Degradation of microinjected proteins: Effects of lysosomotropic agents and inhibitors of autophagy

HeLa cells, injected with radioiodinated proteins by fusion with RBC ghosts, were exposed to inhibitors of lysosomal proteolysis and autophagy. The degradation of injected [ 125 I]bovine serum albumin (BSA) was unaffected by chloroquine, NH 4 Cl, nocodazole, colcemid, puromycin, cycloheximide, or enucleation. Although degradation of [ 125 I]lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and [ 125 I]pyruvate kinase (PK) was inhibited one‐third by chloroquine or ammonia, their degradation was unaffected by the other compounds. In contrast, enhanced degradation of 125 I‐PK resulting from depriving injected HeLa cells of amino acids and serum was inhibited 70% by colcemid and abolished by chloroquine or ammonia. Similarly, degradation of [ 14 C]sucrose‐labeled BSA‐polylysine conjugates that entered HeLa cells by endocytosis was inhibited as much as 80% by chloroquine and ammonia. Sensitivity of both enhanced proteolysis and degradation of exogenous proteins to ammonia or chloroquine indicates they are effective inhibitors of lysosomal proteolysis in HeLa cells. Failure of ammonia or chloroquine to inhibit degradation of injected 125 I‐BSA and the modest inhibition of degradation of injected 125 I‐LDH or 125 I‐PK indicates that virtually all BSA molecules and most PK or LDH molecules are degraded by a nonlysosomal proteolytic system. Components of this degradative system are present in vast excess or are long lived, since inhibition of protein synthesis for 20 hr had no effect on the degradation of injected proteins.