Overlapping distribution of two glycosyltransferases in the Golgi apparatus of HeLa cells

Abstract

Thin, frozen sections of a HeLa cell line were double labeled with specific antibodies to localize the trans-Golgi enzyme, beta 1,4 galactosyltransferase (GalT) and the medial enzyme, N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I (NAGT I). The latter was detected by generating a HeLa cell line stably expressing a myc-tagged version of the endogenous protein. GalT was found in the trans-cisterna and trans-Golgi network but, contrary to expectation, NAGT I was found both in the medial- and trans-cisternae, overlapping the distribution of GalT. About one third of the NAGT I and half of the GalT were found in the shared, trans-cisterna. These data show that the differences between cisternae are determined not by different sets of enzymes but by different mixtures.