scholarly journals LOCALIZATION OF ENZYMES WITHIN MICROBODIES

1973 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. C. Huang ◽  
H. Beevers

Microbodies from rat liver and a variety of plant tissues were osmotically shocked and subsequently centrifuged at 40,000 g for 30 min to yield supernatant and pellet fractions. From rat liver microbodies, all of the uricase activity but little glycolate oxidase or catalase activity were recovered in the pellet, which probably contained the crystalline cores as many other reports had shown. All the measured enzymes in spinach leaf microbodies were solubilized. With microbodies from potato tuber, further sucrose gradient centrifugation of the pellet yielded a fraction at density 1.28 g/cm3 which, presumably representing the crystalline cores, contained 7% of the total catalase activity but no uricase or glycolate oxidase activity. Using microbodies from castor bean endosperm (glyoxysomes), 50–60% of the malate dehydrogenase, fatty acyl CoA dehydrogenase, and crotonase and 90% of the malate synthetase and citrate synthetase were recovered in the pellet, which also contained 96% of the radioactivity when lecithin in the glyoxysomal membrane had been labeled by previous treatment of the tissue with [14C]choline. When the labeled pellet was centrifuged to equilibrium on a sucrose gradient, all the radioactivity, protein, and enzyme activities were recovered together at peak density 1.21–1.22 g/cm3, whereas the original glyoxysomes appeared at density 1.24 g/cm3. Electron microscopy showed that the fraction at 1.21–1.22 g/cm3 was comprised of intact glyoxysomal membranes. All of the membrane-bound enzymes were stripped off with 0.15 M KCl, leaving the "ghosts" still intact as revealed by electron microscopy and sucrose gradient centrifugation. It is concluded that the crystalline cores of plant microbodies contain no uricase and are not particularly enriched with catalase. Some of the enzymes in glyoxysomes are associated with the membranes and this probably has functional significance.

1989 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Tsukita ◽  
S Tsukita

A new isolation procedure for cell-to-cell adherens junctions has been developed using rat liver. From the bile canaliculi-enriched fraction obtained by homogenization of the liver and sucrose gradient centrifugation, the fraction rich in adherens junction was recovered by detergent treatment followed by sucrose gradient centrifugation. Light and electron microscopy revealed that this final fraction was mainly composed of the belt-like adherens junctions with their associated short actin filaments. Biochemical and immunological analyses have shown that vinculin is highly enriched in this fraction. Considering that vinculin is known to be localized in the cell-to-cell adherens junctions, we can conclude that we have succeeded in isolating the cell-to-cell adherens junctions. Furthermore, the constituents of the undercoat (dense layer underlying the membrane) of adherens junctions were selectively extracted from the fraction rich in junctions. Upon SDS electrophoresis of this extract, 10 polypeptides including vinculin, alpha-actinin, and actin were dominant. The results obtained are discussed with special reference to the molecular organization of the undercoats of cell-to-cell adherens junctions.


1970 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. James Morré ◽  
R. L. Hamilton ◽  
H. H. Mollenhauer ◽  
R. W. Mahley ◽  
W. P. Cunningham ◽  
...  

Golgi apparatus were released without fixatives from rat hepatocytes by gentle homogenization, concentrated by differential centrifugation, and purified by sucrose gradient centrifugation. Examination of sections of purified fractions by electron microscopy showed fields of morphologically intact units of Golgi apparatus consisting of stacks of parallel flattened cisternae, secretory vesicles, and small vesicular profiles. Negative staining of unfixed pellets revealed a complex network of anastomotic tubules continuous with platelike structures and secretory vesicles. These structures corresponded, respectively, to the small vesicular profiles and parallel flattened cisternae with attached secretory vesicles of sectioned material. Small fragments of granular endoplasmic reticulum were often closely associated with the peripheral tubules, suggesting sites of continuity in intact hepatocytes.


1971 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lubomir Valenta ◽  
Michel L. Aubert

ABSTRACT Radioiodine-labelled synthetic adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), human growth hormone (HGH), human chorionic somato-mammotrophin (HCS), and human (HTSH) and bovine (BTSH) thyroid stimulating hormones were studied by disc-electrophoresis and sucrose gradient centrifugation before and after incubation with corresponding antisera. All antisera contained 7 S antibodies. After incubation, soluble antigenantibody complexes besides a small amount of precipitate were observed in the incubation mixture, characteristic of each hormone. The complexes migrated like gamma globulins or more slowly on disc-electrophoresis. and on sucrose gradient centrifugation showed patterns dependent on the time of incubation. Light 7 or 9 S, or < 12 S complexes occurred mostly after incubation for several minutes (up to 30 min) before analysis. When incubation was prolonged to 24 h and more, these relatively light complexes disappeared or diminished in favour of heavier soluble or precipitating complexes. Reproducibly obtainable sedimentation patterns of the soluble complexes suggested some definite recombination of antigen molecules with 7 S antibodies. The complexes did not occur on incubation with other sera than an antiserum to a given hormone. They were not influenced by EDTA. Displacement of the radioactivity of the complexes into the free hormone peak was obtained by addition of a non-labelled hormone identical with the labelled one. Sucrose gradient centrifugation and disc-electrophoresis are recommended for the study of immunoreaction of diluted materials and for a separate analysis of different steps of the radioimmunoassay. Radioimmunoassay was introduced for the measurement of protein hormones by Yalow & Berson (1960). The method, described originally for insulin, was later adapted to the detection of a number of protein and polypeptide hormones. On incubation of the hormone with its antiserum, a soluble antigenantibody complex is formed, which is separated from an excess of the free hormone by various methods, e. g. chromatoelectrophoresis, precipitation with a second antibody, adsorption on a solid phase etc. (Hunter 1967). Sucrose gradient centrifugation and disc-electrophoresis were occasionally used to follow some isolated aspect of radioimmunoassay (Fitschen 1965; Monjardino et al. 1968). We are demonstrating that these methods made it possible to analyze the radioimmunoassay step by step and thus may be useful for practical purposes as well as in a study of the immunoreaction of diluted materials.


