Posttranslational and direct integration of heme oxygenase into microsomes.

Rat liver heme oxygenase has a large cytoplasmically exposed domain containing the N-terminus that can be cleaved from the membranes by a low concentration of trypsin, indicating that heme oxygenase is embedded in membranes with an insertion sequence near its C-terminal portion. Heme oxygenase synthesized in a cell-free system or purified from microsomes after detergent-solubilization was integrated into microsomal membranes posttranslationally and directly, like cytochrome b5.