The J.D. mutation in familial hypercholesterolemia: amino acid substitution in cytoplasmic domain impedes internalization of LDL receptors

Genomic DNA encompassing the terminal exons of the gene for the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor was isolated from J.D., a patient with familial hypercholesterolemia whose receptor fails to cluster in coated pits. The DNA sequence revealed a substitution of a cysteine codon for a tyrosine codon at residue 807 in the cytoplasmic domain of the receptor. We reproduced this substitution through oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis of the normal human receptor cDNA. Upon transfection into receptor-deficient hamster cells, the cDNA specified a receptor that bound LDL normally, but entered the cell slowly. Electron microscopy showed that this receptor was distributed diffusely over the cell surface, whereas the receptor produced by the normal cDNA was concentrated in coated pits. These results support the hypothesis that cytoplasmic domains direct receptors to coated pits, thereby determining the high rate of receptor internalization in animal cells.     

Pleiotropic resistance to glycoprotein processing inhibitors in Chinese hamster ovary cells. The role of a novel mutation in the asparagine-linked glycosylation pathway

In order to obtain a better understanding of the control mechanisms involved in asparagine-linked glycosylation, we developed conditions under which the glucosidase I and II inhibitor castanospermine and the mannosidase II inhibitor swainsonine were toxic to Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells when cultured in the presence of low concentrations of the plant lectin concanavalin A. Cells resistant to castanospermine (CsR cells) and swainsonine (SwR cells) were obtained by gradual stepwise selections. These cells had normal levels of glucosidase II and mannosidase II and appeared to have no major structural alterations in their surface asparagine-linked oligosaccharides. Interestingly, the CsR and SwR cells were each pleiotropically resistant to castanospermine, swainsonine, and deoxymannojirimycin, an inhibitor of mannosidase I. This resistance was not due to the multiple-drug resistance phenomenon. Both the CsR and SwR cell populations synthesized Man5GlcNAc2 in place of Glc3Man9GlcNAc2 as the major dolichol-linked oligosaccharide. This defect was not due to a loss of mannosylphosphoryldolichol synthetase. Furthermore, the Man5GlcNAc2 oligosaccharide was transferred to protein and appeared to give rise to normal mature oligosaccharides. Thus, the CsR and SwR cells achieved resistance to castanospermine, swainsonine, and deoxymannojirimycin by synthesizing altered dolichol-linked oligosaccharides that reduced or eliminated the requirements for glucosidases I and II and mannosidases I and II during the production of normal asparagine-linked oligosaccharides. We propose that this phenotype be termed PIR, for processing inhibitor resistance.     

Isolation of Chinese hamster ovary cell lines producing Man3GlcNAc2 asparagine-linked glycans.

Chinese hamster ovary lines with two mutations, one causing accumulation of Man5GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol and a second resulting in defective N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I activity, synthesize asparagine-linked glycans with the structure Man3GlcNAc2. As a result, the asparagine-linked glycans produced by these lines are smaller and less heterogeneous than those produced by other currently available animal cell lines.     

Coupling of the dolichol-P-P-oligosaccharide pathway to translation by perturbation-sensitive regulation of the initiating enzyme,GlcNAc-1-P transferase

In mammalian cells, inhibition of translation interferes with synthesis of the lipid-linked oligosaccharide (LLO) Glc3Man9GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol as measured with radioactive sugar precursors. Conflicting hypotheses have been proposed, and the fundamental basis for this regulation has remained elusive. Here, fluorophore-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis (FACE) was used to measure LLO concentrations directly in cells treated with translation blockers. Further, LLO biosynthetic enzymes were assayed in vitro with endogenous acceptor substrates using either cells gently permeabilized with streptolysin-O (SLO) or microsomes from homogenized cells. In Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells treated with translation blockers, FACE did not detect changes in concentrations of Glc3Man9GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol or early LLO intermediates. These results do not support earlier proposals for feedback repression of LLO initiation by accumulated Glc3Man9GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol, or inhibition of a GDP-mannose dependent transferase. With microsomes from cells treated with translation blockers, there was no interference with LLO initiation by GlcNAc-1-P transferase (GPT), mannose-P-dolichol synthase, glucose-P-dolichol synthase, or LLO synthesis in vitro, as reported previously. Surprisingly, inhibition of all of these was detected with the SLO in vitro system. Additional experiments with the SLO system showed that the three transferases shared a limited pool of dolichol-P that was trapped as Glc3Man9GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol by translation arrest. Overexpression of GPT was unable to reverse the effects of translation arrest on LLO initiation, and experiments with FACE and the SLO system showed that overexpressed GPT was not functional in vivo, although it was highly active in microsomal assays. Thus, the combined use of the SLO in vitro system and FACE showed that LLO biosynthesis depends upon a limited primary pool of dolichol-P. Physical perturbation associated with microsome preparation appears to make available a secondary pool of dolichol-P, masking inhibition by translation arrest, as well as activating a nonfunctional fraction of GPT. The implications of these results for the organization of the LLO pathway are discussed.     

