The biosynthesis of sucrase-isomaltase was compared in enterocyte-like differentiated (i.e., grown in the absence of glucose) and undifferentiated (i.e., grown in the presence of glucose) HT-29 cells. Unlike differentiated cells, in which the enzyme is easily detectable and active, undifferentiated cells display almost no enzyme activity and the protein cannot be detected by means of cell surface immunofluorescence or immunodetection in membrane-enriched fractions or cell homogenates. Pulse experiments with L-[35S]-methionine show that the enzyme is, however, synthesized in these undifferentiated cells. As compared with the corresponding molecular forms in differentiated cells, the high-mannose form of the enzyme in undifferentiated cells is similarly synthesized and has the same apparent Mr. However, its complex form is less labeled and has a lower apparent Mr. Pulse-chase experiments with L-[35S]methionine show that, although the enzyme is synthesized to the same extent in both situations, the high-mannose and complex forms are rapidly degraded in undifferentiated cells, with an apparent half-life of 6 h, in contrast to differentiated cells in which the enzyme is stable for at least 48 h. A comparison of the processing of the enzyme in both situations shows that the conversion of the high-mannose to the complex form is markedly decreased in undifferentiated cells. These results indicate that the absence of sucrase-isomaltase expression in undifferentiated cells is not the consequence of an absence of biosynthesis but rather the result of both an impaired glycosylation and a rapid degradation of the enzyme.

Type I congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG I) are diseases presenting multisystemic lesions including central and peripheral nervous system deficits. The disease is characterized by under-glycosylated serum glycoproteins and is caused by mutations in genes encoding proteins involved in the stepwise assembly of dolichol-oligosaccharide used for proteinN-glycosylation. We report that fibroblasts from a type I CDG patient, born of consanguineous parents, are deficient in their capacity to add the eighth mannose residue onto the lipid-linked oligosaccharide precursor. We have characterized cDNA corresponding to the human ortholog of the yeast geneALG12 that encodes the dolichyl-P-Man:Man₇GlcNAc₂-PP-dolichyl α6-mannosyltransferase that is thought to accomplish this reaction, and we show that the patient is homozygous for a point mutation (T571G) that causes an amino acid substitution (F142V) in a conserved region of the protein. As the pathological phenotype of the fibroblasts of the patient was largely normalized upon transduction with the wild type gene, we demonstrate that the F142V substitution is the underlying cause of this new CDG, which we suggest be called CDG Ig. Finally, we show that the fibroblasts of the patient are capable of the direct transfer of Man₇GlcNAc₂ from dolichol onto protein and that this N-linked structure can be glucosylated by UDP-glucose:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase in the endoplasmic reticulum.

On the basis of the analysis of 64 glycosyltransferases from 14 species we propose that several successive duplications of a common ancestral gene, followed by divergent evolution, have generated the mannosyltransferases and the glucosyltransferases involved in asparagine-linked glycosylation (ALG) and phosphatidyl-inositol glycan anchor (PIG or GPI), which use lipid-related donor and acceptor substrates. Long and short conserved peptide motifs were found in all enzymes. Conserved and identical amino acid positions were found for the α2/6- and the α3/4-mannosyltransferases and for the α2/3-glucosyltransferases, suggesting unique ancestors for these three superfamilies. The three members of the α2-mannosyltransferase family (ALG9, PIG-B, and SMP3) and the two members of the α3-glucosyltransferase family (ALG6 and ALG8) shared 11 and 30 identical amino acid positions, respectively, suggesting that these enzymes have also originated by duplication and divergent evolution. This model predicts a common genetic origin for ALG and PIG enzymes using dolichyl-phospho-monosaccharide (Dol-P-monosaccharide) donors, which might be related to similar spatial orientation of the hydroxyl acceptors. On the basis of the multiple sequence analysis and the prediction of transmembrane topology we propose that the endoplasmic reticulum glycosyltransferases using Dol-P-monosaccharides as donor substrate have a multispan transmembrane topology with a first large luminal conserved loop containing the long motif and a small cytosolic conserved loop containing the short motif, different from the classical type II glycosyltransferases, which are anchored in the Golgi by a single transmembrane domain.

The underlying causes of type I congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG I) have been shown to be mutations in genes encoding proteins involved in the biosynthesis of the dolichyl-linked oligosaccharide (Glc₃Man₉GlcNAc₂-PP-dolichyl) that is required for protein glycosylation. Here we describe a CDG I patient displaying gastrointestinal problems but no central nervous system deficits. Fibroblasts from this patient accumulate mainly Man₉GlcNAc₂-PP-dolichyl, but in the presence of castanospermine, an endoplasmic reticulum glucosidase inhibitor Glc₁Man₉GlcNAc₂-PP-dolichyl predominates, suggesting inefficient addition of the second glucose residue onto lipid-linked oligosaccharide. Northern blot analysis revealed the cells from the patient to possess only 10–20% normal amounts of mRNA encoding the enzyme, dolichyl-P-glucose:Glc₁Man₉GlcNAc₂-PP-dolichyl α3-glucosyltransferase (hALG8p), which catalyzes this reaction. Sequencing of hALG8 genomic DNA revealed exon 4 to contain a base deletion in one allele and a base insertion in the other. Both mutations give rise to premature stop codons predicted to generate severely truncated proteins, but because the translation inhibitor emetine was shown to stabilize the hALG8 mRNA from the patient to normal levels, it is likely that both transcripts undergo nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. As the cells from the patient were successfully complemented with wild type hALG8cDNA, we conclude that these mutations are the underlying cause of this new CDG I subtype that we propose be called CDG Ih.

During protein N-glycosylation in mammalian cells, free oligosaccharides (fOS) are generated from lipid-linked oligosaccharides by a pyrophosphatase activity and oligosaccharyltransferase and from misfolded glycoproteins by peptide:N-glycanase in both the ER and cytoplasm. Trafficking machinery comprising oligosaccharide-specific ER and lysosomal transporters, an endo-β-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase, and the cytosolic M2C1 mannosidase drives a flux of fOS from the ER to cytoplasm and from the cytoplasm into lysosomes where fOS are degraded. Transport of fOS out of the ER is normally efficient and if inhibited causes fOS to be secreted via the Golgi apparatus. By contrast, fOS clearance from the cytosol into lysosomes is less efficient resulting in low micromolar concentrations of fOS in the cytoplasm. Structural analysis of cytosolic fOS reveals oligosaccharide families whose relative abundance highlights the importance of different ER-associated degradation (ERAD) pathways for misfolded glycoproteins and suggests that in liver cells substantial amounts of glycoproteins destined for ERAD may transit early compartments of the Golgi apparatus. Glycoprotein quality control and ERAD are controlled by N-glycan/lectin interactions and the fOS trafficking pathway would seem to ensure that fOS do not interfere with these processes which occur in both the ER and cytoplasm. Although Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains harbouring mutations in genes of the yeast fOS metabolic pathway do not display obvious phenotypes, mammalian fOS are quantitatively more important and the processes leading to their regulation are more complex, raising the possibility that distinct phenotypes will be seen in mammalian cells or animals in which fOS metabolism is modified.