Murine SR-BI, a high density lipoprotein receptor that mediates selective lipid uptake, is N-glycosylated and fatty acylated and colocalizes with plasma membrane caveolae.

The class B, type I scavenger receptor, SR-BI, was the first molecularly well defined cell surface high density lipoprotein (HDL) receptor to be described. It mediates transfer of lipid from HDL to cells via selective lipid uptake, a mechanism distinct from receptor-mediated endocytosis via clathrin-coated pits and vesicles. SR-BI is expressed most abundantly in steroidogenic tissues (adrenal gland, ovary), where trophic hormones coordinately regulate its expression with steroidogenesis, and in the liver, where it may participate in reverse cholesterol transport. Here we have used immunochemical methods to study the structure and subcellular localization of murine SR-BI (mSR-BI) expressed either in transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells or in murine adrenocortical Y1-BS1 cells. mSR-BI, an approximately 82-kDa glycoprotein, was initially synthesized with multiple high mannose N-linked oligosaccharide chains, and some, but not all, of these were processed to complex forms during maturation of the protein in the Golgi apparatus. Metabolic labeling with [3H]palmitate and [3H]myristate demonstrated that mSR-BI was fatty acylated, a property shared with CD36, another class B scavenger receptor, and other proteins that concentrate in specialized, cholesterol- and glycolipid-rich plasma membrane microdomains called caveolae. OptiPrep density gradient fractionation of plasma membranes established that mSR-BI copurified with caveolin-1, a constituent of caveolae; and immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated that mSR-BI colocalized with caveolin-1 in punctate microdomains across the surface of cells and on the edges of cells. Thus, mSR-BI colocalizes with caveolae, and this raises the possibility that the unique properties of these specialized cell surface domains may play a critical role in SR-BI-mediated transfer of lipids between lipoproteins and cells.