Half-lives of L-[35S]methionine and L-[3H]fucose of transferrin in the serum of rats.

The half-lives of 35S-labelled L-methionine and of 3H-labelled L-fucose of serum transferrin of rats were measured in pulse-chase experiments in vivo. Both L-[35S]methionine and L-[6-3H]fucose disappeared from transferrin with nearly the same half-lives of 33.8 h and 36.5 h, respectively. The data show that in this major serum glycoprotein peripheral carbohydrates and the protein moiety are degraded as a unit.