Protein Trafficking to the Complex Chloroplasts of Euglena

TL;DRAbstract

Proteins are delivered to Euglena chloroplasts using the secretory pathway. We describe analytical methods to study the intracellular trafficking of Euglena chloroplast proteins and a method to isolate preparative amounts of intact import competent chloroplasts for biochemical studies. Cells are pulse labeled with 35S-sulfate and chased with unlabeled sulfate allowing the trafficking and posttranslational processing of the labeled protein to be followed. Sucrose gradients are used to separate a 35S-labeled cell lysate into cytoplasmic, endoplasmic reticuum (ER), Golgi apparatus, chloroplast and mitochondrial fractions. Immunoprecipitation of each gradient fraction allows identification of the intracellular compartment containing a specific 35S-labeled protein at different times after synthesis delineating the trafficking pathway. Because sucrose gradients cannot be used to isolate preparative amounts of highly purified chloroplasts for biochemical characterization, a preparative high-y

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