Molecular cloning of the hamster CMP-sialic acid transporter

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) glycosylation mutants of the Lec2 complementation group are unable to express sialylated glycoproteins and glycolipids due to a defect in the Golgi CMP-sialic acid transporter (CMP-Sia-Tr). Using an expression cloning strategy, we isolated a cDNA encoding the hamster CMP-Sia-Tr which complements the Lec2 phenotype. The deduced amino acid sequence of the cloned cDNA shows 95% identity to the recently cloned murine CMP-Sia-Tr. The expression of a hamster CMP-Sia-Tr fusion protein with an N-terminal MDYKDDDDK (FLAG) sequence revealed Golgi localisation of the transporter. Amino acid sequence comparison revealed strong similarity (44.6% identity and 19.3% similarity) of CMP-Sia-Tr to the recently cloned human UDP-galactose transporter (UDP-Gal-Tr). In contrast, sequence similarities to the yeast UDP-N-acetylglucosamine transporter (UDP-GlcNAc-Tr) and the GDP-mannose transporter (GDP-Man-Tr) of Leishmania donovani are restricted to a region encoding the two most C-terminally located transmembrane helices. A computer-based structural analysis of CMP-Sia-Tr proposes an eight transmembrane helix model with the N- and C-termini located on the cytosolic side of the Golgi membrane.