Dietary level of protein regulates glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase content and synthesis rate in mouse liver cytosol.

The content of liver cytosolic proteins was studied in mice subjected to protein depletion followed by refeeding with a normal diet. Depletion elicited either the accumulation or the decrease of several polypeptides, being the early increase of a M(r) 36,000 polypeptide the most pronounced change observed. The refeeding with a normal diet for 2 days caused a return of the cytosol protein composition to that of normally fed animals. The M(r) 36,000 polypeptide was identified as glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Its molecular weight, the sequence of its first twenty amino acid residues, its amino acid composition and its antigenic properties were found to be similar with those of GAPDH from different mammalian cells. During the first 2 days of protein depletion, both the GAPDH polypeptide content and activity increased. Thereafter, the enzymatic activity of GAPDH decreased, whereas GAPDH protein mass decreased in a lesser extent. The accumulation of GAPDH and other particular polypeptides in the cytosols of protein depleted mice was associated with an increased synthesis. The refeeding with a normal diet caused an immediate return to the synthesis pattern of normal livers.