O-glycan initiation directs distinct biological pathways and controls epithelial differentiation

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) greatly expand the function and potential for regulation of protein activity, and O-glycosylation is among the most abundant and diverse PTMs. Initiation of O-GalNAc glycosylation is regulated by 20 distinct GalNAc-transferases (GalNAc-Ts), and deficiencies in individual GalNAc-Ts are associated with human disease, causing subtle but distinct phenotypes in model organisms. Here, we generate a set of isogenic keratinocyte cell lines lacking either of the three dominant and differentially expressed GalNAc-Ts. Through the ability of keratinocytes to form epithelia, we investigate the phenotypic consequences of the loss of individual GalNAc-Ts. Moreover, we probe the cellular responses through global transcriptomic, differential glycoproteomic, and differential phosphoproteomic analyses. We demonstrate that loss of individual GalNAc-T isoforms causes distinct epithelial phenotypes through their effect on specific biological pathways; GalNAc-T1 targets are associated with components of the endomembrane system, GalNAc-T2 targets with cell–ECM adhesion, and GalNAc-T3 targets with epithelial differentiation. Thus, GalNAc-T isoforms serve specific roles during human epithelial tissue formation.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere48885
JournalEMBO Reports
Volume21
Issue number6
Number of pages17
ISSN1469-221X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

    Research areas

  • 3D skin, differential glycoproteomics, polyomics, polypeptide GalNAc-transferase, tissue development

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