Higher Energy Collisional Dissociation Mass Spectrometry of Sulfated O-Linked Oligosaccharides.

Sulfation is the final decoration of mucin-type O-linked oligosaccharides before mucins are released into the lumen of the gastrointestinal, respiratory, and genital tracts. Because only a fraction of oligosaccharides undergo this type of modifications in the Golgi apparatus, sometimes also only by dedicated cells, the glycobiology of these low abundant sulfated oligosaccharides is often overlooked. At the same time, the technology to consistently identify and characterize them has been lagging. We adopted higher energy collisional dissociation to characterize sulfated oligosaccharides from porcine gastric and human salivary MUC5B mucins. With this approach we could generate conclusive spectra up to nonasaccharides. Both singly and doubly sulfated oligosaccharides were characterized. By comparing the fragmentation of low-mass fragments of m/ z 100-320 with standards for six-linked and three-linked sulfate, it could be shown that characteristic fragmentation exists, verifying that porcine gastric mucin contains mostly six-linked sulfate to GlcNAc, whereas human MUC5B contains mostly three-linked Gal. When performing ion-trap MS2 fragmentation, these low-molecular-mass fragments are usually not detected. Hence it can be concluded that to be able to address biological questions of sulfation low-mass fragments are important for the assignment of sulfate position.

Cyclin-dependent kinase-mediated phosphorylation of breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1 (BRMS1) affects cell migration.

Expression of Breast Cancer Metastasis Suppressor 1 (BRMS1) reduces the incidence of metastasis in many human cancers, without affecting tumorigenesis. BRMS1 carries out this function through several mechanisms, including regulation of gene expression by binding to the mSin3/histone deacetylase (HDAC) transcriptional repressor complex. In the present study, we show that BRMS1 is a novel substrate of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 2 (CDK2) that is phosphorylated on serine 237 (S237). Although CDKs are known to regulate cell cycle progression, the mutation of BRMS1 on serine 237 did not affect cell cycle progression and proliferation of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells; however, their migration was affected. Phosphorylation of BRMS1 does not affect its association with the mSin3/HDAC transcriptional repressor complex or its transcriptional repressor activity. The serine 237 phosphorylation site is immediately proximal to a C-terminal nuclear localization sequence that plays an important role in BRMS1-mediated metastasis suppression but phosphorylation does not control BRMS1 subcellular localization. Our studies demonstrate that CDK-mediated phosphorylation of BRMS1 regulates the migration of tumor cells.

Autophosphorylation of CaMKK2 generates autonomous activity that is disrupted by a T85S mutation linked to anxiety and bipolar disorder.

Mutations that reduce expression or give rise to a Thr85Ser (T85S) mutation of Ca(2+)-CaM-dependent protein kinase kinase-2 (CaMKK2) have been implicated in behavioural disorders such as anxiety, bipolar and schizophrenia in humans. Here we report that Thr85 is an autophosphorylation site that endows CaMKK2 with a molecular memory that enables sustained autonomous activation following an initial, transient Ca(2+) signal. Conversely, autophosphorylation of Ser85 in the T85S mutant fails to generate autonomous activity but instead causes a partial loss of CaMKK2 activity. The loss of autonomous activity in the mutant can be rescued by blocking glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) phosphorylation of CaMKK2 with the anti-mania drug lithium. Furthermore, CaMKK2 null mice representing a loss of function model the human behavioural phenotypes, displaying anxiety and manic-like behavioural disturbances. Our data provide a novel insight into CaMKK2 regulation and its perturbation by a mutation associated with behavioural disorders.

Inhibition of AMP-Activated Protein Kinase at the Allosteric Drug-Binding Site Promotes Islet Insulin Release.

