title: Differential degradation rates of the G protein alpha o in cultured cardiac and pituitary cells.
abstract: Signal transduction in biological membranes is modulated by a family of GTP-binding proteins termed G proteins. Differences in the tissue-specific expression of G protein subtypes suggest that the levels of individual G proteins may be an important determinant of the hormonal response in a given cell type. We have used a polyclonal antibody raised against the purified G protein, alpha o to study alpha o in the rat pituitary cell line GH4 and in primary rat cardiocytes in culture by quantitative immunoprecipitation. Biosynthetic labeling and specific immunoprecipitation of alpha o in pulse-chase experiments demonstrated that the t1/2 for alpha o degradation is 28 +/- 7 h (n = 4) in GH4 pituitary cells and is greater than 72 h (n = 4) in cardiocytes. The steady-state level of alpha o protein is similar in both cell types as measured by Western blots. Northern blots of poly(A)-selected mRNA from these two cell types were probed with labeled alpha o cDNA and showed they have similar alpha o mRNA levels. The observation of different degradation rates, but similar steady-state protein levels, suggests that the rate of alpha o synthesis is different in GH4 cells and cardiocytes. Since mRNA levels are approximately equal in both, our studies imply that protein translation controls may be important determinants of G protein alpha subunit concentrations in biological membranes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Silbert
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Neer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000378:metabolism; D007106:Immune Sera; D007700:Kinetics; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D007106:Immune Sera; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins