title: Biological functions of glycosyltransferase genes involved in O-fucose glycan synthesis.
abstract: Rare types of glycosylation often occur in a domain-specific manner and are involved in specific biological processes. Well-known examples of such modification are O-linked fucose (O-fucose) and O-linked glucose (O-glucose) glycans on epidermal growth factor (EGF) domains. In particular, O-fucose glycans are reported to regulate the functions of EGF domain-containing proteins such as urinary-type plasminogen activator and Notch receptors. Two glycosyltransferases catalyze the initiation and elongation of O-fucose glycans. The initiation process is catalyzed by O-fucosyltransferase 1, which is essential for Notch signalling in both Drosophila and mice. O-fucosyltransferase 1 can affect the folding, ligand interaction and endocytosis of Notch receptors, and both the glycosyltransferase and non-catalytic activities of O-fucosyltransferase 1 have been reported. The elongation of O-fucose monosaccharide is catalyzed by Fringe-related genes, which differentially modulate the interaction between Notch and two classes of ligands, namely, Delta and Serrate/Jagged. In this article, we have reviewed the recent reports addressing the distinctive features of the glycosyltransferases and O-glycans present on the EGF domains.
authors.affiliation: Nagoya University Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Department of Applied Molecular Biosciences, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan. tokajima@arg.nagoya-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okajima
authors.forename: Aiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsuura
authors.forename: Tsukasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuda
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D005643:Fucose / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005647:Fucosyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D016695:Glycosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017351:N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009237:N-Acetyllactosamine Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000502:physiology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D011134:Polysaccharides; D005643:Fucose; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor; D016695:Glycosyltransferases; D005647:Fucosyltransferases; D017351:N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases; C471275:O-fucosyltransferase 1, Drosophila; C090576:fng protein, Drosophila; D009237:N-Acetyllactosamine Synthase; D005947:Glucose