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The glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor: a complex membrane-anchoring structure for proteins.

ABSTRACT: Positioned at the C-terminus of many eukaryotic proteins, the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor is a posttranslational modification that anchors the modified protein in the outer leaflet of the cell membrane. The GPI anchor is a complex structure comprising a phosphoethanolamine linker, glycan core, and phospholipid tail. GPI-anchored proteins are structurally and functionally diverse and play vital roles in numerous biological processes. While several GPI-anchored proteins have been characterized, the biological functions of the GPI anchor have yet to be elucidated at a molecular level. This review discusses the structural diversity of the GPI anchor and its putative cellular functions, including involvement in lipid raft partitioning, signal transduction, targeting to the apical membrane, and prion disease pathogenesis. We specifically highlight studies in which chemically synthesized GPI anchors and analogues have been employed to study the roles of this unique posttranslational modification.

SUBMITTER: Paulick MG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2663890 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor: a complex membrane-anchoring structure for proteins.

Paulick Margot G MG Bertozzi Carolyn R CR

Biochemistry 20080617 27

Positioned at the C-terminus of many eukaryotic proteins, the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor is a posttranslational modification that anchors the modified protein in the outer leaflet of the cell membrane. The GPI anchor is a complex structure comprising a phosphoethanolamine linker, glycan core, and phospholipid tail. GPI-anchored proteins are structurally and functionally diverse and play vital roles in numerous biological processes. While several GPI-anchored proteins have been cha ...[more]

PMID: 18557633

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Project description:Placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) is initially synthesized as a precursor (proPLAP) with a C-terminal extension. We constructed a recombinant cDNA which encodes a chimeric protein (alpha GL-PLAP) comprising rat alpha 2u-globulin (alpha GL) and the C-terminal extension of PLAP. Two molecular species (25 kDa and 22 kDa) were expressed in the COS-1 cell transfected with the cDNA for alpha GL-PLAP. Only the 22 kDa form was labelled with both [3H]stearic acid and [3H]ethanolamine. Upon digestion with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C the 22 kDa form was released into the medium, indicating that this form is anchored on the cell surface via glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI). A specific IgG raised against a C-terminal nonapeptide of proPLAP precipitated the 25 kDa form but not the 22 kDa form, suggesting that the 25 kDa form is a precursor retaining the C-terminal propeptide. When a mutant alpha GL-PLAP, in which the aspartic acid residue is replaced with tryptophan at a putative cleavage/attachment site, was expressed in COS-1 cells, the 25 kDa precursor was the only form found inside the cell and retained in the endoplasmic reticulum, as judged by immunofluorescence microscopy. In vitro translation programmed with mRNAs coding for the wild-type and mutant forms of alpha GL-PLAP demonstrated that the C-terminal propeptide was cleaved from the wild-type chimeric protein, but not from the mutant one. This gave rise to the 22 kDa form attached with a GPI anchor, suggesting that GPI is covalently linked to the aspartic acid residue (Asp159) of alpha GL-PLAP. Taken together, these results indicate that the C-terminal propeptide of PLAP functions as a signal to render alpha GL a GPI-linked membrane protein in vitro and in vivo in cultured cells, and that the chimeric protein constructed in this study may be useful for elucidating the mechanism underlying the cleavage of the propeptide and attachment of GPI, which occur in the endoplasmic reticulum.

Project description:Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins are cell surface-localized proteins that serve many important cellular functions. The pathway mediating synthesis and attachment of the GPI anchor to these proteins in eukaryotic cells is complex, highly conserved, and plays a critical role in the proper targeting, transport, and function of all GPI-anchored protein family members. In this article, we demonstrate that MCD4, an essential gene that was initially identified in a genetic screen to isolate Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants defective for bud emergence, encodes a previously unidentified component of the GPI anchor synthesis pathway. Mcd4p is a multimembrane-spanning protein that localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and contains a large NH2-terminal ER lumenal domain. We have also cloned the human MCD4 gene and found that Mcd4p is both highly conserved throughout eukaryotes and has two yeast homologues. Mcd4p's lumenal domain contains three conserved motifs found in mammalian phosphodiesterases and nucleotide pyrophosphases; notably, the temperature-conditional MCD4 allele used for our studies (mcd4-174) harbors a single amino acid change in motif 2. The mcd4-174 mutant (1) is defective in ER-to-Golgi transport of GPI-anchored proteins (i.e., Gas1p) while other proteins (i.e., CPY) are unaffected; (2) secretes and releases (potentially up-regulated cell wall) proteins into the medium, suggesting a defect in cell wall integrity; and (3) exhibits marked morphological defects, most notably the accumulation of distorted, ER- and vesicle-like membranes. mcd4-174 cells synthesize all classes of inositolphosphoceramides, indicating that the GPI protein transport block is not due to deficient ceramide synthesis. However, mcd4-174 cells have a severe defect in incorporation of [3H]inositol into proteins and accumulate several previously uncharacterized [3H]inositol-labeled lipids whose properties are consistent with their being GPI precursors. Together, these studies demonstrate that MCD4 encodes a new, conserved component of the GPI anchor synthesis pathway and highlight the intimate connections between GPI anchoring, bud emergence, cell wall function, and feedback mechanisms likely to be involved in regulating each of these essential processes. A putative role for Mcd4p as participating in the modification of GPI anchors with side chain phosphoethanolamine is also discussed.

Dataset Information

The glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor: a complex membrane-anchoring structure for proteins.

Publications

The glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor: a complex membrane-anchoring structure for proteins.

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