Immunocytochemical localization of vigilin, a tRNA-binding protein, after cell fractionation and within the exocrine pancreatic cell of the rat.

A polyclonal antibody against a fusion protein composed of two vigilin domains and gamma-galactosidase was used to localize the tRNA-binding protein vigilin at the ultrastructural level. Immunoreactivity for vigilin was found on membranes bearing ribosomes within the microsome fraction derived from rat livers and on the rough endoplasmic reticulum in rat exocrine pancreatic cells, synthesis corroborating the involvement of vigilin in protein synthesis. Gold labeling was also found in the nucleus and in the microsome fraction in an osmiophilic substance resembling heterochromatin. Both of these localizations, the rough endoplasmic reticulum and the nucleus, are in line with the observation that a vigilin-containing ribonucleoprotein complex binds tRNA.