Publications by authors named "Francois Foulquier"

Glycans are known to be fundamental for many cellular and physiological functions. Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) currently encompassing over 160 subtypes, are characterized by glycan synthesis and/or processing defects. Despite the increasing number of CDG patients, therapeutic options remain very limited as our knowledge on glycan synthesis is fragmented.

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Loss-of-function variants in ATP6V0A2, encoding the trans Golgi V-ATPase subunit V0a2, cause wrinkly skin syndrome (WSS), a connective tissue disorder with glycosylation defects and aberrant cortical neuron migration. We used knock-out (Atp6v0a2) and knock-in (Atp6v0a2) mice harboring the R755Q missense mutation selectively abolishing V0a2-mediated proton transport to investigate the WSS pathomechanism. Homozygous mutants from both strains displayed a reduction of growth, dermis thickness, and elastic fiber formation compatible with WSS.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Glycosylation-deficient CHO cell lines, specifically Lec5 and Lec9, have been key to understanding N-glycosylation, but the reasons behind their glycosylation defects remained unclear until now.
  • - Dolichol synthesis from polyprenol was found to occur in three steps involving the enzymes DHRSX and SRD5A3, with Lec5 and Lec9 cells showing increased levels of polyprenol and decreased dolichol, indicating a deficiency in DHRSX.
  • - Long-read genome sequencing revealed that the DHRSX gene was missing in Lec5 and Lec9 cells, while the SRD5A3 gene was intact, confirming that the glycosylation defects
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Glycosylation-deficient Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines have been instrumental in the discovery of N-glycosylation machinery. Yet, the molecular causes of the glycosylation defects in the Lec5 and Lec9 mutants have been elusive, even though for both cell lines a defect in dolichol formation from polyprenol was previously established. We recently found that dolichol synthesis from polyprenol occurs in three steps consisting of the conversion of polyprenol to polyprenal by DHRSX, the reduction of polyprenal to dolichal by SRD5A3 and the reduction of dolichal to dolichol, again by DHRSX.

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Dolichol is a lipid critical for N-glycosylation as a carrier for activated sugars and nascent oligosaccharides. It is commonly thought to be directly produced from polyprenol by the enzyme SRD5A3. Instead, we found that dolichol synthesis requires a three-step detour involving additional metabolites, where SRD5A3 catalyzes only the second reaction.

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Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are one of the fastest growing groups of inborn errors of metabolism, comprising over 160 described diseases to this day. CDG are characterized by a dysfunctional glycosylation process, with molecular defects localized in the cytosol, the endoplasmic reticulum, or the Golgi apparatus. Depending on the CDG, N-glycosylation, O-glycosylation and/or glycosaminoglycan synthesis can be affected.

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TMEM165-CDG has first been reported in 2012 and manganese supplementation was shown highly efficient in rescuing glycosylation in isogenic KO cells. The unreported homozygous missense c.928G>C; p.

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TMEM165 is a Golgi protein playing a crucial role in Mn transport, and whose mutations in patients are known to cause Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation. Some of those mutations affect the highly-conserved consensus motifs E-φ-G-D-[KR]-[TS] characterizing the CaCA2/UPF0016 family, presumably important for the transport of Mn which is essential for the function of many Golgi glycosylation enzymes. Others, like the G>R mutation, are far away from these motifs in the sequence.

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The remarkable structural diversity of glycans that is exposed at the cell surface and generated along the secretory pathway is tightly regulated by several factors. The recent identification of human glycosylation diseases related to metal transporter defects opened a completely new field of investigation, referred to herein as "metalloglycobiology", on how metal changes can affect the glycosylation and hence the glycan structures that are produced. Although this field is in its infancy, this review aims to go through the different glycosylation steps/pathways that are metal dependent and that could be impacted by metal homeostasis dysregulations.

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Golgi cation homeostasis is known to be crucial for many cellular processes including vesicular fusion events, protein secretion, as well as for the activity of Golgi glycosyltransferases and glycosidases. TMEM165 was identified in 2012 as the first cation transporter related to human glycosylation diseases, namely the Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDG). Interestingly, divalent manganese (Mn) supplementation has been shown to suppress the observed glycosylation defects in TMEM165-deficient cell lines, thus suggesting that TMEM165 is involved in cellular Mn homeostasis.

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The TRPV6 calcium channel is known to be up-regulated in various tumors. The efforts to target the TRPV6 channel in vivo are still ongoing to propose an effective therapy against cancer. Here, we report the generation of two antibodies raised against extracellular epitopes corresponding to the extracellular loop between S1 and S2 (rb79) and the pore region (rb82).

