A hierarchical structure in the N-glycosylation process governs the N-glycosylation output: prolonged cultivation induces glycoenzymes expression variations that are reflected in the cellular N-glycome but not in the protein and site-specific glycoprofile of CHO cells.

N-glycosylation is a central component in the modification of secretory proteins. One characteristic of this process is a heterogeneous output. The heterogeneity is the result of both structural constraints of the glycoprotein as well as the composition of the cellular glycosylation machinery.

Molecular basis for glycan recognition and reaction priming of eukaryotic oligosaccharyltransferase.

Oligosaccharyltransferase (OST) is the central enzyme of N-linked protein glycosylation. It catalyzes the transfer of a pre-assembled glycan, GlcNAcManGlc, from a dolichyl-pyrophosphate donor to acceptor sites in secretory proteins in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum. Precise recognition of the fully assembled glycan by OST is essential for the subsequent quality control steps of glycoprotein biosynthesis.

Glycosylation network mapping and site-specific glycan maturation .

Glycoprotein processing along a complex highly compartmentalized pathway is a hallmark of eukaryotic cells. We followed the kinetics of intracellular, site-specific glycan processing of a model protein with five distinct N-glycosylation sites and deduced a mathematical model of the secretory pathway that describes a complex set of processing reactions localized in defined intracellular compartments such as the endoplasmic reticulum the Golgi, or the lysosome. The model was able to accommodate site-specific N-glycan processing and we identified phosphorylated glycan structures of the mannose-6-phosphate pathway responsible for the lysosomal sorting of the glycoprotein.

Structure-function relationship of a novel fucoside-binding fruiting body lectin from Coprinopsis cinerea exhibiting nematotoxic activity.

Lectins are non-immunoglobulin-type proteins that bind to specific carbohydrate epitopes and play important roles in intra- and inter-organismic interactions. Here, we describe a novel fucose-specific lectin, termed CML1, which we identified from fruiting body extracts of Coprinopsis cinerea. For further characterization, the coding sequence for CML1 was cloned and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli.

Functional analysis of Ost3p and Ost6p containing yeast oligosaccharyltransferases.

The oligosaccharyltransferase (OST) is the central enzyme in the N-glycosylation pathway. It transfers a defined oligosaccharide from a lipid-linker onto the asparagine side chain of proteins. The yeast OST consists of eight subunits and exists in two catalytically distinct isoforms that differ in one subunit, Ost3p or Ost6p.

N-Glycosylation Enhances Conformational Flexibility of Protein Disulfide Isomerase Revealed by Microsecond Molecular Dynamics and Markov State Modeling.

Secreted proteins of eukaryotes are decorated with branched carbohydrate oligomers called glycans. This fact is only starting to be considered for investigations of protein dynamics. Using all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and Markov state modeling (MSM), we unveil the influence of glycans on the conformational flexibility of the multidomain protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), which is a ubiquitous chaperone in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).

Glycan-protein interactions determine kinetics of -glycan remodeling.

A hallmark of -linked glycosylation in the secretory compartments of eukaryotic cells is the sequential remodeling of an initially uniform oligosaccharide to a site-specific, heterogeneous ensemble of glycostructures on mature proteins. To understand site-specific processing, we used protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), a model protein with five glycosylation sites, for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and compared the result to a biochemical analysis with four different glycan processing enzymes. As predicted by an analysis of the accessibility of the -glycans for their processing enzymes derived from the MD simulations, -glycans at different glycosylation sites showed different kinetic properties for the processing enzymes.

Substrate specificities and reaction kinetics of the yeast oligosaccharyltransferase isoforms.

Oligosaccharyltransferase (OST) catalyzes the central step in N-linked protein glycosylation, the transfer of a preassembled oligosaccharide from its lipid carrier onto asparagine residues of secretory proteins. The prototypic hetero-octameric OST complex from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae exists as two isoforms that contain either Ost3p or Ost6p, both noncatalytic subunits. These two OST complexes have different protein substrate specificities in vivo.

