title: O-fucose modifications of epidermal growth factor-like repeats and thrombospondin type 1 repeats: unusual modifications in unusual places.
abstract: Recent discoveries revealing that carbohydrate modifications play critical roles in a wide variety of biological processes have brought wide recognition to the field of glycobiology. Growing attention has focused on the function of unusual O-linked carbohydrate modifications such as O-fucose. O-fucose modifications have been described in several different protein contexts, including epidermal growth factor-like repeats and thrombospondin type 1 repeats. The O-fucose modifications on thrombospondin type 1 repeats have only recently been described, but the site of modification occurs in a region proposed to play a role in cell adhesion. O-fucose modifications on epidermal growth factor-like repeats have been described as important players in several signal transduction systems. For instance, Notch, a cell-surface signaling receptor required for many developmental events, bears multiple O-fucose saccharides on the epidermal growth factor-like repeat of its extracellular domain. The O-fucose moieties serve as a substrate for the beta1,3 N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase activity of Fringe, a known modifier of Notch function. The alteration of O-fucose structures by Fringe influences the ability of Notch ligands to activate the receptor and provides a means to regulate Notch signaling. Thus, O-fucose and Fringe provide a clear example of how carbohydrate modifications can have direct functional consequences on the proteins they modify.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Developmental Biology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794-5215, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Haltiwanger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005544:Forecasting; D005643:Fucose / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006031:Glycosylation; D016695:Glycosyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D019700:Thrombospondin 1 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins; D019700:Thrombospondin 1; D005643:Fucose; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor; D016695:Glycosyltransferases