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Analysis of Protein Folding, Transport, and Degradation in Living Cells by Radioactive Pulse Chase
Published on: February 12, 2019
N-Glycan-dependent protein folding and endoplasmic reticulum retention regulate GPI-anchor processing
Yi-Shi Liu1, Xin-Yu Guo1, Tetsuya Hirata2,3
1Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Jiangsu, China.
Abstract:
Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchoring of proteins is a conserved posttranslational modification in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Soon after GPI is attached, an acyl chain on the GPI inositol is removed by post-GPI attachment to proteins 1 (PGAP1), a GPI-inositol deacylase. This is crucial for switching GPI-anchored proteins (GPI-APs) from protein folding to transport states. We performed haploid genetic screens to identify factors regulating GPI-inositol deacylation, identifying seven genes. In particular, calnexin cycle impairment caused inefficient GPI-inositol deacylation. Calnexin was specifically associated with GPI-APs, dependent on N-glycan and GPI moieties, and assisted efficient GPI-inositol deacylation by PGAP1. Under chronic ER stress caused by misfolded GPI-APs, inositol-acylated GPI-APs were exposed on the cell surface. These results indicated that N-glycans participate in quality control and temporal ER retention of GPI-APs, ensuring their correct folding and GPI processing before exiting from the ER. Once the system is disrupted by ER stress, unprocessed GPI-APs become exposed on the cell surface.
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