Importance of residue 20 in the cleavage of HUβ by Lon. (A) HUβ-A20D (0.08 mg ml−1) and HUβ (0.08 mg ml−1) were each incubated with Ec-Lon (0.1 mg ml−1) with or without ATP (5 μM) for 6 h. Samples were then denatured by heating and analyzed by SDS-PAGE. Amounts loaded were 3 μg HUβ, 3 μg HUβ-A20D, and 1 μg Ec-Lon. M, Size markers (116, 66, 45, 35, 25, 18.4, and 14.4 kDa); lane 1, HUβ; lane 2, Ec-Lon and HUβ without ATP; lane 3, Ec-Lon and HUβ with ATP; lane 4, HUβ-A20D; lane 5, Ec-Lon and HUβ-A20D without ATP; and lane 6, Ec-Lon and HUβ-A20D with ATP. (B) The bands of HUβ and HUβ-A20D were analyzed by IQuant software (Molecular Dynamics).