Residues Comprising the Enhanced Aromatic Sequon Influence Protein N-Glycosylation Efficiency

N-Glycosylation is an important co- and/or post-translational modification that occurs on the vast majority of the one-third of the mammalian proteome that traverses the cellular secretory pathway, regulating glycoprotein folding and functions. Previous studies on the sequence requirements for N-glycosylation have yielded the Asn-X-Ser/Thr (NXS/T) sequon and the enhanced aromatic sequons (Phe-X-Asn-X-Thr and Phe-X-X-Asn-X-Thr), which can be efficiently N-glycosylated. To further investigate the influence of sequence variation on N-glycosylation efficiency in the context of a five-residue enhanced aromatic sequon, we used the human CD2 adhesion domain (hCD2ad) to screen the i-2, i-1, i+1, and i+2 residues flanking Asn at the i position. We found that aromatic residues, especially Trp, and sulfur-containing residues at the i-2 position improved N-glycosylation efficiency, while positively charged residues such as Arg suppressed N-glycosylation. Thiol, hydroxyl, and aliphatic-based side chains at the i-1 position had higher N-glycosylation efficiency, and Cys, in particular, compensated for the negative effect of Arg at the i-2 position. Small residues and Ser at the i+1 position increased the likelihood of N-glycosylation, and Thr is better than Ser at the i+2 position. We devised an algorithm for prediction of N-glycosylation efficiency using the SAS software, employing the 120 sequences studied as a training set. We then introduced the optimized-enhanced aromatic sequons into other glycoproteins and observed an enhancement in N-glycan occupancy that was further supported by modeling the high-affinity interaction between the optimized sequence on hCD2ad and a human oligosaccharyltransferase (OST) subunit. The findings in this study provide useful information for enhancing or suppressing N-glycosylation at a site of interest and valuable data for a better understanding of OST-catalyzed N-glycosylation.