Proteins iodinated by the chloramine-T method appear to be degraded at an abnormally rapid rate after endocytosis.

Proteins labeled with either (3)H by reductive methylation or (125)I by the chloramine-T method were incubated with Xenopus laevis oocytes; the incorporation and acid precipitability of the proteins were then studied. The uptake rates of both specifically incorporated (vitellogenin) and nonspecifically incorporated proteins (bovine serum albumin and X. laevis serum proteins lacking albumin) were not influenced by the method of labeling. However, (125)I-labeled proteins were apparently degraded at rates far exceeding their (3)H-labeled counterparts, based on the generation of acid-soluble radioactivity. Thus, after a 3-hr incubation, 3-5 times more (125)I-labeled bovine serum albumin and X. laevis serum proteins lacking albumin were degraded than the corresponding (3)H-labeled proteins (95% compared to 30% and 75% compared to 15%, respectively), whereas after a 24-hr incubation, the degradation of (125)I-labeled vitellogenin was 15 times greater than that of [(3)H]vitellogenin labeled in vivo (60% compared to 4%). Moreover, examination of the relative amounts of (3)H- compared to (125)I-labeled bovine serum albumin deposited into the exogenously derived yolk platelet compartment of the oocyte revealed 7 times more acid-precipitable (3)H-labeled protein, indicating that the observed discrepancies were not due to reincorporation of the (3)H-labeled ligands. Passage of dissolved oocytes previously exposed to (125)I-labeled bovine serum albumin (chloramine-T method) over a column of Bio-Gel P-10 revealed some breakdown of bovine serum albumin to intermediate molecular weight components and the presence of a large amount ( approximately 90%) of labeled low molecular weight compounds, which analysis showed to be 72% free iodine. The evolution of either iodotyrosine or free iodine would nevertheless be perceived as protein degradation by most analytical procedures (e.g., acid precipitation or autoradiography). We conclude, therefore, that apparent degradation rates observed for endocytotically incorporated proteins may vary depending on the method used to label the protein and caution should be exercised when interpreting results obtained with labeled, particularly chloramine-T labeled, proteins.