Protein O-Linked Mannose β-1,4- N-Acetylglucosaminyl-transferase 2 (POMGNT2) Is a Gatekeeper Enzyme for Functional Glycosylation of α-Dystroglycan

J Biol Chem. 2017 Feb 10;292(6):2101-2109. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M116.764712. Epub 2016 Dec 8.

Abstract

Disruption of the O-mannosylation pathway involved in functional glycosylation of α-dystroglycan gives rise to congenital muscular dystrophies. Protein O-linked mannose β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase 2 (POMGNT2) catalyzes the first step toward the functional matriglycan structure on α-dystroglycan that is responsible for binding extracellular matrix proteins and certain arenaviruses. Alternatively, protein O-linked mannose β-1,2-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase 1 (POMGNT1) catalyzes the first step toward other various glycan structures present on α-dystroglycan of unknown function. Here, we demonstrate that POMGNT1 is promiscuous for O-mannosylated peptides, whereas POMGNT2 displays significant primary amino acid selectivity near the site of O-mannosylation. We define a POMGNT2 acceptor motif, conserved among 59 vertebrate species, in α-dystroglycan that when engineered into a POMGNT1-only site is sufficient to convert the O-mannosylated peptide to a substrate for POMGNT2. Additionally, an acceptor glycopeptide is a less efficient substrate for POMGNT2 when two of the conserved amino acids are replaced. These findings begin to define the selectivity of POMGNT2 and suggest that this enzyme functions as a gatekeeper enzyme to prevent the vast majority of O-mannosylated sites on proteins from becoming modified with glycan structures functional for binding laminin globular domain-containing proteins.

Keywords: dystroglycan; enzyme kinetics; glycobiology; glycoprotein; glycosyltransferase.

MeSH terms

  • Catalytic Domain
  • Dystroglycans / metabolism*
  • Glycosylation
  • Glycosyltransferases / metabolism*
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Humans
  • Kinetics
  • Mannose / metabolism

Substances

  • Dystroglycans
  • Glycosyltransferases
  • POMGNT2 protein, human
  • Mannose