title: Interaction between the C termini of Alg13 and Alg14 mediates formation of the active UDP-N-acetylglucosamine transferase complex.
abstract: The second step of eukaryotic N-linked glycosylation in endoplasmic reticulum is catalyzed by an UDP-N-acetylglucosamine transferase that is comprised of two subunits, Alg13 and Alg14. The interaction between Alg13 and 14 is crucial for UDP-GlcNAc transferase activity, so formation of the Alg13/14 complex is likely to play a key role in the regulation of N-glycosylation. Using a combination of bioinformatics and molecular biological methods, we have undertaken a functional analysis of yeast Alg13 and Alg14 proteins to elucidate the mechanism of their interaction. Our mutational studies demonstrated that a short C-terminal alpha-helix of Alg13 is required for interaction with Alg14 and for enzyme activity. Electrostatic surface views of the modeled Alg13/14 complex suggest the presence of a hydrophobic cleft in Alg14 that provides a pocket for the Alg13 C-terminal alpha-helix. Co-immunoprecipitation assays confirmed the C-terminal three amino acids of Alg14 are required for maintaining the integrity of Alg13/Alg14 complex, and this depends on their hydrophobicity. Modeling studies place these three Alg14 residues at the entrance of the hydrophobic-binding pocket, suggesting their role in the stabilization of the interaction between the C termini of Alg13 and Alg14. Together, these results demonstrate that formation of this hetero-oligomeric complex is mediated by a short C-terminal alpha-helix of Alg13 in cooperation with the last three amino acids of Alg14. In addition, deletion of the N-terminal beta-strand of Alg13 caused the destruction of protein, indicating the structural importance of this region in protein stability.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Advanced Life Science, Frontier Research Center for Post-Genomic Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, N21, W11, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan.
authors.forename: Xiao-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.forename: Nobuaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: Neta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: Shin-Ichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishimura
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017351:N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D055672:Static Electricity
chemical_list: D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; C506082:Alg13 protein, S cerevisiae; C506083:Alg14 protein, S cerevisiae; D017351:N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferases; C023227:UDP-N-acetylglucosamine transferase