The Endoplasmic Reticulum Glucosyltransferase Recognizes Nearly Native Glycoprotein Folding Intermediates (original) (raw)

Minor folding defects trigger local modification of glycoproteins by the ER folding sensor GT

The EMBO Journal, 2005

UDP-glucose:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase (GT) is a key component of the glycoprotein-specific folding and quality control system in the endoplasmic reticulum. By exclusively reglucosylating incompletely folded and assembled glycoproteins, it serves as a folding sensor that prolongs the association of newly synthesized glycoproteins with the chaperone-like lectins calnexin and calreticulin. Here, we address the mechanism by which GT recognizes and labels its substrates. Using an improved inhibitor assay based on soluble conformers of pancreatic ribonuclease in its glycosylated (RNase B) and unglycosylated (RNase A) forms, we found that the protein moiety of a misfolded conformer alone is sufficient for specific recognition by GT in vitro. To investigate the relationship between recognition and glucosylation, we tested a variety of glycosylation mutants of RNase S-Protein and an RNase mutant with a local folding defect [RNase C65S, C72S], as well as a series of loop insertion mutants. The results indicated that local folding defects in an otherwise correctly folded domain could be recognized by GT. Only glycans attached to the polypeptide within the misfolded sites were glucosylated.

A sweet code for glycoprotein folding

FEBS Letters, 2015

Glycoprotein synthesis is initiated in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen upon transfer of a glycan (Glc3Man9GlcNAc2) from a lipid derivative to Asn residues (N‐glycosylation). N‐Glycan‐dependent quality control of glycoprotein folding in the ER prevents exit to Golgi of folding intermediates, irreparably misfolded glycoproteins and incompletely assembled multimeric complexes. It also enhances folding efficiency by preventing aggregation and facilitating formation of proper disulfide bonds. The control mechanism essentially involves four components, resident lectin‐chaperones (calnexin and calreticulin) that recognize monoglucosylated polymannose protein‐linked glycans, lectin‐associated oxidoreductase acting on monoglucosylated glycoproteins (ERp57), a glucosyltransferase that creates monoglucosylated epitopes in protein‐linked glycans (UGGT) and a glucosidase (GII) that removes the glucose units added by UGGT. This last enzyme is the only mechanism component sensing glycoprotein...

A cell-based reglucosylation assay demonstrates the role of GT1 in the quality control of a maturing glycoprotein

Journal of Cell Biology, 2008

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein GT1 (UDP-glucose: glycoprotein glucosyltransferase) is the central enzyme that modifies N-linked carbohydrates based upon the properties of the polypeptide backbone of the maturing substrate. GT1 adds glucose residues to nonglucosylated proteins that fail the quality control test, supporting ER retention through persistent binding to the lectin chaperones calnexin and calreticulin. How GT1 functions in its native environment on a maturing substrate is poorly understood. We analyzed the reglucosylation of a maturing model glycoprotein, influenza hemagglutinin (HA), in the intact mammalian ER. GT1 reglucosylated N-linked glycans in the slow-folding stem domain of HA once the nascent chain was released from the ribosome. Maturation mutants that disrupted the oxidation or oligomerization of HA also supported region-specific reglucosylation by GT1. Therefore, GT1 acts as an ER quality control sensor by posttranslationally reglucosylating glycans on ...

The ER Glycoprotein Quality Control System

2004

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the major site for folding and sorting of newly synthesized secretory cargo proteins. One central regulator of this process is the quality control machinery, which retains and ultimately disposes of misfolded secretory proteins before they can exit the ER. The ER quality control process is highly effective and mutations in cargo molecules are linked to a variety of diseases. In mammalian cells, a large number of secretory proteins, whether membrane bound or soluble, are asparagine (N)-glycosylated. Recent attention has focused on a sugar transferase, UDP-Glucose: glycoprotein glucosyl transferase (UGGT), which is now recognized as a constituent of the ER quality control machinery. UGGT is capable of sensing the folding state of glycoproteins and attaches a single glucose residue to the Man 9 GlcNAc 2 glycan of incompletely folded or misfolded glycoproteins. This enables misfolded glycoproteins to rebind calnexin and reenter productive folding cycles. Prolonging the time of glucose addition on misfolded glycoproteins ultimately results in either the proper folding of the glycoprotein or its presentation to an ER associated degradation machinery.

UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase recognizes structured and solvent accessible hydrophobic patches in molten globule-like folding intermediates

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2002

Protein folding in the cell involves the action of different molecular chaperones and folding-facilitating enzymes. In the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the folding status of glycoproteins is stringently controlled by a glucosyltranferase enzyme (GT) that creates monoglucosylated structures recognized by ER resident lectins (calnexin/calreticulin, CNX/CRT). GT serves as a folding sensor because it only glucosylates misfolded or partly folded glycoproteins. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism behind this recognition process remains largely unknown. In this paper we explore the structural determinants for GT recognition by using a single domain model protein. For this purpose we used a family of chemically glycosylated proteins derived from chymotrypsin inhibitor-2 as GT substrates. Structural characterization of species showing higher glucose acceptor capacity suggests that GT recognizes solvent accessible hydrophobic patches in molten globule-like conformers mimicking intermediate f...

