Preparation of antibodies to chick-embryo galactosylhydroxylysyl glucosyltransferase and their use for an immunological characterization of the enzyme of collagen synthesis

Lysyl hydroxylase 3 is a multifunctional protein possessing collagen glucosyltransferase activity

Lysyl hydroxylase (EC ) and glucosyltransferase (EC ) are enzymes involved in post-translational modifications during collagen biosynthesis. We reveal in this paper that the protein produced by the cDNA for human lysyl hydroxylase isoform 3 (LH3) has both lysyl hydroxylase and glucosyltransferase (GGT) activities. The other known lysyl hydroxylase isoforms, LH1, LH2a, and LH2b, have no GGT activity. Furthermore, antibodies recognizing the amino acid sequence of human LH3 and those against a highly purified chicken GGT partially inhibited the GGT activity. Similarly, a partial inhibition was observed when these antibodies were tested against GGT extracted from human skin fibroblasts. In vitro mutagenesis experiments demonstrate that the amino acids involved in the GGT active site differ from those required for LH3 activity.

An unusual pattern of peptide-bound lysine metabolism in collagen from an infant with lethal perinatal osteogenesis imperfecta

Collagens extracted from bones, cartilage, dermis, and dura mater of an infant with type II (lethal perinatal) osteogenesis imperfecta were evaluated with respect to chain composition and chemical characteristics of their constituent chains. The results indicated that the various types of collagen were present in the indicated tissues in proportions that approximated normal tissues. Nevertheless, the constituent chains of collagens extracted from dermis, i.e., alpha 1(I), alpha 2(I), alpha 1(III), alpha 1(V), and alpha 2(V), chromatographed on carboxymethyl cellulose as though they possessed substantially lower overall positive charge than the homologous chains of normal tissues. Amino acid analyses of the chains confirmed this observation and showed that the chains lacked five to seven residues of lysine (plus hydroxylysine). It was subsequently shown that the apparent deficiency in lysyl residues was due, at least in part, to the presence of unusually high levels of allysine , a cross-link precursor formed from peptide-bound lysine under the catalytic action of lysyl oxidase. These results, in conjunction with previous results obtained on collagens from type II osteogenesis imperfecta tissues, suggest that aberrant fibril formation in this syndrome allows increased lysyl oxidase activity.

Posttranslational modifications in the biosynthesis of type IV collagen by a human tumor cell line

Factors responsible for the high extent of intracellular posttranslational modifications in type IV collagens were studied in a cultured human tumor cell line, HT-1080. These cells do not synthesize any detectable amounts of interstitial collagens but produce type IV collagen at a high rate, corresponding to about one-third of the production of interstitial collagens by cultured human skin fibroblasts. Prolyl 4-hydroxylase activity was lower in the HT-1080 cells than in human skin fibroblasts, there being a rough correlation between this enzyme activity and the rate of 4-hydroxyproline formation in these two cell types. The differing extents of the respective modifications could largely be explained by differences in the activities of lysyl hydroxylase and the hydroxylysyl glycosyltransferases between the two cell types. No difference ws found in prolyl 3-hydroxylase activity, however, even though the extent of 3-hydroxylation of proline residues was about 6-fold in the type IV collagens. In experiments where the HT-1080 cells were studied in suspension, a lag of about 100 min was found before the secretion of type IV collagen from the cells became linear. Pulse-chase experiments in suspension indicated that all the intracellular enzyme reactions proceeded for about 40 min, presumably due to the slow triple-helix formation in type IV collagens. This slow helix formation apparently contributed to the high extent of all the intracellular modifications but was not a major factor.