Muscle-eye-brain disease (MEB) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by congenital muscular dystrophy, ocular abnormalities, and lissencephaly. Mammalian O-mannosyl glycosylation is a rare type of protein modification that is observed in a limited number of glycoproteins of brain, nerve, and skeletal muscle. Here we isolated a human cDNA for protein O-mannose beta-1,2-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (POMGnT1), which participates in O-mannosyl glycan synthesis. We also identified six independent mutations of the POMGnT1 gene in six patients with MEB. Expression of most frequent mutation revealed a great loss of the enzymatic activity. These findings suggest that interference in O-mannosyl glycosylation is a new pathomechanism for muscular dystrophy as well as neuronal migration disorder.

Glycosylation is an essential post-translational modification that underlies many biological processes and diseases. α-dystroglycan (α-DG) is a receptor for matrix and synaptic proteins that causes muscular dystrophy and lissencephaly upon its abnormal glycosylation (α-dystroglycanopathies). Here we identify the glycan unit ribitol 5-phosphate (Rbo5P), a phosphoric ester of pentose alcohol, in α-DG. Rbo5P forms a tandem repeat and functions as a scaffold for the formation of the ligand-binding moiety. We show that enzyme activities of three major α-dystroglycanopathy-causing proteins are involved in the synthesis of tandem Rbo5P. Isoprenoid synthase domain-containing (ISPD) is cytidine diphosphate ribitol (CDP-Rbo) synthase. Fukutin and fukutin-related protein are sequentially acting Rbo5P transferases that use CDP-Rbo. Consequently, Rbo5P glycosylation is defective in α-dystroglycanopathy models. Supplementation of CDP-Rbo to ISPD-deficient cells restored α-DG glycosylation. These findings establish the molecular basis of mammalian Rbo5P glycosylation and provide insight into pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies in α-DG-associated diseases.

Many therapeutic antibodies have been developed, and IgG antibodies have been extensively generated in various cell expression systems. IgG antibodies contain N-glycans at the constant region of the heavy chain (Fc domain), and their N-glycosylation patterns differ during various processes or among cell expression systems. The Fc N-glycan can modulate the effector functions of IgG antibodies, such as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). To control Fc N-glycans, we performed a rearrangement of Fc N-glycans from a heterogeneous N-glycosylation pattern to homogeneous N-glycans using chemoenzymatic approaches with two types of endo-β-N-acetyl glucosaminidases (ENG’ases), one that works as a hydrolase to cleave all heterogeneous N-glycans, another that is used as a glycosynthase to generate homogeneous N-glycans. As starting materials, we used an anti-Her2 antibody produced in transgenic silkworm cocoon, which consists of non-fucosylated pauci-mannose type (Man2-3GlcNAc2), high-mannose type (Man4-9GlcNAc2), and complex type (Man3GlcNAc3-4) N-glycans. As a result of the cleavage of several ENG’ases (endoS, endoM, endoD, endoH, and endoLL), the heterogeneous glycans on antibodies were fully transformed into homogeneous-GlcNAc by a combination of endoS, endoD, and endoLL. Next, the desired N-glycans (M3; Man3GlcNAc1, G0; GlcNAc2Man3GlcNAc1, G2; Gal2GlcNAc2Man3GlcNAc1, A2; NeuAc2Gal2GlcNAc2Man3GlcNAc1) were transferred from the corresponding oxazolines to the GlcNAc residue on the intact anti-Her2 antibody with an ENG’ase mutant (endoS-D233Q), and the glycoengineered anti-Her2 antibody was obtained. The binding assay of anti-Her2 antibody with homogenous N-glycans with FcγRIIIa-V158 showed that the glycoform influenced the affinity for FcγRIIIa-V158. In addition, the ADCC assay for the glycoengineered anti-Her2 antibody (mAb-M3, mAb-G0, mAb-G2, and mAb-A2) was performed using SKBR-3 and BT-474 as target cells, and revealed that the glycoform influenced ADCC activity.

We describe a novel chemoenzymatic synthesis of eel calcitonin (eCT) glycopeptide analogues having natural N-linked oligosaccharides, such as a disialo biantennary complex-type [(NeuAc-Gal-GlcNAc-Man) 2 -Man-GlcNAc 2 ], an asialo complex-type [(Gal-GlcNAc-Man) 2 -Man-GlcNAc 2 ], and a high-mannose type [Man 6 -GlcNAc 2 ] as model compounds for glycoprotein synthesis. First, a glycoprotein containing N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) was prepared by a chemical synthesis. Next, natural oligosaccharides were added to the prepared glycopeptide containing GlcNAc by a transglycosylation reaction using endo--N-acetylglucosaminidase (endo--GlcNAc-ase) from Mucor hiemalis. IntroductionGlycoproteins play an important role in biological processes, such as cell recognition, cell adhesion, immunogenic recognition, and so on. Moreover, the oligosaccharide moieties of the glycoprotein contribute to the solubility and thermal stability of proteins and to protection against proteolysis. 1 To study these roles of oligosaccharide moieties, proteins without the sugar chain of the original glycoprotein have been prepared by an enzymatic method using N-glycanase. Recently, recombinant proteins whose Asn residues containing oligosaccharides were replaced with other amino acids, such as Ala and Gln, have been prepared by genetic engineering. However, the artificial addition of oligosaccharides to the Asn residue in a protein having no sugar chains by genetic engineering is impossible. We then tried a chemoenzymatic method to transfer the sugar chain to an N-acetylglucosaminyl peptide, as a new strategy for glycopeptide synthesis. 2 Eel calcitonin is a calciumregulating hormone that consists of 32 amino acid residues and has a consensus sequence of "Asn-Leu-Ser" for N-glycosylation but no sugar chains. The Asn residue at the position 3 exists in a ring structure formed by a disulfide bridge between two cysteine residues at positions 1 and 7. In this paper, we describe the artificial addition of N-linked oligosaccharides to the Asn residue of eel calcitonin by a chemoenzymatic method. We also studied the influence of the oligosaccharide attached to the Asn residue on the structure and on the biological activity of the eel calcitonin.Our strategy in this study consisted of four steps. The first step was the synthesis of glycosylasparagine, which is the core