Immunoisolation of Kex2p-containing organelles from yeast demonstrates colocalisation of three processing proteinases to a single Golgi compartment.

One of the Golgi compartments of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is defined by the presence of a specific endoproteinase, Kex2p, which cleaves precursor polypeptides at pairs of basic residues. We have used antibodies directed against the cytoplasmically disposed C-terminal domain of Kex2p to develop an immuno-affinity procedure for the isolation of Kex2p-containing organelles. The method gives a high yield of sealed organelles that are essentially free of contamination from other secretory pathway organelles while being significantly enriched for two other late Golgi enzymes, dipeptidylaminopeptidase A and the Kex1 carboxypeptidase. Our findings provide clear evidence for a single yeast Golgi compartment containing all three late-processing enzymes, which is likely to be the functional equivalent in yeast of the mammalian trans-Golgi network.