Most membrane and secreted proteins are decorated with mucin-type O-glycans which serve diverse biological roles. The mechanisms behind their biological roles and more specifically what governs O-glycan site selection and subsequent O-glycan elongation are largely unknown. The objective of this project is to elucidate the processes governing O-glycan site selection and O-glycan elongation at the enzyme and peptide substrate level in order to address the molecular mechanisms and biology of O-glycosylation. Mucin type O- glycosylation is vital to animal reproduction and development and increasingly linked to a wide range of rare to common disease states (such as hormonal/metabolic dysfunction, impaired host defense, inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases and even cancers) where it serves to modulate diverse biological functions including cell-cell interactions. Many disorders are linked to changes in expression or mutation of individual members of the large family (20 in man) of polypeptide-GalNAc transferases (ppGalNAc Ts) that initiate O-glycosylation by adding GalNAc to polypeptide Ser or Thr residues. O-glycosylation is absolutely required for embryonic development of the mouse and fly, relying on the Core 1 elongating transferase (T-synthase) in the mouse and several individual ppGalNAc T isoforms in the fly. How individual ppGalNAc T isoforms in this large family (or even T-synthase) can play such critical biological roles is unknown as the substrate specificity of these transferases have not been sufficiently characterized. That ppGalNAc T site selection is also modulated (positively or negatively) by prior glycosylation underscores its complexity and how much more needs to be learned of its specificity. The detailed characterization of ppGalNAc T isoform and elongating transferase specificity proposed in this project will lead to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the biological roles of O-glycosylation and will eventually lead to novel strategies to treat diseases of aberrant O- glycosylation.
The AIMS of this project are to (1) expand the innovative use of a library of novel random peptide and glycopeptide substrates to fully characterize the specificity and basic enzymology of the transferases that initiate and elongate mucin type O-glycosylation, (2) to use these data to further develop sophisticated web based O-glycan predictive tools that include ppGalNAc T isoform and elongating transferase peptide and glycopeptide specificity, and (3) to develop a novel method for identifying in vivo isoform specific glycosylation targets using tissues from transferase knock-out animal models. These basic studies together with those of colleagues at other institutions will advance our understanding of the properties of these transferases, their targets (and resultant glycan structures) and ultimately the mechanisms of their biological role and function. These studies will significantly advance the field and will allw the development of novel specific inhibitors for potential use as targeted therapeutics.

Public Health Relevance

Protein glycosylation (i.e. the addition sugars to proteins) of the so-called mucin-type, is very common and serves a wide range of modulating roles critical to human (and animal) health, reproduction and development. The results of this work will provide specific information on the activities and biological roles of the enzymes that perform mucin-type glycosylation and will allow the eventual development of specific therapeutics for the treatment of a range of hormonal, metabolic, inflammatory, cardiovascular and neoplastic diseases.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project--Cooperative Agreements (U01)
Project #
5U01GM113534-03
Application #
9184567
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Marino, Pamela
Project Start
2015-01-01
Project End
2018-11-30
Budget Start
2016-12-01
Budget End
2017-11-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Case Western Reserve University
Department
Pediatrics
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
077758407
City
Cleveland
State
OH
Country
United States
Zip Code
44106
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de Las Rivas, Matilde; Lira-Navarrete, Erandi; Daniel, Earnest James Paul et al. (2017) The interdomain flexible linker of the polypeptide GalNAc transferases dictates their long-range glycosylation preferences. Nat Commun 8:1959
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