title: N-glycosylation is required for secretion and mitosis in C. elegans.
abstract: N-glycosylation of proteins is an essential process, and N-glucans serve as important beacons in protein folding and ER associated degradation. More importantly, N-glycosylation increases the structural repertoire of proteins because the addition of the N-glucan on proteins will serve as a base for further sugar additions in the Golgi apparatus, and hence complex three-dimensional structures can be build. N-glycosylation is mediated by the ER-resident OST complex, which is essential throughout eukaryotes. Partial knockdown of conserved OST complex members, such as C. elegans RIBO-1, led to an embryonic lethal phenotype. Although the ER morphology was not grossly altered in ribo-1(RNAi) oocytes and embryos, secretion of yolk and of the yolk receptor RME-2 was perturbed in those worms. Perhaps as a consequence of reduced arrival of N-glycosylated proteins at the plasma membrane, cytokinesis occurred less efficiently leading to multinuclear cells. Unexpectedly, we detected a chromosome segregation defect in ribo-1(RNAi) embryos suggesting an essential role of at least one N-glycosylated protein in metaphase-anaphase transition.
authors.affiliation: Growth & Development, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020090:Chromosome Segregation / Q000235:genetics; D048749:Cytokinesis / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D006031:Glycosylation; D006602:Hexosyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008938:Mitosis / Q000235:genetics; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D004247:DNA; D006602:Hexosyltransferases; C025620:dolichyl-diphosphooligosaccharide - protein glycotransferase; D009584:Nitrogen