Overexpression of heparan sulfate 6-O-sulfotransferases in human embryonic kidney 293 cells results in increased N-acetylglucosaminyl 6-O-sulfation

J Biol Chem. 2006 Mar 3;281(9):5348-56. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M509584200. Epub 2005 Dec 2.

Abstract

Heparan sulfate (HS) interacts with a variety of proteins and thus mediates numerous complex biological processes. These interactions critically depend on the patterns of O-sulfate groups within the HS chains that determine binding sites for proteins. In particular the distribution of 6-O-sulfated glucosamine residues influences binding and activity of HS-dependent signaling molecules. The protein binding domains of HS show large structural variability, potentially because of differential expression patterns of HS biosynthetic enzymes along with differences in substrate specificity. To investigate whether different isoforms of HS glucosaminyl 6-O-sulfotransferase (6-OST) give rise to differently sulfated domains, we have introduced mouse 6-OST1, 6-OST2, and 6-OST3 in human embryonic kidney 293 cells and compared the effects of overexpression on HS structure. High expression of any one of the 6-OST enzymes resulted in appreciably increased 6-O-sulfation of N-sulfated as well as N-acetylated glucosamine units. The increased 6-O-sulfation was accompanied by a decrease in nonsulfated as well as in iduronic acid 2-O-sulfated disaccharide structures. Furthermore, overexpression led to an altered HS domain structure, the most striking effect was the formation of extended 6-O-sulfated predominantly N-acetylated HS domains. Although the effect was most noticeable in 6-OST3-expressing cells, these results were largely independent of the particular 6-OST isoform expressed and mainly influenced by the level of overexpression.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylglucosamine / chemistry
  • Acetylglucosamine / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Carbohydrate Sequence
  • Cell Line
  • Disaccharides / chemistry
  • Disaccharides / metabolism
  • Heparitin Sulfate / chemistry
  • Heparitin Sulfate / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Isoenzymes / genetics
  • Isoenzymes / metabolism*
  • Mice
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Sulfotransferases / genetics
  • Sulfotransferases / metabolism*
  • Sulfur Radioisotopes / metabolism

Substances

  • Disaccharides
  • Isoenzymes
  • Sulfur Radioisotopes
  • Heparitin Sulfate
  • Hs6st1 protein, mouse
  • Hs6st2 protein, mouse
  • Hs6st3 protein, mouse
  • Sulfotransferases
  • Acetylglucosamine