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Published on: February 10, 2014
Modulating Cell-Surface Receptor Signaling and Ion Channel Functions by In Situ Glycan Editing
Hao Jiang1, Aimé López-Aguilar2, Lu Meng3
1Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Ministry of Education and Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science & Technology and Shandong Provincial Key Lab of Glycoscience & Glycoengineering, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao, 266003, China.
Abstract:
Glycans anchored on cell-surface receptors are active modulators of receptor signaling. A strategy is presented that enforces transient changes to cell-surface glycosylation patterns to tune receptor signaling. This approach, termed in situ glycan editing, exploits recombinant glycosyltransferases to incorporate monosaccharides with linkage specificity onto receptors in situ. α2,3-linked sialic acid or α1,3-linked fucose added in situ suppresses signaling through epidermal growth factor receptor and fibroblast growth factor receptor. We also applied the same strategy to regulate the electrical signaling of a potassium ion channel-human ether-à-go-go-related gene channel. Compared to gene editing, no long-term perturbations are introduced to the treated cells. In situ glycan editing therefore offers a promising approach for studying the dynamic role of specific glycans in membrane receptor signaling and ion channel functions.
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