Chlorovirus PBCV-1 Multidomain Protein A111/114R Has Three Glycosyltransferase Functions Involved in the Synthesis of Atypical N-Glycans

The structures of the four N-linked glycans from the prototype chlorovirus PBCV-1 major capsid protein do not resemble any other glycans in the three domains of life. All known chloroviruses and antigenic variants (or mutants) share a unique conserved central glycan core consisting of five sugars, except for antigenic mutant virus P1L6, which has four of the five sugars. A combination of genetic and structural analyses indicates that the protein coded by PBCV-1 gene a111/114r, conserved in all chloroviruses, is a glycosyltransferase with three putative domains of approximately 300 amino acids each. Here, in addition to in silico sequence analysis and protein modeling, we measured the hydrolytic activity of protein A111/114R. The results suggest that domain 1 is a galactosyltransferase, domain 2 is a xylosyltransferase and domain 3 is a fucosyltransferase. Thus, A111/114R is the protein likely responsible for the attachment of three of the five conserved residues of the core region of this complex glycan, and, if biochemically corroborated, it would be the second three-domain protein coded by PBCV-1 that is involved in glycan synthesis. Importantly, these findings provide additional support that the chloroviruses do not use the canonical host endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi glycosylation pathway to glycosylate their glycoproteins; instead, they perform glycosylation independent of cellular organelles using virus-encoded enzymes.

Automated summary

The structures of N-linked glycans from the major capsid protein of chlorovirus PBCV-1 are unique and not found in other domains of life. A conserved central glycan core is shared among all known chloroviruses, with the protein A111/114R likely responsible for the attachment of three conserved residues in this core. This study suggests that chloroviruses use virus-encoded enzymes for glycosylation rather than the host cellular machinery.