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Disorders of the autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) spectrum are characterized by the development of kidney cysts and progressive kidney function decline. PKD1 and PKD2, encoding polycystin (PC)1 and 2, are the two major genes associated with ADPKD; other genes include IFT140, GANAB, DNAJB11, and ALG9. Genetic testing remains inconclusive in ∼7% of the families.

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Phosphomannomutase 2 (PMM2) deficiency is the most prevalent congenital disorder of glycosylation. It is associated with coagulopathy, including protein C deficiency. Since all components of the anticoagulant and cytoprotective protein C system are glycosylated, we sought to investigate the impact of an -glycosylation deficiency on this system as a whole.

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Glycosylation is a ubiquitous and universal cellular process in all domains of life. In eukaryotes, many glycosylation pathways occur simultaneously onto proteins and lipids for generating a complex diversity of glycan structures. In humans, severe genetic diseases called Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDG), resulting from glycosylation defects, demonstrate the functional relevance of these processes.

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The transmembrane domain recognition complex (TRC) pathway is required for the insertion of C-terminal tail-anchored (TA) proteins into the lipid bilayer of specific intracellular organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. In order to facilitate correct insertion, the recognition complex (consisting of BAG6, GET4 and UBL4A) must first bind to TA proteins and then to GET3 (TRC40, ASNA1), which chaperones the protein to the ER membrane. Subsequently, GET1 (WRB) and CAML form a receptor that enables integration of the TA protein within the lipid bilayer.

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Mutations in the X-linked gene MAGT1 cause a Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation (CDG), with two distinct clinical phenotypes: a primary immunodeficiency (XMEN disorder) versus intellectual and developmental disability. It was previously established that MAGT1 deficiency abolishes steady-state expression of the immune response protein NKG2D (encoded by KLRK1) in lymphocytes. Here, we show that the reduced steady-state levels of NKG2D are caused by hypoglycosylation of the protein and we pinpoint the exact site that is underglycosylated in MAGT1-deficient patients.

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Free oligosaccharides (fOSs) are soluble oligosaccharide species generated during N-glycosylation of proteins. Although little is known about fOS metabolism, the recent identification of NGLY1 deficiency, a congenital disorder of deglycosylation (CDDG) caused by loss of function of an enzyme involved in fOS metabolism, has elicited increased interest in fOS processing. The catabolism of fOSs has been linked to the activity of a specific cytosolic mannosidase, MAN2C1, which cleaves α1,2-, α1,3-, and α1,6-mannose residues.

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SLC10A7, encoded by the so-called SLC10A7 gene, is the seventh member of a human sodium/bile acid cotransporter family, known as the SLC10 family. Despite similarities with the other members of the SLC10 family, SLC10A7 does not exhibit any transport activity for the typical SLC10 substrates and is then considered yet as an orphan carrier. Recently, SLC10A7 mutations have been identified as responsible for a new Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation (CDG).

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TMEM165 deficiency leads to skeletal disorder characterized by major skeletal dysplasia and pronounced dwarfism. However, the molecular mechanisms involved have not been fully understood. Here, we uncover that TMEM165 deficiency impairs the synthesis of proteoglycans by producing a blockage in the elongation of chondroitin-and heparan-sulfate glycosaminoglycan chains leading to the synthesis of proteoglycans with shorter glycosaminoglycan chains.

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N-glycosylation is an important post-translational modification of proteins that has been highly conserved during evolution and is found in Eukaryota, Bacteria and Archaea. In eukaryotes, N-glycan processing is sequential, involving multiple specific steps within the secretory pathway as proteins travel through the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. In this review, we first summarize the different steps of the N-glycan processing and further describe recent findings regarding the diversity of N-glycan structures in eukaryotic clades.

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For the first time the glycosylation of a patient with a MPI-CDG during pregnancy is monitored. MPI-CDG, is characterised by a deficiency in mannose-6-phosphate isomerase (MPI) leading to a reduced pool of glycosylation precursors, impairing the biosynthesis of -glycans leading to -glycosylation defects. The abnormal -glycosylation profile with an elevation of asialotransferrin and disialotransferrin, typical of CDG type I, is assessable by transferrin isoelectrofocusing.

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Glycosylation is one of the essential modifications of proteins and lipids. It is carried out mainly in the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, and requires a specific molecular machinery associating several hundreds of glycosyltransferases, glycosidases, transporters and regulating proteins. Modifications of glycosylation are found in numerous diseases, notably in cancers.

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Recently, a disorder caused by the heterozygous de novo c.1267C>T (p.R423*) substitution in has been described.

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Glycosylation is an essential and complex cellular process where monosaccharides are added one by one onto an acceptor molecule, most of the time a protein or a lipid, so called glycoprotein or glycolipid. This cellular process is found in every living organism and is tightly conserved during evolution. In human, if one of the glycosylation reactions is genetically impaired, Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDG) appear.

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