Modification of the intramolecular turnover of terminal carbohydrates of dipeptidylaminopeptidase IV isolated from rat-liver plasma membrane during liver regeneration

Metabolic Glycoengineering with N-Acyl Side Chain Modified Mannosamines

In metabolic glycoengineering (MGE), cells or animals are treated with unnatural derivatives of monosaccharides. After entering the cytosol, these sugar analogues are metabolized and subsequently expressed on newly synthesized glycoconjugates. The feasibility of MGE was first discovered for sialylated glycans, by using N-acyl-modified mannosamines as precursor molecules for unnatural sialic acids. Prerequisite is the promiscuity of the enzymes of the Roseman-Warren biosynthetic pathway. These enzymes were shown to tolerate specific modifications of the N-acyl side chain of mannosamine analogues, for example, elongation by one or more methylene groups (aliphatic modifications) or by insertion of reactive groups (bioorthogonal modifications). Unnatural sialic acids are incorporated into glycoconjugates of cells and organs. MGE has intriguing biological consequences for treated cells (aliphatic MGE) and offers the opportunity to visualize the topography and dynamics of sialylated glycans in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo (bioorthogonal MGE).

Decreases in the relative concentrations of specific hepatocyte plasma membrane proteins during liver regeneration: down-regulation or dilution?

Antibodies were used to quantify seven domain-specific integral proteins of the rat hepatocyte plasma membrane during rat liver regeneration in response to two-thirds hepatectomy. Quantitative immunoblotting revealed that a subset of the plasma membrane proteins exhibited transient 30-70% decreases in relative concentration during the period of hepatocyte proliferation. The list of affected proteins included at least one representative from each of the plasma membrane domains: the apical protein HA 4, the lateral protein HA 321, and the basolateral receptors for epidermal growth factor and asialoglycoproteins. In contrast, the relative concentrations of three other plasma membrane proteins, the basolateral protein CE 9 and the two apical proteins dipeptidylpeptidase IV and aminopeptidase N, remained unchanged throughout liver regeneration. The decreases in the relative concentrations of the plasma membrane proteins were observed even when the synthesis of hepatocyte DNA was blocked by hydroxyurea, suggesting that the signalling for these two delayed consequences of two-thirds hepatectomy occurred along parallel, dependent pathways. Pulse and pulse-chase metabolic radiolabeling studies revealed that the decreases in the concentrations of the PM proteins were accomplished through protein-selective decreases in the rates of synthesis of the high-mannose precursors of the affected proteins, but not through the accelerated degradation of the mature plasma membrane proteins.

Rapid intramolecular turnover of N-linked glycans in plasma membrane glycoproteins. Extension of intramolecular turnover to the core sugars in plasma membrane glycoproteins of hepatoma

Plasma membrane glycoproteins of rat hepatocytes undergo a rapid terminal deglycosylation in that the terminal sugars of the oligosaccharide side chains are rapidly removed from the otherwise intact glycoproteins [Tauber, R., Park, C.S. & Reutter, W. (1983) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 80, 4026-4029]. The present paper demonstrates that this rapid intramolecular turnover of plasma membrane glycoproteins is not restricted to peripheral sugars but, in contrast to liver, in hepatoma the core sugars of the oligosaccharide chains are also involved. Intramolecular turnover was measured in Morris hepatoma 7777 in five plasma membrane glycoproteins with Mr of 85,000 (hgp85), 105,000 (hgp105), 115,000 (hgp115), 125,000 (hgp125), 175,000 (hgp175) (hgp = hepatoma glycoprotein) that were isolated and purified to homogeneity by concanavalin-A--Sepharose affinity chromatography and semipreparative SDS gel electrophoresis. Analysis of the carbohydrates of hgp85, hgp105, hgp115 and hgp125 revealed the presence of N-linked oligosaccharides containing L-fucose, D-galactose, D-mannose and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, but only of trace amounts of N-acetyl-D-galactosamine; hgp175 additionally contained significant amounts of N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, indicating the presence of both N- and O-linked oligosaccharides. As shown by digestion with endoglucosaminidase H, the N-linked oligosaccharides of hgp105, hgp115, hgp125 and hgp175 were of the complex type, whereas hgp85 also contained oligosaccharides of the high-mannose type. Half-lives of the turnover of the oligosacharide chains and of the protein backbone of the five glycoproteins were measured in the plasma membrane in pulse-chase experiments in vivo, using L-[3H]fucose as a marker of terminal sugars, D-[3H]mannose as marker of a core sugar and L-[3H]leucine for labelling the protein backbone. Protein backbones of the five glycoproteins were degraded with individual half-lives ranging over 41-90 h with a mean of 66 h. Compared to the degradation of the polypeptide backbone, both the terminal sugar L-fucose and the core sugar D-mannose turned over with much shorter half-lives averaging about 20 h in the five glycoproteins. The data show that, conversely to liver, within plasma membrane glycoproteins of hepatoma not only peripheral sugars but also core sugars of the oligosaccharides are split off during the life-span of the protein backbone. It may therefore be assumed that this reprocessing of plasma membrane glycoproteins is sensitive to malignant transformation.

Increased activity of dipeptidyl peptidase IV in serum of hepatoma-bearing rats coincides with the loss of the enzyme from the hepatoma plasma membrane

The specific activity of dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV E.C. 3.4.14.-) in the plasma membrane of Morris hepatoma 9121 or hepatoma 7777 was 3.5% and 2.9%, respectively, of that in the plasma membrane of rat liver. The enzyme activity in the serum of hepatoma-bearing rats was 141% (hepatoma 91219) and 162% (hepatoma 7777) of the normal value. Cytochemical investigation showed that the DPP IV activity was almost completely absent from the hepatoma cell plasma membrane and was not sequestered within these cells. Indirect immunofluorescence staining with a polyclonal antibody directed against DPP IV indicated that the loss of activity was due to the absence of DPP IV molecules in the plasma membrane. The possibility that the enzyme is transferred from the membrane into the serum as a result of structural alterations is discussed.