The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a metabolic stress-sensing αßγ heterotrimer responsible for energy homeostasis. Pharmacological inhibition of AMPK is regarded as a therapeutic strategy in some disease settings including obesity and cancer; however, the broadly used direct AMPK inhibitor compound C suffers from poor selectivity. We have discovered a dihydroxyquinoline drug (MT47-100) with novel AMPK regulatory properties, being simultaneously a direct activator and inhibitor of AMPK complexes containing the ß1 or ß2 isoform, respectively. Allosteric inhibition by MT47-100 was dependent on the ß2 carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) and determined by three non-conserved CBM residues (Ile81, Phe91, Ile92), but was independent of ß2-Ser108 phosphorylation. Whereas MT47-100 regulation of total cellular AMPK activity was determined by ß1/ß2 expression ratio, MT47-100 augmented glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from isolated mouse pancreatic islets via a ß2-dependent mechanism. Our findings highlight the therapeutic potential of isoform-specific AMPK allosteric inhibitors.

Small molecule drug A-769662 and AMP synergistically activate naive AMPK independent of upstream kinase signaling.

The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a metabolic stress-sensing αßγ heterotrimer responsible for energy homeostasis, making it a therapeutic target for metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. AMPK signaling is triggered by phosphorylation on the AMPK α subunit activation loop Thr172 by upstream kinases. Dephosphorylated, naive AMPK is thought to be catalytically inactive and insensitive to allosteric regulation by AMP and direct AMPK-activating drugs such as A-769662. Here we show that A-769662 activates AMPK independently of α-Thr172 phosphorylation, provided ß-Ser108 is phosphorylated. Although neither A-769662 nor AMP individually stimulate the activity of dephosphorylated AMPK, together they stimulate >1,000-fold, bypassing the requirement for ß-Ser108 phosphorylation. Consequently A-769662 and AMP together activate naive AMPK entirely allosterically and independently of upstream kinase signaling. These findings have important implications for development of AMPK-targeting therapeutics and point to possible combinatorial therapeutic strategies based on AMP and AMPK drugs.

Glycomic work-flow for analysis of mucin O-linked oligosaccharides.

The high-throughput analysis of the glycosylation of high molecular weight proteins, such as mucins, has been the aim of glycomics initiatives for the last decade. Here, we present a work-flow for the efficient and reproducible analysis of reduced oligosaccharides from a typical mucin sample. This work-flow can be applied to any similar samples of oligosaccharides. We include recently developed bioinformatic procedures for the statistical analysis of sample sets. These procedures can be applied in any laboratory environment, using free programs that are platform independent. The scripts are explained and can be adjusted to suit the individual experiment. Finally, a number of example results are given to highlight the use of the statistical analysis in a biological context.

Analysis of mucosal mucins separated by SDS-urea agarose polyacrylamide composite gel electrophoresis.

Efficient separation of mucins (200 kDa-2 MDa) was demonstrated using gradient SDS agarose/polyacrylamide composite gel electrophoresis (SDS-AgPAGE). Inclusion of urea (SDS-UAgPAGE) in the gels casting were shown to have no effect on the migration of mucins in the gel and allowed casting of gel at room temperature. This simplified the procedure for multiple casting of agarose polyacrylamide gradients and increased reproducibility of these gels. Hence, the implementation of urea makes the technique applicable for high throughput isolation and screening of mucin oligosaccharides by LC-MS after releasing the oligosaccharides from isolated, blotted mucin subpopulations. It was also shown that the urea addition had no effect on other supporting applications such as western and lectin blotting. In addition, identification of the mucin protein after tryptic digestion and LC-MS was possible and no protein carbamylation due to the presence of urea in the gel was detected. LC-MS software developed for metabolomic analysis was used for O-linked oligosaccharide detection and differential display of various mucin samples. Using this method, heterogeneous glycosylation of mucins and mucin-type molecules isolated by SDS-AgPAGE and SDS-UAgPAGE was shown to consist of more than 80 different components in a single band, and in the extreme cases, up to 300-500 components (MUC5B/AC from saliva and sputum and). Metabolomic software was also used to show that the migration of mucin isoforms within the gel is due to heterogeneous size distribution of the oligosaccharides, with the slower migrating bands enriched in high-molecular-weight oligosaccharides.

Sulfate migration in oligosaccharides induced by negative ion mode ion trap collision-induced dissociation.

