Hypophosphatasia (HPP), a rare genetic disease characterized by reduced serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and failure in bone and tooth mineralization, is caused by mutations in tissue-nonspecific ALP (TNSALP) gene. Two missense mutations (C201Y and C489S, standardized nomenclature) of TNSALP, involved in intra-chain disulfide bonds, were reported in patients diagnosed with perinatal HPP (Taillandier A. et al. Hum. Mutat. 13 (1999) 171-172, Hum. Mutat. 15 (2000) 293). To investigate the role of the disulfide bond in TNSALP, we expressed TNSALP (C201Y) and TNSALP (C489S) in COS-1 cells transiently. Compared with the wild-type enzyme [TNSALP (W)], both the TNSALP mutants exhibited a diminished ALP activity in the cells, where a 66kDa immature form was predominant with a marginal amount of a 80kDa mature form of TNSALP. Detailed studies on Tet-On CHO established cell line expressing TNSALP (W) or TNSALP (C201Y) showed that the 66kDa form of TNSALP (C201Y) exists as a monomer in contrast to a dimer of TNSALP (W). Only a small fraction of the TNSALP (C201Y) reached cell surface as the 80kDa mature form, though most of the 66kDa form was found to be endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase H sensitive and rapidly degraded in proteasome following polyubiquitination. Collectively, these results indicate not only that the intra-subunit disulfide bonds are crucial for TNSALP to properly fold and assemble into the dimeric enzyme, but also that the development of HPP associated with TNSALP (C201Y) or TNSALP (C489S) is attributed to decreased cell surface appearance of the functional enzyme.
Mutations in the tissue‐nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP) gene cause hypophosphatasia (HPP), an inborn error of metabolism characterized by defects in bone and teeth mineralization accompanying subnormal levels of serum alkaline phosphatase activity. Missense mutations at position 420 of TNSALP (standard nomenclature), which convert glycine to serine [TNSALP (G420S)] or alanine [TNSALP (G420A)], have been reported in perinatal and childhood HPP, respectively. When expressed in COS‐1 cells, both TNSALP mutants were indistinguishable from wild‐type TNSALP [TNSALP (W)] as evidenced by immunofluorescence and western blotting. Nevertheless, the two TNSALP mutants did not show substantial alkaline phosphatase activity. In agreement with transiently transfected cells, TNSALP (G420S) expressed in a Tet‐On inducible expression system lacked its alkaline phosphatase activity, although this mutant was anchored to the cell surface lipid bilayers by glycosylphosphatidylinositol as an 80 kDa mature form bearing complex‐type oligosaccharides like TNSALP (W). Importantly, TNSALP (G420S) was found to largely fail to assemble into the homodimer in contrast to TNSALP (W). Taken together, these results demonstrate that the glycine residue at position 420 is crucial for the subunit interaction of TNSALP and hence its catalytic function without affecting trafficking of monomeric TNSALP. We conclude that the dimerization defect is the molecular basis for perinatal HPP associated with the genotype G420S/G420S.
Tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP) is a membrane glycoprotein with a proposed role in bone mineralization. Indeed, mutations in TNSALP have been identified in patients with hypophosphatasia (HPP), a genetic disease characterized by hypomineralization of bone and teeth and a deficiency in serum ALP activity. TNSALP has five potential N-glycosylation sites at N140, N230, N271, N303 and N430 by standard nomenclature. A mutation at one of these sites, N430, was recently detected in a patient with infantile HPP. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we demonstrated that TNSALP has five N-glycans in transfected COS-1 cells and that individual single N-glycan deletion mutants of TNSALP retain the dimeric structure required for ALP activity, excluding the possibility that any single N-glycan plays a vital role in the structure and function of TNSALP. However, we found that TNSALP (N430Q) and TNSALP (N430E) mutants, but not a TNSALP (N430D) mutant, failed to form dimers. The TNSALP (N430S) mutant linked to infantile HPP was glycosylation-defective and unable to dimerise, similar to TNSALP (N430Q) and TNSALP (N430E) mutants; therefore, TNSALP (N430S) was established as a severe allele without strong ALP activity. By contrast to individual single N-glycan deletion mutants, TNSALP devoid of all five Nglycans was present to a much lesser extent than wild-type TNSALP in transfected cells, possibly reflecting its instability. A comprehensive analysis of a series of multiple N-glycan depletion mutants in TNSALP revealed that three N-glycans on N230, N271 and N303 were the minimal requirement for the structure and function of TNSALP and a prerequisite for its stable expression in a cell.
Mutations in the ALPL gene encoding tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP) cause hypophosphatasia (HPP), a genetic disorder characterized by deficiency of serum ALP and hypomineralization of bone and teeth. Three missense mutations for glycine 426 (by standard nomenclature) of TNSALP have been reported: cysteine (p.G426C), serine (p.G426S), and aspartate (p.G426D). We expressed TNSALP mutants carrying each missense mutation in mammalian cells. All three TNSALP mutants appeared on the cell surface like the wild-type (WT) TNSALP, although the cells expressing each TNSALP mutant exhibited markedly reduced ALP activity. TNSALP (WT) was mainly present as a 140 kDa catalytically active dimeric form, whereas ~80 kDa monomers were the predominant molecular species in the cells expressing TNSALP (p.G426D) or TNSALP (p.G426S), suggesting that aspartate or serine at position 426 may hamper the subunit assembly essential for the enzymatic function of TNSALP. Alternatively, the subunits of TNSALP (p.G426C) were found to be aberrantly cross-linked by disulfide bonds, giving rise to a 200 kDa form lacking ALP activity. Taken together, our results reveal that the amino acid substitutions at position 426 of TNSALP differentially affect the structure and function of TNSALP, leading to understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of HPP.
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