Subunit c accumulation assay
Cells were seeded into 4-well chamber-slides (Falcon) at a density of 5 × 104 cells per well for microscopy studies, or into 100 mm dishes (Falcon) at a density of 5 × 105 cells per dish for protein extraction. Cells were typically >95% confluent one day post-plating, and the following day was considered 1-day post-confluency. At the indicated times, cells were either fixed with 4% formaldehyde in phosphate buffered saline (PBS), pH 7.4, for 20 minutes and processed for autofluorescence/subunit c immunostaining, or cell pellets were collected for total protein extraction.
Alternatively, cells were fixed with 2.5% glutaraldehyde/2% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M cacodylate buffer, pH 7.4 for 1 hour and subsequently post-fixed and processed for TEM analysis as described [12]. In confocal microscopy studies, autofluorescent signal was observed over multiple wavelengths. For co-staining, settings were reduced such that autofluorescent signal did not contribute to antibody label signal.