Migration of sulfate groups between hydroxyl groups was identified after collision-induced dissociation (CID) of sulfated oligosaccharides in an ion trap mass spectrometer in negative ion mode. Analysis of various sulfated oligosaccharides showed that this was a common phenomenon and was particularly prominent in sulfated oligosaccharides also containing sialic acid. It was also shown that the level of migration was increased when the sulfate was positioned on the flexible areas of the oligosaccharides not involved in the pyranose ring, such as the extra-cyclic C-6 carbon of hexoses or N-acetylhexosamines, or on reduced oligosaccharide. This suggested that migration is dependent on the spatial availability of the sulfate in the ion trap during collision. It is proposed that the migration is initiated when the negatively charged -SO3 (-) residue attached to the oligosaccharide precursor becomes protonated by a CID-induced proton transfer. This is supported by the CID fragmentation of precursor ions depleted of acidic protons such as doubly charged [M - 2H](2-) ions or the sodiated [M + Na - 2H](-) ions of oligosaccharides containing one sulfate and one sialic acid in the same molecule. Compared to the CID fragmentation of their monocharged [M - H](-) ions, no migration was observed in CID of proton depleted precursors. Alternative fragmentation parameters to suppress migration of sulfated oligosaccharides also showed that it was not present when sulfated oligosaccharides were fragmented by HCD (High-Energy C-trap Dissociation) in an Orbitrap mass spectrometer.

O-linked oligosaccharides from salivary agglutinin: Helicobacter pylori binding sialyl-Lewis x and Lewis b are terminating moieties on hyperfucosylated oligo-N-acetyllactosamine.

Salivary agglutinin plays a vital biological role modulating the protective effect in the oral cavity by interacting with a broad range of oral pathogens. Here, we describe the first characterization of the O-linked oligosaccharides of salivary agglutinin identified by negative ion liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The dominating structures were neutral or monosialylated core 1 (Galbeta1-3GalNAcalpha1-Ser/Thr) and core 2 (Galbeta1-3(GlcNAcbeta1-6)GalNAcalpha1-Ser/Thr) structures extended by fucosylated oligo-N-acetyllactosamine units. Oligosaccharides detected as [M-H](-) or [M-2H](2)(-) ions ranged from the disaccharide Galbeta1-3GalNAcol up to structures of almost 4000 Da, corresponding to core 1/2 structures with five N-acetyllactosamine units and 11 fucoses. Fucose was found either as terminal or internal blood group H structures in type 1 (Galbeta1-3GlcNAcbeta1-R), type 2 (Galbeta1-4GlcNAcbeta1-R) and type 3 (Galbeta1-3GalNAcalpha1-Ser/Thr) units, where the chains also could be fucosylated on GlcNAc yielding repeated Lewis a/b or Lewis x/y structures. Sialylation was located either at the non-reducing end of the N-acetyllactosamine chains as sialyl-Lewis x or as sialyl-T (NeuAcalpha2-3Galbeta1-3GalNAcalpha1-Ser/Thr) type structures with or without further extension of the C-6 branch of GalNAc with neutral fucosylated N-acetyllactosamine chains. The data indicated that sialylation, fucosylation and type 1 N-acetyllactosamine termination are important regulatory elements for controlling the oligosaccharide chain length. Furthermore, it was shown that these regulatory oligosaccharide elements could be utilized by the pathogen Helicobacter pylori to colonize the oral cavity, reside in dental plaque and serve as a reservoir for reinfection after successful clearance of H. pylori gastric infection.

Interaction between alpha and upsilon-crystallin, common to the eye of the Australian platypus, by radical probe mass spectrometry.

The interaction between alpha-crystallin and upsilon-crystallin, a class recently discovered in the eye of the Australian platypus, has been shown by native shift gel assay and examined by radical probe mass spectrometry in the context of the ability of alpha-crystallin to protect upsilon-crystallin from oxidation and oxidative damage through radical-based oxidative stress mechanisms. Residues 22-41, 132-148, 212-227 and 245-264 of upsilon-crystallin display the greatest protection when interacted with alpha-crystallin at a ratio of 2 : 1 observed for the complex, which is commensurate with their levels measured in the eye of the platypus. Across each domain, a delay in the onset of oxidative damage is observed as the time of exposure to radicals is increased. The results are discussed in the context of the structure of the porcine homologue of upsilon-crystallin.