Centralized modularity of N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells.

Glycosylation is a highly complex process to produce a diverse repertoire of cellular glycans that are attached to proteins and lipids. Glycans are involved in fundamental biological processes, including protein folding and clearance, cell proliferation and apoptosis, development, immune responses,...

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Main Authors: Pan-Jun Kim, Dong-Yup Lee, Hawoong Jeong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2009-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2750756?pdf=render
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author Pan-Jun Kim
Dong-Yup Lee
Hawoong Jeong
author_facet Pan-Jun Kim
Dong-Yup Lee
Hawoong Jeong
author_sort Pan-Jun Kim
collection DOAJ
description Glycosylation is a highly complex process to produce a diverse repertoire of cellular glycans that are attached to proteins and lipids. Glycans are involved in fundamental biological processes, including protein folding and clearance, cell proliferation and apoptosis, development, immune responses, and pathogenesis. One of the major types of glycans, N-linked glycans, is formed by sequential attachments of monosaccharides to proteins by a limited number of enzymes. Many of these enzymes can accept multiple N-linked glycans as substrates, thereby generating a large number of glycan intermediates and their intermingled pathways. Motivated by the quantitative methods developed in complex network research, we investigated the large-scale organization of such N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells. The N-linked glycosylation pathways are extremely modular, and are composed of cohesive topological modules that directly branch from a common upstream pathway of glycan synthesis. This unique structural property allows the glycan production between modules to be controlled by the upstream region. Although the enzymes act on multiple glycan substrates, indicating cross-talk between modules, the impact of the cross-talk on the module-specific enhancement of glycan synthesis may be confined within a moderate range by transcription-level control. The findings of the present study provide experimentally-testable predictions for glycosylation processes, and may be applicable to therapeutic glycoprotein engineering.
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spelling doaj.art-299cf66396ed487982c46381174c5aae2022-12-22T01:12:42ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032009-01-01410e731710.1371/journal.pone.0007317Centralized modularity of N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells.Pan-Jun KimDong-Yup LeeHawoong JeongGlycosylation is a highly complex process to produce a diverse repertoire of cellular glycans that are attached to proteins and lipids. Glycans are involved in fundamental biological processes, including protein folding and clearance, cell proliferation and apoptosis, development, immune responses, and pathogenesis. One of the major types of glycans, N-linked glycans, is formed by sequential attachments of monosaccharides to proteins by a limited number of enzymes. Many of these enzymes can accept multiple N-linked glycans as substrates, thereby generating a large number of glycan intermediates and their intermingled pathways. Motivated by the quantitative methods developed in complex network research, we investigated the large-scale organization of such N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells. The N-linked glycosylation pathways are extremely modular, and are composed of cohesive topological modules that directly branch from a common upstream pathway of glycan synthesis. This unique structural property allows the glycan production between modules to be controlled by the upstream region. Although the enzymes act on multiple glycan substrates, indicating cross-talk between modules, the impact of the cross-talk on the module-specific enhancement of glycan synthesis may be confined within a moderate range by transcription-level control. The findings of the present study provide experimentally-testable predictions for glycosylation processes, and may be applicable to therapeutic glycoprotein engineering.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2750756?pdf=render
spellingShingle Pan-Jun Kim
Dong-Yup Lee
Hawoong Jeong
Centralized modularity of N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells.
PLoS ONE
title Centralized modularity of N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells.
title_full Centralized modularity of N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells.
title_fullStr Centralized modularity of N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells.
title_full_unstemmed Centralized modularity of N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells.
title_short Centralized modularity of N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells.
title_sort centralized modularity of n linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2750756?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT panjunkim centralizedmodularityofnlinkedglycosylationpathwaysinmammaliancells
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AT hawoongjeong centralizedmodularityofnlinkedglycosylationpathwaysinmammaliancells