In vitro translation of rat liver and Novikoff hepatoma cytokeratin mRNAs

Cytoplasmic poly(A)⁺ RNA was isolated from normal rat liver and Novikoff ascites hepatoma cells, translated in vitro using rabbit reticulocyte lysate system and the translational products were assayed by immunoprecipitation with antibodies specific for Novikoff hepatoma principal cytokeratins p39, p49 (a group of hepatic cytokeratins C, D, and E) and p56. The identity of the precipitated antigens was further confirmed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Only the Novikoff hepatoma poly(A)⁺ RNA contained translatable mRNA coding for the p39 cytokeratin while the p49 and p56 cytokeratins were translated from both the normal rat liver and Novikoff hepatoma poly(A)⁺ RNAs. Immunoprecipitations employing monoclonal antibody specific for p39 also recovered significant quantities of p56 and 49K cytokeratins, presumably due to oligomeric associations of these proteins with p39 immediately after in vitro synthesis. Similar results were observed after experiments with anti-p56 monoclonal antibody in which p39, not reactive with this antibody, was recovered in immunoprecipitates. Overall, the two-dimensional gel fluorograms of cytokeratins synthesized in vitro from NAH or liver poly(A)⁺ RNA are quite similar to isolated antigenic and cytokeratin profiles reported previously. These results suggest that overt posttranslational processing is not likely responsible for the diversity of cytokeratins observed in the liver.