By performing in vivo methylation experiments and using highly resolving NaDodSO4-polyacrylamide gels, we have examined the effects of amino acid attractants on the methylation profile of Bacillus subtilis MCPs. Both increases and decreases have been found to occur in the level of methylation of these proteins. By using competition experiments and Conway diffusion cells, we have found that the demethylation event is correlated with the adaptation process. Gas chromatographic analysis indicates that methanol is evolved upon demethylation of these proteins. As more attractant receptors are titrated, corresponding increases in methanol evolution result. During this period of increased rate of methanol production, bacteria swim smoothly.

Rabbit cardiac cathepsin D is initially synthesized as an inactive, apparent molecular weight (Mr) 53,000, pI 6.6 precursor (procathepsin D) that is proteolytically processed during intracellular transport to produce the Mr 48,000 isoforms of active cathepsin D found in cardiac lysosomes. To examine potential proteases responsible for intracellular proteolytic processing, biosynthetically labeled procathepsin D was isolated from rabbit ventricular tissue perfused for 30 min with [35S]methionine. Procathepsin D was then incubated in vitro (40 degrees C, 1-240 min) with active cathepsin D, papain, and cathepsin B, either singly or sequentially, and the reaction products analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and two-dimensional electrophoresis. Incubation of 35S-labeled procathepsin D with active cathepsin D produced a single reaction product (Mr 51,000; pI 6.2). This limited proteolysis occurred at pH 3-5 and was inhibited by pepstatin. Incubation of 35S-labeled procathepsin D with papain or cathepsin B produced a major reaction product (Mr 48,000; pI 6.4) and a minor form (Mr 50,000; pI 6.0). These reactions occurred at pH 4-7 and were inhibited by leupeptin but not pepstatin. Only the Mr 48,000, pI 6.4 products of papain and cathepsin B-mediated proteolysis comigrated with the most basic isoform of active cathepsin D found in cardiac tissue. In addition, the Mr 51,000 intermediate produced by cathepsin D was susceptible to further limited proteolysis by cysteine proteases with resultant production of a Mr 48,000 product. Thus the intracellular proteolytic processing of rabbit cardiac procathepsin D does not result solely from autocatalysis but requires at least one other protease, possibly cathepsin B.

No abstract

Rabbit cardiac cathepsin D is synthesized as a 53,000-mol wt precursor that undergoes limited proteolysis at an unknown intracellular site to a 48,000-mol wt active form. To examine the site of proteolytic processing, isolated perfused rabbit hearts were fractionated by differential centrifugation 150 or 300 min after pulse labeling with [35S]methionine. Newly synthesized precursor and processed cathepsin D were quantitatively isolated from each fraction by extraction, immunoadsorption, and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. After 30-min pulse perfusions, all of the 35S-labeled cathepsin D was present as precursor, with the greatest amounts found in low-density subcellular fractions. Proteolytic processing of cathepsin D precursor occurred after chase perfusions that were coincident with the subcellular redistribution of newly synthesized enzyme from sites of synthesis to heavier subcellular structures. Pulse-chase perfusions with chloroquine (10 microM) inhibited precursor proteolytic processing and the time-dependent subcellular redistribution of newly synthesized cathepsin D. The data are consistent with a model for cardiac lysosomal enzyme maturation in which limited proteolytic processing occurs coincident with or soon after the transport of precursors to an acidic intracellular compartment. The results thus suggest that cathepsin D proteolytic processing occurs within cardiac lysosomes.