Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 102, Issue 5, Pages 1548-1553Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0409460102
Keywords
evolution; N-glycans; protist
Categories
Funding
- NIAID NIH HHS [AI44070, AI48082, R01 AI048082, R01 AI044070] Funding Source: Medline
- NIGMS NIH HHS [GM43768, GM31318, R01 GM031318, R01 GM043768] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The vast majority of eukaryotes (fungi, plants, animals, slime mold, and euglena) synthesize Asn-linked glycans (Alg) by means of a lipid-linked precursor dolichol-PP-GlcNAc(2)Man(9)Glc(3). Knowledge of this pathway is important because defects in the glycosyltransferases (Alg1-Alg12 and others not yet identified), which make dolichol-PP-glycans, lead to numerous congenital disorders of glycosylation. Here we used bioinformatic and experimental methods to characterize Alg glycosyltransferases and dolicholPP-glycans of diverse protists, including many human pathogens, with the following major conclusions. First, it is demonstrated that common ancestry is a useful method of predicting the Alg glycosyltransferase inventory of each eukaryote. Second, in the vast majority of cases, this inventory accurately predicts the dolichol-PP-glycans observed. Third, Alg glycosyltransferases are missing in sets from each organism (e.g., all of the glycosyltransferases that add glucose and mannose are absent from Giardia and Plasmodium). Fourth, dolichol-PP-GlcNAC(2)Man(5) (present in Entamoeba and Trichomonas) and dolichol-PP- and N-linked GlcNAc(2) (present in Giardia) have not been identified previously in wildtype organisms. Finally, the present diversity of protist and fungal dolichol-PP-linked glycans appears to result from secondary loss of glycosyltransferases from a common ancestor that contained the complete set of Alg glycosyltransferases.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available