Improved expression and characterization of recombinant human Golgi α1,2-mannosidase I isoforms (IA2 and IC) by Escherichia coli

Efficient production and characterization of soluble active human β-1,2-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II in bacteria

In humans, almost all the cell surface and secreted glycoproteins are modified with complex-type N-glycans. Thus, it is essential to obtain complex-type N-glycans to fully understand the biological properties of glycoproteins. Here, human β-1,2-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II (hGnT-II), a Golgi-localized enzyme integral to complex-type N-glycan biosynthesis, was cloned as a truncated transmembrane form (GnT-II-ΔTM) and heterologously overexpressed in Escherichia coli. Our results showed that hGnT-II could be overexpressed in its soluble form by fusing the truncated enzyme with a thioredoxin (Trx)-tag in the Rosetta-Gami 2 strain. Using the optimized induction conditions, the expression level of recombinant protein was enhanced to yield approximately 4 mg per liter culture after affinity purification. The enzyme exhibited appropriate glycosyltransferase activity, and the calculated Km value was 52.4 μM, similar to the protein expressed in mammalian cells. Furthermore, the effect of MGAT2-CDG mutations on enzyme activity was also measured. These results suggested that the E. coli expression system was capable of the large-scale production of bioactive hGnT-II, which can be used for functional study and effective synthesis of complex-type N-glycans.

High accumulation of the Man5GlcNAc2 structure by combining N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I gene suppression and mannosidase I gene overexpression in Nicotiana tabacum SR1

High accumulation of a single high-mannose glycan structure is important to ensure the quality of therapeutic proteins. We developed a glyco-engineering strategy for ensuring high accumulation of the Man₅GlcNAc₂ structure by combining N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I (GnT I) gene suppression and mannosidase I (Man I) gene overexpression. Nicotiana tabacum SR1 was used as the glyco-engineered host owing to the lower risk of pathogenic contamination than that in mammalian cells. We generated three glyco-engineered plant strains (gnt, gnt-MANA1, and gnt-MANA2) with suppression of GnT I or the combined suppression of GnT I and overexpression of Man I A1 or A2. The quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis showed a higher level of upregulation of Man I expression in gnt-MANA1/A2 plants than in the wild-type plants. Man I activity assay showed that the gnt-MANA1 plants had a higher Man I activity than did the wild-type and gnt-MANA2 plants. N-glycan analysis independently performed on two plants of each plant strain showed that gnt-MANA1 plants had a low abundance of the Man_6-9GlcNAc₂ structure (2.8%, 7.1%) and high abundance of the Man₅GlcNAc₂ structure (80.0%, 82.8%) compared with those in the wild-type and gnt plants. These results indicated that GnT I knockdown suppressed further modification of the Man₅GlcNAc₂ structure, and Man I overexpression enhanced the conversion of Man_6-9GlcNAc₂ structures to the Man₅GlcNAc₂ structure. The developed glyco-engineered plants have potential for serving as novel expression hosts for therapeutic proteins.

Hydrogen peroxide regulates endothelial surface N-glycoforms to control inflammatory monocyte rolling and adhesion

Monocyte extravasation through the endothelial layer is a hallmark of atherosclerotic plaque development and is mediated by heavily N-glycosylated surface adhesion molecules, such as intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). N-glycosylation is a key co- and post-translational modification that adds sugar molecules to Asparagine residues of surface and secreted proteins. While it has been suggested that surface and secreted proteins will not be expressed unless fully processed to a complex N-glycoform, emerging data has suggested that multiple N-glycoforms can exist on the cell surface. Previous data from our lab has shown that endothelial inflammation produces multiple N-glycoforms of ICAM-1, and that a hypoglycosylated, or high-mannose (HM), form of ICAM-1 enhances adhesion of pro-inflammatory monocytes associated with more severe atherosclerosis and adverse cardiac events. Despite these findings, little is understood about the regulation of N-glycans during disease. In this study, we focus on the α-mannosidases; an understudied class of enzymes for early N-glycan processing. We show that α-mannosidase activity decreases with TNFα treatment in endothelial cells, and this decrease correlates with HM N-glycan formation on the cell surface. Further, we demonstrate that this inhibition is class-I dependent, and is independent of NF-κB upregulation of ICAM-1. Finally, we show that this inhibition is due in part to hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), generated by Endoplasmic Reticulum oxidoreductase 1-α (ERO1α). These data provide insights into the regulation of surface N-glycans during inflammation and demonstrate a novel role for reactive species in N-glycan biosynthesis.