Open AccessDistribution of Saccharide Residues on Membrane Fragments from a Myeloma-Cell Homogenate: Its Implications for Membrane Biogenesis
Author(s) -
Hiroshi Honda,
Brenda Parkhouse,
Garth L. Nicolson,
Edwin S. Lennox,
S. J. Singer
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.69.10.2945
Subject(s) - concanavalin a , membrane , endoplasmic reticulum , chemistry , biochemistry , biogenesis , cell membrane , intracellular , cell fractionation , conjugate , biophysics , biology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , in vitro , gene
Ferritin conjugates of two plant agglutinins, concanavalin A and ricin, have been used as specific electron microscopic stains for covalently-bound saccharide residues on membrane fragments from a myeloma-cell homogenate. The results indicate that different saccharide residues are uniformly localized to a single surface of each membrane fragment. In particular, the ferritin-concanavalin A conjugate binds exclusively to the cisternal side of membrane fragments of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. If it is postulated that the biogenesis of eukaryotic plasma membranes involves an assembly-line process from precursor intracellular membranes, these observed asymmetric distributions of saccharides on cell membranes can be explained.