Immunochemical detection of guanine nucleotide binding proteins mono-ADP-ribosylated by bacterial toxins.

Rabbits immunized with ADP-ribose chemically conjugated to carrier proteins developed antibodies reactive against guanine nucleotide binding proteins (G proteins) that had been mono-ADP-ribosylated by bacterial toxins. Antibody reactivity on immunoblots was strictly dependent on incubation of substrate proteins with both toxin and NAD and was quantitatively related to the extent of ADP-ribosylation. Gi, Go, and transducin (ADP-ribosylated by pertussis toxin) and elongation factor II (EF-II) (ADP-ribosylated by pseudomonas exotoxin) all reacted with ADP-ribose antibodies. ADP-ribose antibodies detected the ADP-ribosylation of an approximately 40-kilodalton (kDa) membrane protein related to Gi in intact human neutrophils incubated with pertussis toxin and the ADP-ribosylation of an approximately 90-kDa cytosolic protein, presumably EF-II, in intact HUT-102 cells incubated with pseudomonas exotoxin. ADP-ribose antibodies represent a novel tool for the identification and study of G proteins and other substrates for bacterial toxin ADP-ribosylation.