Probing isoform-specific functions of polypeptide GalNAc-transferases using zinc finger nuclease glycoengineered SimpleCells

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jun 19;109(25):9893-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1203563109. Epub 2012 May 7.

Abstract

Our knowledge of the O-glycoproteome [N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) type] is highly limited. The O-glycoproteome is differentially regulated in cells by dynamic expression of a subset of 20 polypeptide GalNAc-transferases (GalNAc-Ts), and methods to identify important functions of individual GalNAc-Ts are largely unavailable. We recently introduced SimpleCells, i.e., human cell lines made deficient in O-glycan extension by zinc finger nuclease targeting of a key gene in O-glycan elongation (Cosmc), which allows for proteome-wide discovery of O-glycoproteins. Here we have extended the SimpleCell concept to include proteome-wide discovery of unique functions of individual GalNAc-Ts. We used the GalNAc-T2 isoform implicated in dyslipidemia and the human HepG2 liver cell line to demonstrate unique functions of this isoform. We confirm that GalNAc-T2-directed site-specific O-glycosylation inhibits proprotein activation of the lipase inhibitor ANGPTL3 in HepG2 cells and further identify eight O-glycoproteins exclusively glycosylated by T2 of which one, ApoC-III, is implicated in dyslipidemia. Our study supports an essential role for GalNAc-T2 in lipid metabolism, provides serum biomarkers for GalNAc-T2 enzyme function, and validates the use of GALNT gene targeting with SimpleCells for broad discovery of disease-causing deficiencies in O-glycosylation. The presented glycoengineering strategy opens the way for proteome-wide discovery of functions of GalNAc-T isoforms and their role in congenital diseases and disorders.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylgalactosamine / chemistry*
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Base Sequence
  • Blotting, Western
  • Cell Line
  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Humans
  • Isoenzymes / chemistry*
  • Molecular Probes*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferases / chemistry
  • N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferases / metabolism
  • Proteome
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry
  • Zinc Fingers*

Substances

  • Isoenzymes
  • Molecular Probes
  • Proteome
  • N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferases
  • Acetylgalactosamine