• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.306-311
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• 2002

O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is an abundant posttranslationally modified compound in eukaryotic cells. Human O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) was produced as a maltose binding protein (MBP) fusion protein, which showed significant catalytic activity to modify recombinant Sp1, transcription factor. To facilitate the production of O-GlcNAc modified proteins, instead of using the tedious in vitro glycosylation reaction or expression in eukaryotic cells, a MBP-fusion OGT expression vector (pACYC184-MBPOGT) was constructed using pACYC184 plasmid, which could coexist with general prokaryotic expression vectors containing ColE1 origin. By cotransforming pACYC184-MBPOGT and pGEX-2T vectors into Escherichia coli BL21, intracellular O- GlcNAcylated proteins could be obtained by a simple purification procedure. It is expected that this may be a useful tool for production of O-GlcNAc modified proteins.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.586-594
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• 2013

Post-translational O-GlcNAc modification (O-GlcNAcylation) of serine or threonine is a new protein modulation mechanism. In contrast to the classical glycosylation, O-GlcNAcylation occurs in a one-step transfer of O-GlcNAc on both nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. In contrast to the general consensus that O-GlcNAc is a final modification, a recent paper (J Proteome Res. 2011 10:2725-2733) showed the presence of O-GlcNAc-P on a synaptic assembly protein AP180. This finding raises a fundamental question about its prevalence. To address this question, we used proteomics to identify those proteins that were phospho-signal enriched by GlcNAc kinase (NAGK). Comparison of pDsRed2-$NAGK_{WT}$-transfected HEK293T cell extract with pDsRed2-$NAGK_{D107A}$-transfected control culture revealed 15 phospho-signal increased spots. Excluding those spots that had no detectable amount of protein expression yielded 7 spots, which were selected for ID determination. Among these, two duplicate spots (two $HSP90{\beta}$ and two ENO1 spots) were shown to be O-GlcNAcylated, two (dUTP nucleotidohydrolase mitochondrial isoform 2, glutathione S-transferase P) were not known to be involved in O-GlcNAcylation, and one (heat shock protein gp96 precursor or grp94) was a glycoprotein. The increase in the phospho-levels of O-GlcNAc by NAGK strongly indicates that these proteins are phosphorylated on O-GlcNAc. Our present data support the idea that O-GlcNAc is not a terminal modification.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.324-331
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• 2013

The addition and removal of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) molecules on serine or threonine residues of a protein is called O-GlcNAcylation. This post-translational modification occurs on both cytoplasmic and nuclear protein, and is fast and reversible as comparable to phosphorylation. In contrast to the phospho-signaling cycles, this emerging moon-lightening signaling is cycled by only two enzymes, O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA). The simple machinery is a good evolutionary adaptation of a cell for quick accommodation to continuously fluctuating intra- and extracellular microenvironments. Rather than "switching" on or off a specific proteins - this would be done by phosphorylation where numerous specific kinases and phosphatases are involved - O-GlcNAcylation would play a "rheostat" which would be much more delicately increase or decrease the efficacy of signal transductions in response to cellular nutrient and stress conditions. Interestingly, recent evidence indicates that O-GlcNAc is further modified by phosphorylation. The O-GlcNAc-P will upgrade the modulation efficiency of cellular processes to continuous 'analogue' level. So far, only one protein AP180 was reported to have O-GlcNAc-P on Thr310. But, proteomic data from our laboratory indicate that there are multiple O-GlcNAc-P proteins, constituting "O-GlcNAc-P'om". This will focus on the possibility of existence of "O-GlcNAc-P'om".

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.87-93
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• 2004

Dynamic modification of cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins by O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) on Ser and Thr residues is ubiquitous in higher eukaryotes. And this modification may serve as a signaling mod-ification analogous to protein phosphorylation. Addition and cleavage of O-GlcNAc are catalyzed by O-linked GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-linked N-acety1glucosaminidase (O-GlcNAcase), respectively. Two types of human O-GlcNAcase gene were cloned and expressed as three fusion proteins in Escherichia coli. O-GlcNA-case activity showed in the order of thioredoxin fusion> $6{\times}His$ tag> GST fusion. O-GlcNAcase had enzy-matic activity against only ${\rho}$NP-GlcNAc of seven tested substrate analogs. Blast search revealed that O-GlcNAcase has two conserved domains, amino terminal hyaluronidase-like domain and carboxy terminal N-acetyltransferase domain. Extensive deletion studies were done to define catalytically important domains. The deletions of hyaluronidase-like domain and N-acetyltransferase domain abolished enzyme activity. But, N-ter-minal 55 amino acid deletion and C-terminal truncation showed lower activity. Based on deletion analysis, we suggest that hyaluronidase-like domain is essential for enzyme activity and carboxy terminal N-acetyltrans-ferase domain may be modulatory function.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.59 no.5
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• pp.501-505
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• 2021