Architecture and function of human uromodulin filaments in urinary tract infections.

Uromodulin is the most abundant protein in human urine, and it forms filaments that antagonize the adhesion of uropathogens; however, the filament structure and mechanism of protection remain poorly understood. We used cryo-electron tomography to show that the uromodulin filament consists of a zigzag-shaped backbone with laterally protruding arms. N-glycosylation mapping and biophysical assays revealed that uromodulin acts as a multivalent ligand for the bacterial type 1 pilus adhesin, presenting specific epitopes on the regularly spaced arms.

Structure and mechanism of the ER-based glucosyltransferase ALG6.

In eukaryotic protein N-glycosylation, a series of glycosyltransferases catalyse the biosynthesis of a dolichylpyrophosphate-linked oligosaccharide before its transfer onto acceptor proteins. The final seven steps occur in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and require dolichylphosphate-activated mannose and glucose as donor substrates. The responsible enzymes-ALG3, ALG9, ALG12, ALG6, ALG8 and ALG10-are glycosyltransferases of the C-superfamily (GT-Cs), which are loosely defined as containing membrane-spanning helices and processing an isoprenoid-linked carbohydrate donor substrate.

Mechanistic reconstruction of glycoprotein secretion through monitoring of intracellular N-glycan processing.

N-linked glycosylation plays a fundamental role in determining the thermodynamic stability of proteins and is involved in multiple key biological processes. The mechanistic understanding of the intracellular machinery responsible for the stepwise biosynthesis of N-glycans is still incomplete due to limited understanding of in vivo kinetics of N-glycan processing along the secretory pathway. We present a glycoproteomics approach to monitor the processing of site-specific N-glycans in CHO cells.

Cytoplasmic glycoengineering enables biosynthesis of nanoscale glycoprotein assemblies.

Glycosylation of proteins profoundly impacts their physical and biological properties. Yet our ability to engineer novel glycoprotein structures remains limited. Established bacterial glycoengineering platforms require secretion of the acceptor protein to the periplasmic space and preassembly of the oligosaccharide substrate as a lipid-linked precursor, limiting access to protein and glycan substrates respectively.

Bidirectional Propagation of Signals and Nutrients in Fungal Networks via Specialized Hyphae.

Intercellular distribution of nutrients and coordination of responses to internal and external cues via endogenous signaling molecules are hallmarks of multicellular organisms. Vegetative mycelia of multicellular fungi are syncytial networks of interconnected hyphae resulting from hyphal tip growth, branching, and fusion. Such mycelia can reach considerable dimensions and, thus, different parts can be exposed to quite different environmental conditions.

Induction of antibacterial proteins and peptides in the coprophilous mushroom Coprinopsis cinerea in response to bacteria.

Bacteria are the main nutritional competitors of saprophytic fungi during colonization of their ecological niches. This competition involves the mutual secretion of antimicrobials that kill or inhibit the growth of the competitor. Over the last years it has been demonstrated that fungi respond to the presence of bacteria with changes of their transcriptome, but the significance of these changes with respect to competition for nutrients is not clear as functional proof of the antibacterial activity of the induced gene products is often lacking.

A molecular mechanism for the enzymatic methylation of nitrogen atoms within peptide bonds.

The peptide bond, the defining feature of proteins, governs peptide chemistry by abolishing nucleophilicity of the nitrogen. This and the planarity of the peptide bond arise from the delocalization of the lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen atom into the adjacent carbonyl. While chemical methylation of an amide bond uses a strong base to generate the imidate, OphA, the precursor protein of the fungal peptide macrocycle omphalotin A, self-hypermethylates amides at pH 7 using -adenosyl methionine (SAM) as cofactor.

SnapShot: O-Glycosylation Pathways across Kingdoms.

O-glycosylation is one of the most abundant and diverse types of post-translational modifications of proteins. O-glycans modulate the structure, stability, and function of proteins and serve generalized as well as highly specific roles in most biological processes. This ShapShot presents types of O-glycans found in different organisms and their principle biosynthetic pathways.