Project description:N-glycosylation is essential for many biological processes in mammals. A variety of N-glycan structures exist, of which, the formation of bisecting N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) is catalyzed by N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-III (GnT-III, encoded by the Mgat3 gene). We previously identified various bisecting GlcNAc-modified proteins involved in Alzheimer's disease and cancer. However, the mechanisms by which GnT-III acts on the target proteins are unknown. Here, we performed comparative glycoproteomic analyses using brain membranes of wild type (WT) and Mgat3-deficient mice. Target glycoproteins of GnT-III were enriched with E4-phytohemagglutinin (PHA) lectin, which recognizes bisecting GlcNAc, and analyzed by liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry. We identified 32 N-glycosylation sites (Asn-Xaa-Ser/Thr, Xaa ≠ Pro) that were modified with bisecting GlcNAc. Sequence alignment of identified N-glycosylation sites that displayed bisecting GlcNAc suggested that GnT-III does not recognize a specific primary amino acid sequence. The molecular modeling of GluA1 as one of the good cell surface substrates for GnT-III in the brain, indicated that GnT-III acts on N-glycosylation sites located in a highly flexible and mobile loop of GluA1. These results suggest that the action of GnT-III is partially affected by the tertiary structure of target proteins, which can accommodate bisecting GlcNAc that generates a bulky flipped-back conformation of the modified glycans.
Project description:Neutrophils are the most abundant white blood cells in humans and play a vital role in several aspects of the immune response. Numerous reports have implicated neutrophil glycosylation as an important factor in mediating these interactions. We report here the application of high sensitivity glycomics methodologies, including matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation (MALDI-TOF) and MALDI-TOF/TOF analyses, to the structural analysis of N- and O-linked carbohydrates released from two samples of neutrophils, prepared by two separate and geographically remote laboratories. The data produced demonstrates that the cells display a diverse range of sialylated and fucosylated complex glycans, with a high level of similarity between the two preparations.
Project description:The N-glycosylation of the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has proven to be highly variable and rather complex; it is an example to contradict the existing impression that "simple" organisms possess also a rather simple glycomic capacity. In previous studies in a number of laboratories, N-glycans with up to four fucose residues have been detected. However, although the linkage of three fucose residues to the N,N'-diacetylchitobiosyl core has been proven by structural and enzymatic analyses, the nature of the fourth fucose has remained uncertain. By constructing a triple mutant with deletions in the three genes responsible for core fucosylation (fut-1, fut-6 and fut-8), we have produced a nematode strain lacking products of these enzymes, but still retaining maximally one fucose residue on its N-glycans. Using mass spectrometry and HPLC in conjunction with chemical and enzymatic treatments as well as NMR, we examined a set of α-mannosidase-resistant N-glycans. Within this glycomic subpool, we can reveal that the core β-mannose can be trisubstituted and so carries not only the ubiquitous α1,3- and α1,6-mannose residues, but also a "bisecting" β-galactose, which is substoichiometrically modified with fucose or methylfucose. In addition, the α1,3-mannose can also be α-galactosylated. Our data, showing the presence of novel N-glycan modifications, will enable more targeted studies to understand the biological functions and interactions of nematode glycans.
Project description:Glycans have essential roles in biology and the etiology of many diseases. A major hurdle in studying glycans through functional glycomics is the lack of methods to release glycans from diverse types of biological samples. Here we describe an oxidative strategy using household bleach to release all types of free reducing N-glycans and O-glycan-acids from glycoproteins, and glycan nitriles from glycosphingolipids. Released glycans are directly useful in glycomic analyses and can be derivatized fluorescently for functional glycomics. This chemical method overcomes the limitations in glycan generation and promotes archiving and characterization of human and animal glycomes and their functions.
Project description:The human glycome comprises a vast untapped repository of 3D-structural information that holds the key to glycan recognition and a new era of rationally designed mimetic chemical probes, drugs, and biomaterials. Toward routine prediction of oligosaccharide conformational populations and exchange rates at thermodynamic equilibrium, we apply hardware-accelerated aqueous molecular dynamics to model μs motions in N-glycans that underpin inflammation and immunity. In 10μs simulations, conformational equilibria of mannosyl cores, sialyl Lewis (sLe) antennae, and constituent sub-sequences agreed with prior refinements (X-ray and NMR). Glycosidic linkage and pyranose ring flexing were affected by branching, linkage position, and secondary structure, implicating sequence dependent motions in glycomic functional diversity. Linkage and ring conformational transitions that have eluded precise quantification by experiment and conventional (ns) simulations were predicted to occur on μs timescales. All rings populated non-chair shapes and the stacked galactose and fucose pyranoses of sLe(a) and sLe(x) were rigidified, suggesting an exploitable 3D-signature of cell adhesion protein binding. Analyses of sLe(x) dynamics over 25μs revealed that only 10μs were sufficient to explore all aqueous conformers. This simulation protocol, which yields conformational ensembles that are independent of initial 3D-structure, is proposed as a route to understanding oligosaccharide recognition and structure-activity relationships, toward development of carbohydrate-based novel chemical entities.