1973 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 621-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Franson ◽  
Moseley Waite

A single intravenous injection of 0.1 mg of heat-killed Bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG) in 0.1 ml of Bayol F produced an accumulation of activated alveolar macrophages (BCG induced). Cells were collected 3.5–4.0 wk after injection. Phospholipases A and three lysosomal marker enzymes (acid phosphatase, ß-glucuronidase, and lysozyme) were measured in homogenates, and the distribution of the phospholipases A and lysosomal, mitochondrial, and microsomal marker enzymes were examined after sucrose gradient centrifugation of a postnuclear (1,000 g) supernatant. Homogenates of normal and BCG-induced macrophages contained phospholipases A1 and A2 which had optimal activity at pH 4.0 in the presence of 2.0 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA). These activities were inhibited 50–70% by 2.0 mM CaCl2. Homogenates of BCG-induced macrophages had specific activities of ß-glucuronidase, acid phosphatase, and lysozyme, which were increased 1.5- to 3.0-fold over the controls, whether expressed as activity per mg protein or activity per 107 cells. The specific activities of the phospholipases A, on the other hand, were consistently lower than those of the control. Distribution of the phospholipases A and the lysosomal marker enzymes after sucrose gradient centrifugation suggested that the phospholipases A active at pH 4.0 in the presence of EDTA are of lysosomal origin since: (a) BCG treatment caused a selective increase in the density of particles which contained both the phospholipases A and three lysosomal marker enzymes; and (b) since the density of mitochondria and microsomes were not affected by BCG treatment. The increase in the density of lysosomes seen here may be related to previously described morphologic changes of BCG-induced alveolar macrophages.


1993 ◽  
Vol 295 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
R A W Veldhuizen ◽  
K Inchley ◽  
S A Hearn ◽  
J F Lewis ◽  
F Possmayer

Pulmonary surfactant obtained from lung lavages can be separated by differential centrifugation into two distinct subfractions known as large surfactant aggregates and small surfactant aggregates. The large-aggregate fraction is the precursor of the small-aggregate fraction. The ratio of the small non-surface-active to large surface-active surfactant aggregates increases after birth and in several types of lung injury. We have utilized an in vitro system, surface area cycling, to study the conversion of large into small aggregates. Small aggregates generated by surface area cycling were separated from large aggregates by centrifugation at 40,000 g for 15 min rather than by the normal sucrose gradient centrifugation. This new separation method was validated by morphological studies. Surface-tension-reducing activity of total surfactant extracts, as measured with a pulsating-bubble surfactometer, was impaired after surface area cycling. This impairment was related to the generation of small aggregates. Immunoblot analysis of large and small aggregates separated by sucrose gradient centrifugation revealed the presence of detectable amounts of surfactant-associated protein B (SP-B) in large aggregates but not in small aggregates. SP-A was detectable in both large and small aggregates. PAGE of cycled and non-cycled surfactant showed a reduction in SP-B after surface area cycling. We conclude that SP-B is degraded during the formation of small aggregates in vitro and that a change in surface area appears to be necessary for exposing SP-B to protease activity.


1969 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 709-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Herscovics

1. Rat thyroid lobes were incubated for various periods of time in Krebs–Ringer bicarbonate containing [3H]leucine and either [1−14C]galactose or [1−14C]mannose. Radioactivity in soluble proteins was determined after their separation by sucrose-gradient centrifugation. 2. The time-course of incorporation of label from [14C]-mannose into soluble thyroid proteins was parallel to that observed for [3H]leucine. There was a lag of at least 30min. before either label appeared in non-iodinated thyroglobulin (protein 17–18s). During this time both labels were detected in two fractions known to contain subunit precursors of thyroglobulin (fractions 12s and 3–8s). Radioactivity from double-labelled fractions 12s and 3–8s was transferred to protein 17–18s during subsequent incubation in an unlabelled medium. 3. In contrast, most of the [14C]galactose was immediately incorporated into protein 17–18s. 4. During the first hour of incubation, puromycin almost completely inhibited the incorporation of label from [3H]leucine and [14C]mannose into all protein fractions, but had little effect on the incorporation of [14C]galactose into protein 17–18s. 5. These results indicate that mannose is incorporated into the carbohydrate groups of protein 17–18s at an earlier stage in its formation than galactose. It is suggested that the synthesis of the carbohydrate groups of ghyroglobulin begins soon after formation of the polypeptide components, more than 30min. before these are aggregated to protein 17–18s; carbohydrate synthesis then proceeds in a stepwise manner, galactose being incorporated at about the time of aggregation of subunits to protein 17–18s. Most, if not all, the carbohydrate is added to thyroglobulin before it is iodinated.


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