Substrate specificity of bovine liver cytosolic neutral alpha-mannosidase activated by Co2+

A cytosolic neutral alpha-mannosidase was purified from bovine liver. Its molecular weight was found to be 500,000 on gel filtration. The activity of the enzyme toward Man alpha 1-6-(Man alpha 1-3)Man alpha 1-6(Man alpha 1-3)Man beta 1-4GlcNAc-PA was increased 26-fold by preincubation with 1 mM Co2+. Man alpha 1-6(Man alpha 1-3)Man alpha 1-6(Man alpha 1-3)Man beta 1-4GlcNAc was hydrolyzed by the enzyme to Man alpha 1-3Man alpha 1-6(Man alpha 1-3)Man beta 1-4GlcNAc, which was further hydrolyzed to Man alpha 1-6(Man alpha 1-3)Man beta 1-4GlcNAc. The rate of hydrolysis was 15-fold greater than that of Man alpha 1-6(Man alpha 1-3)Man alpha 1-6(Man alpha 1-3)Man beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-4GlcNAc. This substrate specificity suggested that the enzyme could be involved in the degradation of oligomannose-type sugar chains with one GlcNAc residue released from glycoproteins by endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase, and supported a pathway for glycoprotein catabolism via oligomannosyl glycans with one GlcNAc residue proposed on the basis of an earlier study on a cytosolic neutral alpha-mannosidase from Japanese quail oviduct [Oku, H. and Hase, S. (1991) J. Biochem. 110, 982-989].