Project description:O-GalNAc glycans (or mucin O-glycans) play pivotal roles in diverse biological and pathological processes, including tumor growth and progression. Structurally defined O-GalNAc glycans are essential for functional studies but synthetic challenges and their inherent structural diversity and complexity have limited access to these compounds. Herein, we report an efficient and robust chemoenzymatic modular assembly (CEMA) strategy to construct structurally diverse O-GalNAc glycans. The key to this strategy is the convergent assembly of O-GalNAc cores 1-4 and 6 from three chemical building blocks, followed by enzymatic diversification of the cores by 13 well-tailored enzyme modules. A total of 83 O-GalNAc glycans presenting various natural glycan epitopes are obtained and used to generate a unique synthetic mucin O-glycan microarray. Binding specificities of glycan-binding proteins (GBPs) including plant lectins and selected anti-glycan antibodies towards these O-GalNAc glycans are revealed by this microarray, promoting their applicability in functional O-glycomics. Serum samples from colorectal cancer patients and healthy controls are assayed using the array reveal higher bindings towards less common cores 3, 4, and 6 than abundant cores 1 and 2, providing insights into O-GalNAc glycan structure-activity relationships.
Project description:In human serum immunoglobulin G (IgG), a rare modification of biantennary complex N-glycans lead to a β1,4-galactosylated bisecting GlcNAc branch. We found that the bisecting GlcNAc on a biantennary core-fucosylated N-glycan was enzymatically galactosylated under stringent reaction conditions. Further optimizations led to an efficient enzymatic approach to this particular modification for biantennary substrates. Notably, tri- and tetra-antennary complex N-glycans were not converted by bovine galactosyltransferase. An N-glycan with a galactosylated bisecting GlcNAc was linked to a lanthanide binding tag. The pseudo-contact shifts (PCS) obtained from the corresponding Dy-complex were used to calculate the conformational preferences of the rare N-glycan. Besides two extended conformations only a single folded conformation was found.
Project description:Functional glycomics has been impeded by the lack of inexpensive enzymatic and mild chemical methods to acquire natural glycans in significant amounts. In this study, we have developed a new strategy we term "threshing and trimming" (TaT) to quickly obtain N-glycans from glycoproteins and animal tissues. TaT employs low-cost Pronase to degrade peptides and N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) to effect oxidative decarboxylation under very mild reaction conditions to generate homogeneous aglycon moieties as nitriles or aldehydes. These aglycons can be readily conjugated with fluorescent tags for profiling and functional study. TaT is an affordable alternative to expensive specialty enzymes and strong chemical treatment and unpleasant reagents, and should further drive the functional glycomics of N-glycans.
Project description:The branching of complex N-glycans attached to growth factor receptors promotes tumor progression by prolonging growth factor signaling. The addition of the bisecting GlcNAc to complex N-glycans by Mgat3 has varying effects on cell adhesion, cell migration, and hepatoma formation. Here, we show that Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing Mgat3 and the polyoma middle T (PyMT) antigen have reduced cell proliferation and growth factor signaling dependent on a galectin lattice. The Mgat3 gene is not expressed in virgin mammary gland but is upregulated during lactation and is expressed in mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)/PyMT tumors. Mice lacking Mgat3 that cannot transfer the bisecting GlcNAc to N-glycans acquire PyMT-induced mammary tumors more rapidly and have an increased tumor burden, increased migration of tumor cells, and increased early metastasis to lung. Tumors and tumor-derived cells lacking Mgat3 exhibit enhanced signaling through the Ras pathway and reduced amounts of functionally glycosylated alpha-dystroglycan. Constitutive overexpression of an MMTV/Mgat3 transgene inhibits early mammary tumor development and tumor cell migration. Thus, the addition of the bisecting GlcNAc to complex N-glycans of mammary tumor cell glycoprotein receptors is a cell autonomous mechanism serving to retard tumor progression by reducing growth factor signaling.
Project description:Breast cancer brain metastasis has been recognized as one of the central issues in breast cancer research. The elucidation of the processes and pathways that mediate this step will provide important clues for a better understanding of breast cancer metastasis. Increasing evidence suggests that aberrant glycosylation patterns greatly contribute to cell invasion and cancer metastasis. Herein, we combined next-generation RNA sequencing with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based proteomic and N-glycomic analysis from five breast cancer cell lines and one brain cancer cell line to investigate the possible mechanisms of breast cancer brain metastasis. The genes/proteins associated with cell movement were highlighted in breast cancer brain metastasis. The integrin signaling pathway and the up-regulation of α-integrin (ITGA2, ITGA3) were associated with the brain metastatic process. 12 glycogenes showed unique expression in 231BR, which could result in an increase of sialylation during brain metastasis. In agreement with the changes of glycogenes, 60 out of 63 N-glycans that were identified exhibited differential expression among cell lines. The correlation between glycogenes and glycans revealed the importance of sialylation and sialylated glycans in breast cancer brain metastasis. Highly sialylated N-glycans, which were up-regulated in brain-seeking cell line 231BR, likely play a role in brain metastasis.