Lactacystin, an inhibitor of the proteasome, blocks the degradation of a mutant precursor of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked protein in a pre-Golgi compartment.

When transiently expressed in the COS-1 cell, a mutant chimeric protein with an uncleavable glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) -anchor signal failed to be modified by GPI and undergoes rapid degradation in a pre-Golgi compartment. Among several protease inhibitors, 3,4-dichloroisocoumarin and N-acetyl-L-leucinyl-L-leucinyl-L-norleucinal, potent inhibitors of the proteasome, strongly inhibited the degradation of the mutant protein. Furthermore, lactacystin, a highly specific inhibitor of the proteasome, was found to block the degradation. These results suggest that the pre-Golgi degradation pathway is functionally linked to the proteolytic system dependent on the proteasome, which hitherto was believed to play a role mostly in the cytoplasm and nucleus.