A water-soluble analogue of glucosaminylphosphatidylinositol distinguishes two activities that palmitoylate inositol on GPI anchors

2-Palmitoylation of the inositol residue occurs during biosynthesis of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors, but the enzymology of this step has been enigmatic. With endogenously synthesized glucosamine-PI (GlcN-PI; a GPI intermediate), a CoA-dependent palmitoyl-CoA-independent acyltransfer activity (AT-1) has been reported in rodent preparations. In contrast, a palmitoyl-CoA-dependent GlcN-PI acyltransferase activity (AT-2) was reported in both rodent and yeast preparations with a novel water-soluble dioctanoyl GlcN-PI analogue, GlcN-PI(C8). We report that AT-1, as well as AT-2, can be detected in rodent microsomes with GlcN-PI(C8), thus demonstrating the coexistence of these activities in a single membrane preparation and the general utility of GlcN-PI(C8) for studying the GPI pathway. Unexpectedly, AT-2 was peripherally associated with microsomes, a property atypical for GPI biosynthetic enzymes.     

A zebrafish model of PMM2-CDG reveals altered neurogenesis and a substrate-accumulation mechanism for N-linked glycosylation deficiency

Congenital disorder of glycosylation (PMM2-CDG) results from mutations in pmm2, which encodes the phosphomannomutase (Pmm) that converts mannose-6-phosphate (M6P) to mannose-1-phosphate (M1P). Patients have wide-spectrum clinical abnormalities associated with impaired protein N-glycosylation. Although it has been widely proposed that Pmm2 deficiency depletes M1P, a precursor of GDP-mannose, and consequently suppresses lipid-linked oligosaccharide (LLO) levels needed for N-glycosylation, these deficiencies have not been demonstrated in patients or any animal model. Here we report a morpholino-based PMM2-CDG model in zebrafish. Morphant embryos had developmental abnormalities consistent with PMM2-CDG patients, including craniofacial defects and impaired motility associated with altered motor neurogenesis within the spinal cord. Significantly, global N-linked glycosylation and LLO levels were reduced in pmm2 morphants. Although M1P and GDP-mannose were below reliable detection/quantification limits, Pmm2 depletion unexpectedly caused accumulation of M6P, shown earlier to promote LLO cleavage in vitro. In pmm2 morphants, the free glycan by-products of LLO cleavage increased nearly twofold. Suppression of the M6P-synthesizing enzyme mannose phosphate isomerase within the pmm2 background normalized M6P levels and certain aspects of the craniofacial phenotype and abrogated pmm2-dependent LLO cleavage. In summary, we report the first zebrafish model of PMM2-CDG and uncover novel cellular insights not possible with other systems, including an M6P accumulation mechanism for underglycosylation.     

A block at Man5GlcNAc2-pyrophosphoryldolichol in intact but not disrupted castanospermine and swainsonine-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cells

A mutation in glycoprotein processing inhibitor-resistant (PIR) Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells was previously shown to result in a block at the Man5GlcNAc2 stage of the dolichol-oligosaccharide biosynthetic pathway (Lehrman, M.A., and Zeng, Y. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 1584-1593). These cells had normal mannose-P-dolichol synthase activity and were able to transfer the Man5GlcNAc2 oligosaccharides to protein. We have now characterized the mutation in greater detail. In PIR cells, biosynthesis of GDP-mannose and mannose-P-dolichol was normal, and pulse-chase analysis indicated that the rate of Man5GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol formation in vivo was similar to that in parental CHO cells but without subsequent formation of larger intermediates. Cell fusion studies demonstrated that the PIR genotype was recessive and that PIR cells could complement the mutation in B4-2-1 cells, which fail to synthesize mannose-P-dolichol. In contrast to the results obtained with intact cells, incubation of membrane preparations of PIR cells with GDP-[3H]mannose resulted in the synthesis of intermediates containing up to 9 mannose residues, indicating that the cells contained active mannosyltransferases VI to IX. With a simplified assay for the formation of intermediates containing 6 to 9 mannoses, it was shown that physical disruption of PIR cells was able to eliminate the block at the pentamannosyl stage. Furthermore, although the temperature requirements of the reactions for the control CHO and PIR membranes were similar, Man5GlcNAc2-elongating activity in CHO membranes was inhibited by alkaline pH treatment, whereas this treatment irreversibly stimulated the activity in PIR membranes. Taken together, these results suggest that the PIR cells have a recessive defect, and that the missing gene product is required by mannosyltransferase VI in vivo for proper utilization of either mannose-P-dolichol or Man5GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol. Since the defect was manifested in vivo but not in vitro, this requirement appears necessary for intact cells but not for disrupted cells or isolated membranes.