The pathogenic free-living amoeba Naegleria fowleri causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a fatal infection, by penetrating the nasal mucosa and migrating to the brain via the olfactory nerves. N. fowleri can induce host cell death via lytic necrosis. Similar to phosphorylation, O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) glycosylation (O-GlcNAcylation) is involved in various cell-signaling processes, including apoptosis and proliferation, with O-GlcNAc addition and removal regulated by O-GlcNAc transferase and O-GlcNAcase (OGA), respectively. However, the detailed mechanism of host cell death induced by N. fowleri is unknown. In this study, we investigated whether N. fowleri can induce the modulation of O-GlcNAcylated proteins during cell death in Jurkat T cells. Co-incubation with live N. fowleri trophozoites increased DNA fragmentation. In addition, incubation with N. fowleri induced a dramatic reduction in O-GlcNAcylated protein levels in 30 min. Moreover, pretreatment of Jurkat T cells with the OGA inhibitor PUGNAc prevented N. fowleri-induced O-deGlcNAcylation and DNA fragmentation. These results suggest that O-deGlcNAcylation is an important signaling process that occurs during Jurkat T cell death induced by N. fowleri.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1086-1092
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• 2017

Objective: O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) transferase (OGT) catalyzes the addition of O-GlcNAc and GlcNAcylation has extensive crosstalk with phosphorylation to regulate signaling and transcription. Pig OGT is located near the region of chromosome X that affects follicle stimulating hormone level and testes size. The objective of this study was to find the variations of OGT between European and Chinese pigs. Methods: Pigs were tested initially for polymorphism in OGT among European and Chinese pigs by polymerase chain reaction and sequencing at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC). The polymorphism was also determined in an independent population of pigs including European and Chinese Meishan (ME) breeds at the National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS, RDA, Korea). Results: The intron 20 of OGT from European and Chinese pigs was 514 and 233 bp, respectively, in the pigs tested initially. They included 1 White composite (WC) boar and 7 sows ($2Minzu{\times}WC$, $2Duroc\;[DU]{\times}WC$, $2ME{\times}WC$, $1Fengzing{\times}WC$) at USMARC. The 281-bp difference was due to an inserted 276-bp element and GACTT in European pigs. When additional WC and ME boars, the grandparents that were used to generate the $1/2ME{\times}1/2WC$ parents, and the 84 boars of 16 litters from mating of $1/2ME{\times}1/2WC$ parents were analyzed, the breeds of origin of X chromosome quantitative trait locus (QTL) were confirmed. The polymorphism was determined in an independent population of pigs including DU, Landrace, Yorkshire, and ME breeds at NIAS. OGT was placed at position 67 cM on the chromosome X of the USMARC swine linkage map. Conclusion: There was complete concordance with the insertion in European pigs at USMARC and NIAS. This polymorphism could be a useful marker to identify the breed of origin of X chromosome QTL in pigs produced by crossbreeding Chinese and European pigs.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.415-420
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• 2011

Diabetes is a well-known independent risk factor for vascular disease. However, its underlying mechanism remains unclear. It has been reported that increased influx of the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway (HBP) induces O-GlcNAcylation of proteins, leading to insulin resistance. In this study, we determined whether or not O-GlcNAc modification of proteins could increase vessel contraction. Using an endothelium-denuded aortic ring, we observed that glucosamine induced OGlcNAcylation of proteins and augmented vessel contraction stimulated by U46619, a thromboxane $A_2$ agonist, via augmentation of the phosphorylation of MLC20$MLC_{20}$, MYPT1(Thr855), and CPI17, but not phenylephrine. Pretreatment with OGT inhibitor significantly ameliorated glucosamine-induced vessel constriction. Glucosamine treatment also increased RhoA activity, which was also attenuated by OGT inhibitor. In conclusion, glucosamine, a product of glucose influx via the HBP in a diabetic state, increases vascular contraction, at least in part, through activation of the RhoA/Rho kinase pathway, which may be due to O-GlcNAcylation.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.7
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• pp.476-484
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• 2017

C-X-C chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) stimulates cancer metastasis. NF-${\kappa}B$ regulates CXCR4 expression in cancer cells, and O-GlcNAc modification of NF-${\kappa}B$ promotes its transcriptional activity. Here, we determined whether CXCR4 expression is affected by O-GlcNAcylation of NF-${\kappa}B$ in lung metastasis of cervical cancer. We found elevated levels of O-linked-N-actylglucosamine transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcylation in cervical cancer cells compared to those in non-malignant epithelial cells and detected increased expression of NF-${\kappa}B$ p65 (p65) and CXCR4 in cervical cancer cells. Knockdown of OGT inhibited the O-GlcNAcylation of p65 and decreased CXCR4 expression levels in HeLa cells. Thiamet G treatment increased O-GlcNAcylated p65, which subsequently enhanced CXCR4 expression levels. Inhibition of O-GlcNAcylation by 6-Diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine (DON) treatment decreased p65 activation, eventually inhibiting CXCR4 expression in HeLa cells. Lung tissues from mice engrafted with OGT-knockdown HeLa cells (shOGT) exhibited lower expression of Ki-67 and HPV E6 and E7 oncogenes compared to lung tissues from mice engrafted with control HeLa cells (shCTL). In addition, lung tissues from mice engrafted with shOGT cells exhibited lower p65 and CXCR4 immunoreactivity compared to tissues from mice engrafted with shCTL cells. Taken together, our data suggest that p65 O-GlcNAcylation promotes lung metastasis of cervical cancer cells by activating CXCR4 expression.