Turnover and replication analysis by isotope labeling (TRAIL) reveals the influence of tissue context on protein and organelle lifetimes

Abstract

The lifespans of proteins range from minutes to years within mammalian tissues. Protein lifespan is relevant to organismal aging, as long‐lived proteins accrue damage over time. It is unclear how protein lifetime is shaped by tissue context, where both cell turnover and proteolytic degradation contribute to protein turnover. We develop turnover and replication analysis by 15N isotope labeling (TRAIL) to quantify protein and cell lifetimes with high precision and demonstrate that cell turnover, sequence‐encoded features, and environmental factors modulate protein lifespan across tissues. Cell and protein turnover flux are comparable in proliferative tissues, while protein turnover outpaces cell turnover in slowly proliferative tissues. Physicochemical features such as hydrophobicity, charge, and disorder influence protein turnover in slowly proliferative tissues, but protein turnover is much less sequence‐selective in highly proliferative tissues. Protein lifetimes vary nonrandomly across tissues after correcting for cell turnover. Multiprotein complexes such as the ribosome have consistent lifetimes across tissues, while mitochondria, peroxisomes, and lipid droplets have variable lifetimes. TRAIL can be used to explore how environment, aging, and disease affect tissue homeostasis.