Comparative studies on fucoprotein metabolism of chicken liver and
hepatoma Mc-29 have been carried out and the following parameters were determined: the incorporation rate of [14C]
fucose into
hepatoma and liver total tissue homogenate,
acid-soluble and
acid-insoluble fractions,
acid-soluble
nucleotide fraction and into plasma-membrane
acid-precipitable fraction; the activity of microsomal and plasma-membrane
fucosyltransferase; the electrophoretic pattern of
hepatoma and liver plasma-membrane
proteins and the incorporation of [14C]
fucose into the
glycoprotein fractions in both plasma-membrane preparations. It was found that the labelling of
hepatoma tissue homogenate and plasma membranes was higher than that of the same liver preparations 3 hr after the [14C]
fucose injection. This finding was supported by a considerably elevated
hepatoma fucosyltransferase activity. The labelling rate of numerous
fucoproteins from
hepatoma plasma membranes was greatly increased and some of the individual
glycoprotein bands were labelled to a higher extent compared with liver. The data presented show specific alterations of
fucose and fucoprotein metabolism which could be considered as a characteristic feature of chicken viral-induced
hepatoma Mc-29.