Mammalian cytidine 5'-monophosphate N-acetylneuraminic acid synthetase: a nuclear protein with evolutionarily conserved structural motifs.
Sialic acids of cell surface glycoproteins and glycolipids play a pivotal role in the structure and function of animal tissues. The pattern of cell surface sialylation is species- and tissue-specific, is highly regulated during embryonic development, and changes with stages of differentiation. A prerequisite for the synthesis of sialylated glycoconjugates is the activated sugar-nucleotide cytidine 5'-monophosphate N-acetylneuraminic acid (CMP-Neu5Ac), which provides a substrate for Golgi sialyltransferases. Although a mammalian enzymatic activity responsible for the synthesis of CMP-Neu5Ac has been described and the enzyme has been purified to near homogeneity, sequence information is restricted to bacterial CMP-Neu5Ac synthetases. In this paper, we describe the molecular characterization, functional expression, and subcellular localization of murine CMP-Neu5Ac synthetase. Cloning was achieved by complementation of the Chinese hamster ovary lec32 mutation that causes a deficiency in CMP-Neu5Ac synthetase activity. A murine cDNA encoding a protein of 432 amino acids rescued the lec32 mutation and also caused polysialic acid to be expressed in the capsule of the CMP-Neu5Ac synthetase negative Escherichia coli mutant EV5. Three potential nuclear localization signals were found in the murine synthetase, and immunofluorescence studies confirmed predominantly nuclear localization of an N-terminally Flag-tagged molecule. Four stretches of amino acids that occur in the N-terminal region are highly conserved in bacterial CMP-Neu5Ac synthetases, providing evidence for an ancestral relationship between the sialylation pathways of bacterial and animal cells.
Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, D-30625 Hannover, Germany.
A K
AK
Münster
M
M
Eckhardt
B
B
Potvin
M
M
Mühlenhoff
P
P
Stanley
R
R
Gerardy-Schahn
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D016466:CHO Cells; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D006224:Cricetinae; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D000216:N-Acylneuraminate Cytidylyltransferase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D000216:N-Acylneuraminate Cytidylyltransferase