The myelin-associated glycoprotein of the peripheral nervous system in trembler mutants contains increased alpha 2-3 sialic acid and galactose.

The myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) exhibits an abnormally high apparent molecular weight in sciatic nerve, but not in brain, of dysmyelinating trembler mutants (Inuzuka et al.: J Neurochem 44:793-797, 1985). Antibodies to the large and small isoforms of MAG (L- and S-MAG) and probes for oligosaccharide structure were used to determine if this was due to overexpression of L-MAG or increased glycosylation. Nerves from both control and trembler 36-day-old mice contained primarily S-MAG with only traces of L-MAG. The distribution of the two isoforms appeared normal in trembler mice, and both isoforms exhibited the higher apparent molecular weight. Lectin binding showed that, in contrast to brain in which most glycoproteins contain primarily alpha 2-3 linked sialic acid, most glycoproteins of both control and trembler nerve contained primarily alpha 2-6 linked sialic acid. Lectin binding and glycosidase treatments demonstrated that the higher molecular weight of MAG in trembler nerves was due to an increased content of alpha 2-3 linked sialic acid and galactose. The abnormal glycosylation of MAG in trembler mutants may contribute to the myelin pathology.

Abnormal expression and glycosylation of the large and small isoforms of myelin-associated glycoprotein in dysmyelinating quaking mutants.

The relative expression of large (L) and small (S) isoforms of the myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) and their glycosylation were compared in developing spinal cord of quaking and control mice. Using antisera specific for L- and S-MAG, respectively, it was shown that S-MAG is the principal isoform in quaking mice at all ages between 13 and 72 days, although L-MAG was just detectable by western blotting at the early ages. Both L- and S-MAG have higher apparent molecular weights in quaking mice than in controls. Experiments involving lectin binding and glycosidase treatment demonstrated that the higher molecular weight of MAG in the quaking mutant was due to a higher content of N-acetylneuraminic acid residues linked alpha 2-3 to galactose as well as to more branching of oligosaccharide moieties indicated by a higher content of subterminal galactose residues. The total sialic acid measured by HPAE-chromatography in purified quaking MAG was 40% higher than in control MAG. By contrast, quaking MAG contained less of the adhesion-related, HNK-1 carbohydrate epitope. Another difference was that a lower molecular weight form of MAG with predominantly high mannose oligosaccharides was prominent in young quaking mice, but not in controls. The abnormalities of MAG expression related to splicing of its mRNA and glycosylation may contribute to the myelin pathology in quaking mutants.

Prominent 85-kDa oligomannosidic glycoproteins of rat brain are signal regulatory proteins and include the SHP substrate-1 for tyrosine phosphatases.

The glycoprotein component in rat brain reacting most strongly with Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) on western blots migrates as an 85-kDa band. GNA identifies mannose-rich oligosaccharides because it is highly specific for terminal alpha-mannose residues. After purification of this 85-kDa glycoprotein band by chromatography on GNA-agarose and preparative gel electrophoresis, binding of other lectins demonstrated the presence of fucose and a trace of galactose, but no sialic acid. Treatment with N-Glycanase or endoglycosidase H produced a 65-kDa band, indicating that it consisted of about one-fourth N-linked oligomannosidic carbohydrate moieties. High-performance anion-exchange chromatography and fluorescence-assisted carbohydrate electrophoresis indicated that the major carbohydrate moiety is a heptasaccharide with the structure Manalpha1-6(Manalpha1-3)Manalpha1-6(Manalpha1-3) Manbeta1-4Glc-NAcbeta1-4GlcNAc (Man5GlcNAc2). Determination of amino acid sequences of peptides produced by endoproteinase digestion demonstrated that this 85-kDa mannose-rich glycoprotein component contained the SHP substrate-1 for phosphotyrosine phosphatases and at least one other member of the signal-regulatory protein (SIRP) family. The unusually high content of oligomannosidic carbohydrate moieties on these receptor-like members of the immunoglobulin superfamily in neural tissue could be of functional significance for intercellular adhesion or signaling.