guanosine-5--o-(3-thiotriphosphate) and Autolysis

The role of GTP-binding proteins in autophagic vacuole formation was investigated in isolated rat hepatocytes permeabilized by alpha-toxin from Staphylococcus aureus, an agent which creates stable plasma membrane channels allowing exchange of small (< or = 1000 Da) molecules. Vacuole formation was monitored from the uptake of 125I-tyramine-cellobiitol (125ITC) into osmotically sensitive vacuoles isolated on colloidal silica density gradients. Separation was based on an established observation that autophagic vacuoles are retained in a heavy midgradient band when samples are layered, but are selectively shifted to dense fractions when they are previously dispersed in the gradient material. The vacuolar uptake of 125ITC was concentration-dependent and required exogenous ATP: 94% was directly mediated by sequestration; 6% was acquired by fluid-phase endocytosis as monitored by [carboxyl-14C]dextran-carboxyl. Although the amino acid control of proteolysis was lost, addition of the nonhydrolyzable GTP analog GTP gamma S (as well as GMP-PNP) decreased fractional rates of direct vacuolar 125ITC uptake and long-lived proteolysis by similar amounts (1.02-1.03% h-1), substantiating the notion that the effects were the direct result of autophagic inhibition. These and associated findings, supported by quantitative electron microscopy, indicate the presence of ongoing macro- and microautophagy in alpha-toxin-permeabilized cells and suggest that one or more GTP-binding proteins is required in macroautophagic vacuole formation.

Topics: Animals; Autolysis; Bacterial Toxins; Cell Membrane; Cell Membrane Permeability; Cells, Cultured; Disaccharides; Exotoxins; Guanosine 5'-O-(3-Thiotriphosphate); Guanosine Diphosphate; Guanosine Triphosphate; Guanylyl Imidodiphosphate; Hemolysin Proteins; Iodine Radioisotopes; Liver; Male; Microscopy, Electron; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; Staphylococcus aureus; Thionucleotides; Tyramine; Vacuoles; Valine