Conformational Requirements for Glycoprotein Reglucosylation in the Endoplasmic Reticulum

The Journal of Cell Biology, 2000

Newly synthesized glycoproteins interact during folding and quality control in the ER with calnexin and calreticulin, two lectins specific for monoglucosylated oligosaccharides. Binding and release are regulated by two enzymes, glucosidase II and UDP-Glc:glycoprotein:glycosyltransferase (GT), which cyclically remove and reattach the essential glucose residues on the N-linked oligosaccharides. GT acts as a folding sensor in the cycle, selectively reglucosylating incompletely folded glycoproteins and promoting binding of its substrates to the lectins. To investigate how nonnative protein conformations are recognized and directed to this unique chaperone system, we analyzed the interaction of GT with a series of model substrates with well defined conformations derived from RNaseB. We found that conformations with slight perturbations were not reglucosylated by GT. In contrast, a partially structured nonnative form was efficiently recognized by the enzyme. When this form was converted b...

UDP-GlC:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase-glucosidase II, the ying-yang of the ER quality control

Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, 2010

The N-glycan-dependent quality control of glycoprotein folding prevents endoplasmic to Golgi exit of folding intermediates, irreparably misfolded glycoproteins and incompletely assembled multimeric complexes. It also enhances folding efficiency by preventing aggregation and facilitating formation of proper disulfide bonds. The control mechanism essentially involves four components, resident lectin-chaperones that recognize monoglucosylated polymannose glycans, a lectinassociated oxidoreductase acting on monoglucosylated glycoproteins, a glucosyltransferase that creates monoglucosytlated epitopes in protein-linked glycans and a glucosidase that removes the glucose units added by the glucosyltransferase. This last enzyme is the only mechanism component sensing glycoprotein conformations as it creates monoglucosylated glycans exclusively in not properly folded species or in not completely assembled complexes. The glucosidase is a dimeric heterodimer composed of a catalytic subunit and an additional one that is partially responsible for the ER localization of the enzyme and for the enhancement of the deglucosylation rate as its mannose 6-phosphate receptor homologous domain presents the substrate to the catalytic site. This review deals with our present knowledge on the glucosyltransferase and the glucosidase.

Design principles for the glycoprotein quality control pathway

PLoS computational biology, 2021

Newly-translated glycoproteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) often undergo cycles of chaperone binding and release in order to assist in folding. Quality control is required to distinguish between proteins that have completed native folding, those that have yet to fold, and those that have misfolded. Using quantitative modeling, we explore how the design of the quality-control pathway modulates its efficiency. Our results show that an energy-consuming cyclic quality-control process, similar to the observed physiological system, outperforms alternative designs. The kinetic parameters that optimize the performance of this system drastically change with protein production levels, while remaining relatively insensitive to the protein folding rate. Adjusting only the degradation rate, while fixing other parameters, allows the pathway to adapt across a range of protein production levels, aligning with in vivo measurements that implicate the release of degradation-associated enzymes as...

A misfolded protein conformation is not a sufficient condition for invivo glucosylation by the UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase

The EMBO Journal, 1998

A key element in the quality control of glycoprotein folding is the UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase (GT), which in cell-free assays exclusively glucosylates misfolded glycoproteins. In order to test if such a protein conformation is a sufficient condition for in vivo glucosylation of all N-linked oligosaccharides by GT, a Schizosaccharomyces pombe double mutant (gls2/ alg6) was constructed. With this mutant, Man 9 GlcNAc 2 is transferred to proteins and no removal of glucose units added by GT occurs as it lacks glucosidase II. The same proportion of glucosylated (Glc 1 Man 9-GlcNAc 2) and unglucosylated (Man 9 GlcNAc 2 and Man 8 GlcNAc 2) endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-specific compounds was produced when cells were pre-incubated for 10, 20 or 30 min and further incubated with [ 14 C]glucose for 10 min at 28°C with or without 5 mM dithiothreitol (DTT), thus indicating not only that DTT did not affect protein glucosylation but also that no increased glucosylation of glycoproteins occurred in the presence of the drug. Monitoring Golgi-specific modifications of oligosaccharides after pulse-chase experiments performed in the presence or absence of 5 mM DTT showed that exit of the bulk of glycoproteins synthesized from the ER and thence their proper folding had been prevented by the drug. Cells pulsechase labeled at 37°C in the absence of DTT also yielded glucosylated and unglucosylated protein-linked oligosaccharides without Golgi-specific modifications. It was concluded that a misfolded protein conformation is not a sufficient condition for in vivo glucosylation of all N-linked oligosaccharides by GT.