Phosphatidylinositol glycan formation and utilization by the ciliate Tetrahymena mimbres

Ryals et al. (Ryals, P.E., Pak, Y., and Thompson, G. A., Jr., (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 15048-15053) have described and partially characterized phosphatidylinositol glycans (PI glycans) present in Tetrahymena mimbres. We now describe the time course of PI glycan labeling from exogenous [3H]myristate, [14C]glucosamine, and [3H]ethanolamine. Over the first 2-12 h following pulse radioisotope addition a sizeable proportion of the radioactivity associated with the protein pellet remaining after cell delipidation existed as PI glycans. These compounds were distributed throughout the cell, with the largest proportion at 12 h being associated with a fraction containing mitochondria, lysosomes, and peroxisomes. However, by 24 h radioactivity had nearly disappeared from the PI glycans and had become associated with proteins by a process that was almost totally inhibited by cycloheximide or tunicamycin. PI glycans appeared to be incorporated mainly into a protein migrating on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in a relatively broad band with an apparent molecular mass of 24-29 kDa. The exact mobility of the protein band within this molecular weight range was dependent upon the growth temperature of the cells. The apparent molecular masses of the principal PI-anchored proteins formed by other closely related Tetrahymena species varied widely, ranging from 22 to 76 kDa. The PI-anchored proteins may belong to a group of surface proteins known as immobilization antigens. Treatment of 24-h-labeled T. mimbres cells with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C in vivo released labeled proteins from the cells. Some labeled proteins were present even in the medium of control, non-phospholipase-treated cells. Tetrahymena PI glycans appear to accumulate in a metabolic pool from which they are gradually removed for attachment to externally oriented PI-anchored proteins. Tetrahymena is a versatile system well suited for studying the regulation of PI-anchored protein biochemistry.