Release of ribosomes from thylakoids and endoplasmic reticulum with trypsin

Release by trypsin of chloroplast ribosomes from rough thylakoids of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was compared with release by trypsin of ribosomes from endoplasmic reticulum of rat liver. Rough thylakoids could be stripped of ribosomes with trypsin. Ribosomes were released as a mixture of polysomes, monosomes, and subunits. Chymotrypsin was much less effective than trypsin. Released ribosomes behaved like intact particles on zone velocity centrifugation, but showed extensive modification of their polypeptides. Stripped thylakoids sedimented as membranes, but also showed extensive modification of their polypeptides. Some ribosomes could be released in polysomes from rough endoplasmic reticulum by trypsin, provided the incubation mixture contained rat liver extract as a source of RNAase inhibitor. In its absence, ribosomes were released predominantly as monosomes, as reported by others. The rat liver extract inhibited release of polysomes from rough thylakoids by trypsin. Thus, the difference in form in which ribosomes are released from thylakoids, and endoplasmic reticulum by trypsin may be due to the high RNAase content of the latter.