Distribution of glycoproteins with beta-N-acetylgalactosaminylated N-linked sugar chains among bovine tissues

Only a small number of glycoproteins has been reported to contain N-linked sugar chains with GalNAcbeta1-->4GlcNAc structure. Our previous studies showed that most glycoproteins from bovine milk fat globule membranes contain beta-N-acetylgalactosaminylated N-linked sugar chains [Sato et al., J. Biochem. 114 (1993) 890-900]. In order to study how widely this glycosylation occurs, lectin blot analysis of membrane glycoproteins from 12 bovine tissues was performed using Wistaria floribunda agglutinin (WFA), which interacts with oligosaccharides terminating with N-acetylgalactosamine. The WFA-positive bands were detected in samples from most tissues except for intestine although the number and reactivity of bands to lectin varied among the tissues. Upon pretreatment of blotted filters with Bacillus beta-N-acetylgalactosaminidase or N-glycanase, no lectin binding was observed. WFA-agarose column chromatography of oligosaccharides released by hydrazinolysis from membrane glycoproteins of bovine tissues except for intestine revealed that a few to 18% of the released oligosaccharides bind and are eluted from the column with 100 mM N-acetylgalactosamine. These results indicate that many glycoproteins from a variety of bovine tissues contain N-linked sugar chains with GalNAcbeta1-->4GlcNAc structure, suggesting a wider occurrence of this glycosylation in bovine tissues.