Immunochemical demonstration that amino acids 360-377 of the acetylcholine receptor gamma-subunit are cytoplasmic

Two monoclonal antibodies (mabs) previously prepared against Torpedo acetylcholine receptor are shown to recognize a synthetic nonadecapeptide corresponding to lys360-glu377 of the gamma subunit. The reaction was demonstrated by solid-phase enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assays, by inhibition of binding of the mabs to receptor, and by immunoprecipitation of the peptide conjugated to bovine serum albumin. Immunogold electron microscopy on isolated postsynaptic membranes from Torpedo showed that both mabs bind to intracellular epitopes on the receptor. These results establish that amino acid residues 360-377 of the receptor gamma-subunit, and probably the analogous region of the delta-subunit, reside on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane. Since the primary structures of all four subunits suggest a common transmembrane arrangement, the corresponding domains of the alpha- and beta-subunits are probably also cytoplasmic.