The use of Fluoresceincadaverine for detecting amine acceptor protein substrates accessible to active transglutaminase in living cells.

The use of Fluoresceincadaverine as a primary amine donor for detecting the endogenous substrates for active transglutaminase in living cells was studied. Fluoresceincadaverine was found to be suitable for labelling cells in culture as it did not induce cytotoxicity when used at 0.5 mM in culture media and diffused throughout the cell. After appropriate fixation using methanol, Fluoresceincadaverine-labelled cells were observed by direct fluorescence microscopy, allowing visualization of the substrates for active transglutaminase. Simultaneous detection of transglutaminase and of Fluoresceincadaverine incorporated into proteins strongly suggested that cytosolic transglutaminase was inactive in these living cells. However, transglutaminase co-distributed with Fluoresceincadaverine-labelled structures, which resembled a lattice. Fluoresceincadaverine-labelled proteins detected by Western blotting using an anti-Fluorescein antibody showed that, in living cells, the major transglutaminase substrate migrated at an apparent molecular weight of 220 kDa, as does fibronectin. Fibronectin was found to co-distribute with Fluoresceincadaverine-labelled lattice. This confirmed that these lattice structures were extracellular and, therefore, that transglutaminase is in an active form in this compartment. This opportunity to perform morphological and biochemical analyses in the search for transglutaminase substrates in living cells should help in determining the specific function of transglutaminases in a particular cell type as well as in universal cellular events, such as apoptosis or cell growth.