzymes showed a broad distribution of activity throughout the gradient. Evidence was presented for two populations of lysosomes with equilibrium densities of 1.15 and 1.20 g/ml, but containing differing amounts of each enzyme. Further evidence of lysosomal heterogeneity was demonstrated by studying the distribution of isoenzymes of hexosaminidase and of acid phosphatase. 4. The resolving power of the centrifugation procedure can be further enhanced with membrane perturbants. Digitonin (0.12 mM) selectively disrupted lysosomes, markedly increased the equilibrium density of plasma-membrane components and lowered the density of the endoplasmic reticulum, but did not affect the mitochondria or peroxisomes. Pyrophosphate (15 mM) selectively lowered the equilibrium density of the endoplasmic reticulum.


1991 ◽  
Vol 266 (7) ◽  
pp. 4322-4328 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Moreau ◽  
M Rodriguez ◽  
C Cassagne ◽  
D M Morré ◽  
D J Morré

1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 908-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha J. Powell ◽  
Charles E. Bracker ◽  
David J. Sternshein

The cytological events involved in the transformation of vegetative hyphae of the zygomycete Gilbertella persicaria (Eddy) Hesseltine into chlamydospores were studied with light and electron microscopy. Thirty hours after sporangiospores were inoculated into YPG broth, swellings appeared along the aseptate hyphae. Later, septa, traversed by plasmodesmata, delimited each end of the hyphal swellings and compartmentalized these hyphal regions as they differentiated into chlamydospores. Nonswollen regions adjacent to chlamydospores remained as isthmuses. Two additional wall layers appeared within the vegetative wall of the developing chlamydospores. An alveolate, electron-dense wall formed first, and then an electron-transparent layer containing concentrically oriented fibers formed between this layer and the plasma membrane. Rather than a mere condensation of cytoplasm, development and maturation of the multinucleate chlamydospores involved extensive cytoplasmic changes such as an increase in reserve products, lipid and glycogen, an increase and then disappearance of vacuoles, and the breakdown of many mitochondria. Underlying the plasma membrane during chlamydospore wall formation were endoplasmic reticulum, multivesicular bodies, vesicles with fibrillar contents, vesicles with electron-transparent contents, and cisternal rings containing the Golgi apparatus marker enzyme, thiamine pyrophosphatase. Acid phosphatase activity was localized cytochemically in a cisterna which enclosed mitochondria and in vacuoles which contained membrane fragments. Tightly packed membrane whorls and single membrane bounded sacs with finely granular matrices surrounding vacuoles were unique during chlamydospore development. Microbodies were rare in the mature chlamydospore, but endoplasmic reticulum was closely associated with lipid globules. As chlamydospores developed, the cytoplasm in the isthmus became highly vacuolated, lipid globules were closely associated with vacuoles, mitochondria were broken down in vacuoles, unusual membrane configurations appeared, and eventually the membranes degenerated. Unlike chlamydospores, walls of the isthmus did not thicken, but irregularly shaped appositions containing numerous channels formed at intervals on the inside of these walls. The pattern of cytoplasmic transformations during chlamydospore development is similar to events leading to the formation of zygospores and sporangiospores.


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