N-glycosylation sites of plant purple acid phosphatases important for protein expression and secretion in insect cells

Analysis of plant purple acid phosphatases (PAPs) showed high conservation and different distribution of N-glycosylation sites. Oligosaccharide structures of Lupinus luteus acid phosphatase (Lu_AP) produced in insect cells were determined. Mutant Lu_AP and Phaseolus vulgaris (Ph_AP) phosphatases lacking possibility of N-glycosylation at highly conserved sites were generated and expressed in insect cells. A role for N-glycosylation in the stability of PAPs was indicated by unsuccessful attempts to secrete Ph_AP and Lu_AP mutants generated by replacing Asn residues of conserved glycosylation sequons by Ser residues either singly or in combination. We showed that Ph_AP belongs to the group of glycoproteins that require occupancy of all highly conserved glycosylation sites for secretion, whereas replacing of the third position of the glycosylation sequon indicated that Lu_AP may tolerate the absence of some N-glycans. However, the N-glycan located at the polypeptide C-terminus was crucial for secretion of both enzymes. PAP specific activity of glycosylation mutants successfully secreted was similar to the wild-type recombinant proteins.