Characterization of vacuolar polypeptides of barley mesophyll cells by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and by their affinity to lectins.

Vacuoles were isolated from primary leaves of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) by mechanical breakage of protoplasts, and their polypeptide composition analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Vacuoplasts which consist of the vacuole, a portion of the plasmalemma and of the cytoplasma were prepared from protoplasts by ultracentrifugation. By comparing the vacuolar polypeptide pattern with polypeptide patterns of isolated chloroplasts and of vacuoplasts, vacuolar polypeptides could clearly be distinguished from polypeptides derived from cross-contaminating cell compartments. At least 14 polypeptides of apparent molecular mass between 12 and 76 kilodaltons and an isoelectric point between 4.5 and 7.6 could be attributed to the tonoplast fraction of the vacuole, and 35 polypeptides to the soluble fraction of the vacuole. Several lectins with different specificity were employed to characterize the degree and nature of glycosylation of vacuolar polypeptides. Concanavalin A bound to a large number of polypeptides. Three out of the 14 tonoplast polypeptides exhibited detectable carbohydrate moieties and almost two-thirds of the surveyed soluble polypeptides were glycosylated.