Colocalization of GAPDH and band 3 (AE1) proteins in rat erythrocytes and kidney intercalated cell membranes.

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.2.12) (GAPDH) is a multifunctional protein that associates with the cytoplasmic face of intact human erythrocyte membranes. This association has been postulated to be critically dependent on the interaction of GAPDH with the highly acidic NH2-terminal domain of the principal integral membrane protein of the erythrocyte plasma membrane, the band 3 anion exchanger (AE1). This domain is not conserved in murine erythrocyte AE1 and is fully deleted in the alternatively spliced AE1 isoform that is expressed in the kidney. The lack of conservation of this domain has been proposed to explain the reported absence of GAPDH association with rodent erythrocyte membranes. To determine whether GAPDH could be associated with AE1 proteins in rodent cell membranes, specific rabbit antibodies to peptide sequences of rat GAPDH and mouse AE1 were used to immunolocalize these proteins in sequential semithin sections of rat erythrocytes and kidney medulla. In rat erythrocytes, GAPDH immunoreactivity was predominantly membrane associated and colocalized with AE1. In the kidney medulla, GAPDH was concentrated in the basolateral membrane of type A intercalated cells, where it colocalized with the alternatively spliced kidney form of AE1. GAPDH immunoreactivity was not detected in the plasma membrane of any other cell type in the kidney, indicating its predominant association with AE1-rich membranes. If this membrane interaction occurs via AE1 binding, then GAPDH must have binding sites in addition to those previously described for such binding in human AE1.