Tomato LeAGP-1 arabinogalactan-protein purified from transgenic tobacco corroborates the Hyp contiguity hypothesis

Functional analysis of the hyperglycosylated arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs) attempts to relate biological roles to the molecular properties that result largely from O-Hyp glycosylation putatively coded by the primary sequence. The Hyp contiguity hypothesis predicts contiguous Hyp residues as attachment sites for arabino-oligosaccharides (arabinosides) and clustered, non-contiguous Hyp residues as arabinogalactan polysaccharide sites. Although earlier tests of naturally occurring hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins (HRGPs) and HRGPs designed by synthetic genes were consistent with a sequence-driven code, the predictive value of the hypothesis starting from the DNA sequences of known AGPs remained untested due to difficulties in purifying a single AGP for analysis. However, expression in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) of the major tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) AGP, LeAGP-1, as an enhanced green fluorescent protein fusion glycoprotein (EGFP)-LeAGP-1, increased its hydrophobicity sufficiently for chromatographic purification from other closely related endogenous AGPs. We also designed and purified two variants of LeAGP-1 for future functional analysis: one lacking the putative glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor signal sequence; the other lacking a 12-residue internal lysine-rich region. Fluorescence microscopy of plasmolysed cells confirmed the location of LeAGP-1 at the plasma membrane outer surface and in Hechtian threads. Hyp glycoside profiles of the fusion glycoproteins gave ratios of Hyp-polysaccharides to Hyp-arabinosides plus non-glycosylated Hyp consistent with those predicted from DNA sequences by the Hyp contiguity hypothesis. These results demonstrate a route to the purification of AGPs and the use of the Hyp contiguity hypothesis for predicting the Hyp O-glycosylation profile of an HRGP from its DNA sequence.