Biology Forums - Study Force

In experiments designed to explore whether there is protein transverse asymmetry in membranes, it was shown that when trypsin was used to treat intact erythrocytes, the carbohydrate groups of the transmembrane protein glycophorin were released from the N-terminus of this protein (as glycopeptides). This was taken as evidence that the N-terminus of glycophorin must be on the exterior side of the membrane because:
 a. Trypsin is too large to get inside the cell to attack interior parts of glycophorin.
 b. Trypsin only attacks carbohydrate residues and not proteins.
 c. Trypsin only attacks proteins when they are present in membranes.
 d. Trypsin only attacks N-terminal regions of proteins and never near the C-terminus.
 e. Trypsin specifically hydrolyzes proteins at lysine and arginine residues.

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