title: Distribution of N-glycosylation sequons in proteins: how apart are they?
abstract: N-glycosylation is a common protein modification process, which affects a number of properties of proteins. Little is known about the distribution of N-glycosylation sequons, for example, the distance between glycosylated sites and their position in the protein primary sequence. Using a large set of experimentally confirmed eukaryotic N-glycoproteins we analyzed the relative position and distribution of sequons. N-Glycosylation probability was found to be lower in the termini of protein sequences compared to the mid region. N-glycosylated sequons were found much farther from C terminus compared to the N-terminus of the protein sequence and this effect was more pronounced for NXS sequons. The distribution of sequons, modeled based on balls-in-boxes classical occupancy, showed a near-maximum probability. Considerable proportion of sequons was found within a distance of ten amino acids, indicating that the steric hindrance was not a key factor in protein N-glycosylation. Interestingly, the distribution of all sequons present in N-glycoproteins showed a pattern very similar to that of glycosylated sequons. The results indicate that protein N-glycosylation chiefly follows a random design.
authors.affiliation: Aarhus University, Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Slagelse, Denmark. drrsprao@yahoo.co.in
authors.forename: R Shyama Prasad
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Ole Thomsen
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Buus
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wollenweber
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006031:Glycosylation; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins