Glycoprotein

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Glycoproteins are proteins that contain oligosaccharide chains (glycans) covalently attached to polypeptide side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glycosylation. In proteins that have segments extending extracellularly, the extracellular segments are often glycosylated. Glycoproteins are often important integral membrane proteins, where they play a role in cell-cell interactions. Glycoproteins also occur in the cytosol, but their functions and the pathways producing these modifications in this compartment are less well-understood.

N-glycosylation and O-glycosylation

There are two types of glycoproteins:
  • In N-glycosylation (see on the right), the addition of sugar chains can happen at the amide nitrogen on the side chain of the asparagine.
  • In O-glycosylation, the addition of sugar chains can happen on the hydroxyl oxygen on the side chain of hydroxylysine, hydroxyproline, serine, or threonine.

Monosaccharides

Monosaccharides commonly found in eukaryotic glycoproteins include:Robert K. Murray, Daryl K. Granner & Victor W. Rodwell: "Harper's Illustrated Biochemistry 27th Ed.", p. 526, McGraw-Hill, 2006

{| class="wikitable" |The principal sugars found in human glycoproteins»https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/img/assets/15880/glycan_classification.pdf |- ! Sugar ! Type ! Abbreviation |- | β-D-Glucose | Hexose | Glc |- | β-D-Galactose | Hexose | Gal |- | β-D-Mannose | Hexose | Man |- | α-L-Fucose | Deoxyhexose | Fuc |- | N-Acetylgalactosamine | Aminohexose | GalNAc |- | N-Acetylglucosamine | Aminohexose | GlcNAc |- | N-Acetylneuraminic acid | Aminononulosonic acid
(Sialic acid) | NeuNAc |- | Xylose | Pentose | Xyl |- |}

The sugar group(s) can assist in protein folding or improve proteins' stability.

Examples

One example of glycoproteins found in the body is mucins, which are secreted in the mucus of the respiratory and digestive tracts. The sugars attached to mucins give them considerable water-holding capacity and also make them resistant to proteolysis by digestive enzymes.

Glycoproteins are important for white blood cell recognition, especially in mammals. Examples of glycoproteins in the immune system are:

  • molecules such as antibodies (immunoglobulins), which interact directly with antigens
  • molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (or MHC), which are expressed on the surface of cells and interact with T cells as part of the adaptive immune response.
Other examples of glycoproteins include:
  • glycoprotein IIb/IIIa, an integrin found on platelets that is required for normal platelet aggregation and adherence to the endothelium.
  • components of the zona pellucida, which surrounds the oocyte, and is important for sperm-egg interaction.
  • structural glycoproteins, which occur in connective tissue. These help bind together the fibers, cells, and ground substance of connective tissue. They may also help components of the tissue bind to inorganic substances, such as calcium in bone.
  • Glycoprotein-41 (gp41) and glycoprotein-120 (gp120) are HIV viral coat proteins.
Soluble glycoproteins often show a high viscosity, for example, in egg white and blood plasma.

Hormones

Hormones that are glycoproteins include:

Functions

{| class="wikitable" | Some functions served by glycoproteinsIbid., p. 524 |- ! Function ! Glycoproteins |- | Structural molecule | Collagens |- | Lubricant and protective agent | Mucins |- | Transport molecule | Transferrin, ceruloplasmin |- | Immunologic molecule | Immunoglobins, histocompatibility antigens |- | Hormone | Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) |- | Enzyme | Various, eg, alkaline phosphatase |- | Cell attachment-recognition site | Various proteins involved in cell-cell (eg, sperm-oocyte), virus-cell, bacterium-cell, and hormone cell interactions |- | Antifreeze | Certain plasma proteins of coldwater fish |- | Interact with specific carbohydrates | Lectins, selectins (cell adhesion lectins), antibodies |- | Receptor | Various proteins involved in hormone and drug action |- | Affect folding of certain proteins | Calnexin, calreticulin |- | Regulation of development | Notch and its analogs, key proteins in development |- | Hemostasis (and thrombosis) | Specific glycoproteins on the surface membranes of platelets |- |}

Analysis

A variety of methods used in detection, purification, and structural analysis of glycoproteins areIbid., p. 525Anne Dell, Howard R Morris: "Glycoprotein structure determination by mass spectrometry", Science 291(5512), 2351-2356 (2001), Review

{| class="wikitable" |+Some important methods used to study glycoproteins |- ! Method ! Use |- | Periodic acid-Schiff stain | Detects glycoproteins as pink bands after electrophoretic separation. |- | Incubation of cultured cells with glycoproteins as radioactive decay bands | Leads to detection of a radioactive sugar after electrophoretic separation. |- | Treatment with appropriate endo- or exoglycosidase or phospholipases | Resultant shifts in electrophoretic migration help distinguish among proteins with N-glycan, O-glycan, or GPI linkages and also between high mannose and complex N-glycans. |- | Agarose-lectin column chromatography | To purify glycoproteins or glycopeptides that bind the particular lectin used. |- | Compositional analysis following acid hydrolysis | Identifies sugars that the glycoprotein contains and their stoichiometry. |- | Mass spectrometry | Provides information on molecular mass, composition, sequence, and sometimes branching of a glycan chain. |- | NMR spectroscopy | To identify specific sugars, their sequence, linkages, and the anomeric nature of glycosidic chain. |- | Dual Polarisation Interferometry | Measures the mechanisms underlying the biomolecular interactions, including reaction rates, affinities and associated conformational changes. |- | Methylation (linkage) analysis | To determine linkage between sugars. |- | Amino acid or cDNA sequencing | Determination of amino acid sequence. |- |}

References

See also

External links

home | This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. See full license termsIt uses material from the Wikipedia article "glycoprotein ". | compliance | March 14th 2010