Examination of intramolecular heterogeneity of plasma membrane protein degradation in canine renal tubular epithelial cells and in rat liver.

We have examined the hypothesis that hydrophilic portions of membrane-bound proteins which lie on either side of the phospholipid bilayer may be degraded at a different rate than are the hydrophobic portions of membrane proteins which are within the bilayer. Plasma membrane fractions from cells of the Maden-Darby canine kidney cell line and rat liver were digested with papain and pronase to cleave a mixture of peptides which is enriched in hydrophilic amino acids. It is proposed that these peptides are derived from regions of membrane-bound proteins which lie outside the bilayer. The residual particulate protein is enriched in hydropholic amino acids and presumably contains the portion of membrane-bound proteins which are in direct contact with the bilayer. A double-isotope method was used to assess the relative degradation rates of these two protein fractions. There was no measurable difference in protein degradation rates between the two fractions and the initial plasma membranes. These results suggest that the intramolecular heterogeneity which results from insertion of membrane-bound proteins into a bilayer is not a factor in their degradation.