Recent structural and mechanistic insights into protein O-GalNAc glycosylation

Protein O-GalNAcylation is an abundant post-translational modification and predicted to occur in over 80% of the proteins passing through the Golgi apparatus. This modification is driven by 20 polypeptide GaINAc (N-acetylgalactosamine)-transferases (GalNAc-Ts), which are unique in that they possess both catalytic and lectin domains. The peptide substrate specificities of GalNAc-Ts are still poorly defined and our understanding of the sequence and structural features that direct O-glycosylation of proteins is limited. Part of this may be attributed to the complex regulation by coordinated action of multiple GalNAc-T isoforms, and part of this may also be attributed to the two functional domains of GalNAc-Ts that both seems to be involved in directing the substrate specificities. Recent studies have resulted in 3D structures of GalNAc-Ts and determination of the reaction mechanism of this family of enzymes. Key advances include the trapping of binary/ternary complexes in combination with computational simulations and AFM/small-SAXS experiments, which have allowed for the dissection of the reaction coordinates and the mechanism by which the lectin domains modulate the glycosylation. These studies not only broaden our knowledge of the modes-of-action of this family of enzymes but also open up potential avenues for the rational design of effective and selective inhibitors of O-glycosylation.