Immunodominant carbohydrate determinants in the multicellular stages of Dictyostelium discoideum

Two families of glycoprotein are defined in Dictyostelium discoideum by the presence of different glycoconjugates, both of which are highly immunogenic in mice. The previously described monoclonal antibodies MUD50 and MUD62 recognize the glycoconjugates and identify the respective glycoprotein families. Both types of glycosylation occur on vegetative and developmentally regulated glycoproteins. The immunodominant components of both families are reportedly O-linked sugars, but Western blots do not identify any glycoprotein that has both O-glycans, suggesting that there are two independently processed types of O-linked glycosylation in D. discoideum. The synthesis of the two O-glycan families is affected by glycosylation-defective mutations. Strains with a mutation at the modB locus lack one of these glycosylation types (that recognized by MUD50) and this mutation alters the size of two minor glycoproteins in the second family. Two new mutants, HU2470 (mod-352) and HU2471 (mod-353), lack the epitope recognized by MUD62. The two mutations map to different chromosomes. The mod-353 mutation also affects the size of PsA, a cell surface glycoprotein carrying the modB-dependent O-glycan.