title: Identification of a cDNA encoding a plant Lewis-type alpha1,4-fucosyltransferase.
abstract: Recently, it has been found that plants, including tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), express the Lewis-a epitope, Galbeta1,3(Fucalpha1,4)GlcNAc, on some N-glycans. By searching the EST database, it was possible to identify a tomato cDNA encoding a protein, designated FucTC, of 413 amino acids with homology to plant and mammalian alpha1,3/4-fucosyltransferases. The cDNA was expressed in Pichia pastoris and the recombinant enzyme was found to transfer fucose from GDP-Fuc (K(m) 16 microM) to lacto-N-tetraose (Galbeta1,3GlcNAcbeta1,3Galbeta1,4Glc; K(m) 80 microM) as well as to beta1,3- and beta1,4-galactosylated N-glycans. It is concluded that FucTC is responsible for the biosynthesis of Lewis-a on N-glycans in tomato.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Chemie, Universität für Bodenkultur, Muthgasse 18, A-1190 Wien, Austria. iwilson@edv2.boku.ac.at
authors.forename: I B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005647:Fucosyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D005647:Fucosyltransferases; C019818:3-galactosyl-N-acetylglucosaminide 4-alpha-L-fucosyltransferase