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Peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) catalyzes the amidation of glycine-extended peptides in neuroendocrine cells. At steady state, membrane PAM is accumulated in a perinuclear compartment. We examined the distribution of membrane PAM in stably transfected AtT-20 cells and compared its localization to markers for the trans-Golgi network (TGN), endosomes, and lysosomes. At the light microscopic level, the distribution of membrane PAM does not overlap extensively with lysosomal markers but does overlap with TGN38 and with SCAMP, a component of post-Golgi membranes involved in recycling pathways. By immunoelectron microscopy, membrane PAM is present in tubulovesicular structures which constitute the TGN; some of these PAM-containing tubulovesicular structures are more distal to the Golgi stacks and do not contain TGN38. While some POMC-derived peptides are present in tubulovesicular structures like those that contain membrane PAM, the majority of the POMC-derived peptides are present in secretory granules. There is little overlap between the steady state distribution of membrane PAM and internalized FITC-transferrin in the early endosomes. Few of the perinuclear PAM-containing structures are labeled with HRP or WGA-HRP even following long incubations. Therefore, membrane PAM is localized to perinuclear tubulovesicular structures which are partially devoid of TGN38 and are not all endosomal in origin.

Vesicular transport within the secretory pathway can be arrested by incubating cells at 15 degrees C or 20 degrees C to block exit from the endoplasmic reticulum or trans-Golgi network, respectively. Using this powerful tool we have compared the intracellular sites of endoproteolytic processing of proopiomelanocortin and two prohormone processing enzymes in AtT-20 mouse pituitary corticotrope tumor cells. For comparison, proopiomelanocortin processing was also evaluated in primary neurointermediate pituitary cultures. AtT-20 cells synthesize and store endogenous proopiomelanocortin and prohormone convertase 1; AtT-20 cells expressing high levels of integral membrane or soluble peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase were generated by stable transfection. Cells were incubated with [35S]methionine and chased at 4 degrees C, 15 degrees C, 20 degrees C or 37 degrees C. The endoproteolytic processing of peptidylglycine alpha-amidating mono-oxygenase, prohormone convertase 1, and proopiomelanocortin was compared following immunoprecipitation. Endoproteolytic processing of integral membrane and soluble peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase proteins was completely blocked by incubation of cells at 20 degrees C. In contrast, prohormone convertase 1 processing from the 87 kDa precursor to the 81 kDa intermediate proceeded to completion at both 15 degrees C and 20 degrees C, while cleavage to generate the 63 kDa prohormone convertase 1 protein was completely blocked at 20 degrees C. In AtT-20 cells and neurointermediate pituitary cultures, generation of beta-lipotropin from proopiomelanocortin continued at a slow but significant rate at 20 degrees C, while processing of beta-lipotropin to beta-endorphin was blocked. Thus prohormone convertase 1 processing begins in the endoplasmic reticulum and is not completed until after the trans-Golgi network, while peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase processing begins after the trans-Golgi network. Selected proopiomelanocortin cleavages begin before entry into immature granules.