A two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis system for the analysis of mammalian cell surface proteins

A detailed analysis of mammalian cell surface proteins is described by a new two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis technique. The first dimension gel contains 2% acrylamide, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 0.3% Triton CF10 and 9 M urea. A combination of the detergents and urea permits the separation of poorly soluble, hydrophobic cell surface proteins. Under these conditions, the molecular size of proteins has a limited contribution to the fianl separation due to a low acrylamide concentration. Differences in charge properties, hydrophobicity, and glycosylation are the elements determining the resolution. In the second dimension, the proteins are separated primarily according to molecular weights, by a conventional polyacrylamide gel system in the presence of 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate. In this study, proteins of C6 rat glioma cell line are characterized. Cell surface proteins are specifically radio-labeled with 125I by a lactoperoxidase method, and compared with presumptive integral surface proteins which are resistant to extraction with 0.1 M NaOH. Also studied are total cellular proteins, fucose- and glucosamine-containing glycoproteins, and protein species with variable susceptibility to weak trypsin digestion. The electrophoresis system allows an unambiguous identification of each protein species.