Formation of dolichol-linked sugar intermediates during the postnatal development of skeletal muscle

The postnatal development of skeletal muscle is characterized by changes in membrane function associated with N-linked glycoproteins. In the present study, early reactions involved in the synthesis of the dolichol-linked core oligosaccharide were examined in neonatal and adult rabbit skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes. The initial rate of N-acetylglucosamine incorporation in the presence of exogenous dolichol phosphate was similar between neonate and adult (3.5-4.1 pmol of GlcNAc/min/mg). The Km values for UDP-GlcNAc and exogenous dolichol phosphate were similar. Tunicamycin (0.04-0.08 micrograms/ml) inhibited N-acetylglucosamine incorporation by 50%. UDP-GlcNAc pyrophosphatase activity was greater in neonatal membranes than adult (840 versus 350 pmol of GlcNAc-1-P/min/mg), explaining, in part, the greater enhancement of neonatal GlcNAc incorporation by pyrophosphatase inhibitors. Nucleotide-sugar pyrophosphatase inhibitors (alpha, beta-methylene ATP and dimercaptopropanol) increased the capacity of neonatal activity 4-fold and adult enzyme 2-fold. Analysis of dolichol-linked products by mild acid hydrolysis however, revealed that neonate had higher capacity for N,N'-diacetylchitobiosyl(pyro)phosphoryldolichol synthesis than adult. Mannosyltransferase and glucosyltransferase were elevated 6- and 5-fold in neonate compared to adult membranes. Neonate exhibited 4-fold greater GDP-Man pyrophosphatase activity than adult (500 versus 125 pmol of Man-1-P/min/mg). The Km for GDP-Man increased in the presence of exogenous dolichol phosphate. Increasing concentrations of exogenous dolichol phosphate did not equalize neonate and adult mannosyltransferase activity, indicating that the decline in activity during development was not due to a decrease in a pool of dolichol phosphate accessible to mannosyltransferase. Glucosyltransferase for the synthesis of glucosylphosphoryldolichol was also elevated 5-fold in neonatal compared to adult sarcoplasmic reticulum (7 versus 1.4 pmol of Glc/min/mg). In a previous study, it was reported that glycoprotein sialyltransferase activity decreased by a factor of 6.5 during the postnatal maturation and that total membrane hexose content of sarcoplasmic reticulum decreased by a factor of 8. Together, these results suggest that the postnatal development of skeletal muscle is characterized by coordinated changes in the expression of enzymes involved in both the "early" and "late" reactions of N-linked oligosaccharide biosynthesis.