The Early Metazoan Trichoplax adhaerens Possesses a Functional O-GlcNAc System |
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| Authors: | Nithya Selvan Daniel Mariappa Henk W P van den Toorn Albert J R Heck Andrew T Ferenbach Daan M F van Aalten |
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| Institution: | From the ‡Division of Molecular Microbiology and ;§MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit, College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dow Street, Dundee, DD1 5EH, United Kingdom and ;the ¶Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | Protein O-GlcNAcylation is a reversible post-translational signaling modification of nucleocytoplasmic proteins that is essential for embryonic development in bilateria. In a search for a reductionist model to study O-GlcNAc signaling, we discovered the presence of functional O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT), O-GlcNAcase (OGA), and nucleocytoplasmic protein O-GlcNAcylation in the most basal extant animal, the placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens. We show via enzymatic characterization of Trichoplax OGT/OGA and genetic rescue experiments in Drosophila melanogaster that these proteins possess activities/functions similar to their bilaterian counterparts. The acquisition of O-GlcNAc signaling by metazoa may have facilitated the rapid and complex signaling mechanisms required for the evolution of multicellular organisms. |
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| Keywords: | Animal Model Drosophila Genetics Evolution O-GlcNAcylation Post-translational Modification (PTM) Trichoplax adhaerens |
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