J Biol Chem.: auth.: group Herr

 2018 Sep 17. pii: jbc.RA118.004185. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA118.004185. [Epub ahead of print]

The conserved threonine-rich region of the HCF-1PRO repeat activates promiscuous OGT:UDP-GlcNAc glycosylation and proteolysis activities.

Abstract

O-linked N-acetylglucosamine transferase (OGT) possesses dual glycosyltransferase-protease activities. OGT thereby stably glycosylates serines and threonines of numerous proteins and, via a transient glutamate glycosylation, cleaves a single known substrate-the so-called HCF-1PRO repeat of the transcriptional co-regulator host-cell factor 1 (HCF-1). Here, we probed the relationship between these distinct glycosylation and proteolytic activities. For proteolysis, the HCF-1PRO repeat possesses an important extended threonine-rich region that is tightly bound by the OGT tetratricopeptide-repeat (TPR) region. We report that linkage of this HCF-1PRO-repeat, threonine-rich region to heterologous substrate sequences also potentiates robust serine glycosylation with the otherwise poor Rp-αS-UDP-GlcNAc diastereomer phosphorothioate and UDP-5S-GlcNAc OGT co-substrates. Furthermore, it potentiated proteolysis of a non-HCF-1PRO-repeat cleavage sequence, provided it contained an appropriately positioned glutamate residue. Using serine- or glutamate-containing HCF-1PRO-repeat sequences, we show that proposed OGT-based or UDP-GlcNAc-based serine-acceptor residue activation mechanisms can be circumvented independently, but not when disrupted together. In contrast, disruption of both proposed activation mechanisms even in combination did not inhibit OGT-mediated proteolysis. These results reveal a multiplicity of OGT glycosylation strategies, some leading to proteolysis, which could be targets of alternative molecular regulatory strategies.

KEYWORDS:

Host-cell factor-1; O-GlcNAcylation; O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) transferase (OGT); enzyme mechanism; glycobiology; post-translational modification (PTM)

PMID: 30224358