Calnexin (CNX) and calreticulin (CRT) are ER-resident lectin-like molecular chaperones involved in the quality control of secretory or membrane glycoproteins. They can exert molecular chaperone functions via specific binding to the early processing intermediates of Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 oligosaccharides of N-glycoproteins. CNX and CRT have similar N-terminal luminal domains and share the same jelly roll tertiary structure as legume lectins. In addition to the lectin-like interactions, CNX and CRT also suppress the aggregation of non-glycosylated substrates through interaction with hydrophobic peptide parts, suggesting a general chaperone function in glycan-dependent and glycan-independent manners. This chapter describes the isolation and purification of CRT produced in a bacterial expression system. We also introduce in vitro assays to estimate the molecular chaperone functions of CRT via the interaction with monoglucosylated N-glycans using Jack bean α-mannosidase as a target substrate. These assays are valuable in assessing quality control events related to the CNX/CRT chaperone cycle and lectin functions.
Keywords: Aggregation; Calnexin; Calreticulin; Chaperone; Endoplasmic reticulum; N-glycan; α-Mannosidase.