Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the O-glycosylated 21-residue MUC1 Peptides

The conformational propensities of the 21-residue peptide and its Oglycosylated analogs were studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. This polypeptide motif comprises the tandem repeat of the human mucin (MUC1) protein core that is differently glycosylated in normal and cancer cells. To evaluate the structural effects of O-glycosylation on the polypeptide backbone, conformations of the nonglycosylated peptide and its glycosylated analogs were monitored during the 1 ns MD simulations. Radius gyration for whole peptide and its fragments, as well as root-mean-square-deviation between coordinate sets of the backbone atoms of starting structures and generated structures, were calculated. It was shown that O-glycosylation promotes and stabilizes the extended conformations of the whole peptide and its central PDTRP fragment. O-glycosylation of the specific Thr residues significantly affects the conformational distributions of the flanking Ser residues. It was also shown that Oglycosylation promoted backbone conformations of the immunodominant region PDTRP that were similar to the structural features of the peptides presented by the major histocompatability complex (MHC) to T-cell receptors Keywords: glycoprotein MUC1, glycopeptides, molecular dynamics, conformations

NMR-based Structural Studies of the Glycosylated MUC1 Tandem Repeat Peptide

MUC1 is a glycoprotein that plays an important role in cancer pathogenesis. In order to study the effect of glycosylation on the conformational propensities of the tandem repeat domain of MUC1, we have determined the structure of the MUC1 tandem repeat peptide AHGVTSAPDTRPAPGSTAPP, O-glycosylated with the trisaccharide (α-Glc-1,4-β-Glc-1,4-α-GalNAc-) at Thr5. This glycopeptide was synthesized to model a heavily Oglycosylated threonine residue in the tandem repeat domain. The NMR experiments used in this study included TOCSY, NOESY, ROESY, DQF-COSY, HSQC and 1D NMR. The peak volumes determined using the program SPARKY were converted into distance constraints using the program CALIBA. The programs FiSiNOE and HABAS were used to generate angle constraints. Using conformational restraints obtained from NMR, the program DYANA was used to determine the structures of the peptide. Finally, structural refinement was performed within the SYBYL software package using GLYCAM parameters and Kollman-all atom types. The presence of strong sequential αN connectivities suggested an extended conformation of the peptide backbone. Strong sequential αδ connectivities were indicative of a trans conformation of the Ala-Pro peptide bonds. In addition, presence of sequential NN connectivities in the peptide segments Gly3-Val4-Thr5-Ser6, Asp9-Thr10-Arg11 and Gly-Ser16 were indicative of twist-like conformations of the peptide backbone in these peptide segments

Enhancement of metastatic ability by ectopic expression of ST6GalNAcI on a gastric cancer cell line in a mouse model

ST6GalNAcI is a sialyltransferase responsible for the synthesis of sialyl Tn (sTn) antigen which is expressed in a variety of adenocarcinomas including gastric cancer especially in advanced cases, but the roles of ST6GalNAcI and sTn in cancer progression are largely unknown. We generated sTn-expressing human gastric cancer cells by ectopic expression of ST6GalNAcI to evaluate metastatic ability of these cells and prognostic effect of ST6GalNAcI and sTn in a mouse model, and identified sTn carrier proteins to gain insight into the function of ST6GalNAcI and sTn in gastric cancer progression. A green fluorescent protein-tagged human gastric cancer cell line was transfected with ST6GalNAcI to produce sTn-expressing cells, which were transplanted into nude mice. STn-positive gastric cancer cells showed higher intraperitoneal metastatic ability in comparison with sTn-negative control, resulting in shortened survival time of the mice, which was mitigated by anti-sTn antibody administration. Then, sTn-carrying proteins were immunoprecipitated from culture supernatants and lysates of these cells, and identified MUC1 and CD44 as major sTn carriers. It was confirmed that MUC1 carries sTn also in human advanced gastric cancer tissues. Identification of sTn carrier proteins will help understand mechanisms of metastatic phenotype acquisition of gastric cancer cells by ST6GalNAcI and sTn

www.mdpi.org/ijms/ Molecular Dynamics Simulations of

Abstract: The conformational propensities of the 21-residue peptide and its O-glycosylated analogs were studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. This polypeptide motif comprises the tandem repeat of the human mucin (MUC1) protein core that is differently glycosylated in normal and cancer cells. To evaluate the structural effects of O-glycosylation on the polypeptide backbone, conformations of the nonglycosylated peptide and its glycosylated analogs were monitored during the 1 ns MD simulations. Radius gyration for whole peptide and its fragments, as well as root-meansquare-deviation between coordinate sets of the backbone atoms of starting structures and generated structures, were calculated. It was shown that O-glycosylation promotes and stabilizes the extended conformations of the whole peptide and its central PDTRP fragment. O-glycosylation of the specific Thr residues significantly affects the conformational distributions of the flanking Ser residues. It was also shown that O-glycosylation promoted backbone conformations of the immunodominant region PDTRP that were similar to the structural features of the peptides presented by the major histocompatability complex (MHC) to T-cell receptor

Conformational studies on the MUC1 tandem repeat glycopeptides: implication for the enzymatic O-glycosylation of the mucin protein core

The tandem repeat of the MUC1 protein core is a major site of O-glycosylation that is catalyzed by several polypeptide GalNAc-transferases. To define structural features of the peptide substrates that contribute to acceptor substrate effi-ciency, solution structures of the 21-residue peptide AHGVT-SAPDTRPAPGSTAPPA (AHG21) from the MUC1 protein core and four isoforms, glycosylated with a-N-acetylgalacto-samine on corresponding Thr residues, AHG21 (T5), AHG21 (T10), AHG21 (T17), and AHG21 (T5,T17), were investi-gated by NMR spectroscopy and computational methods. NMR studies revealed that sugar attachment affected the conformational equilibrium of the peptide backbone near the glycosylated Thr residues. The clustering of the low-energy conformations for nonglycosylated and glycosylated counter-parts within the VTSA, DTR, and GSTA fragments (including all sites of potential glycosylation catalyzed by GalNAc-T1,-T2, and-T4 transferases) showed that the glycosylated peptides display distinct structural propensities that may explain, in part, the differences in substrate specifi-cities exhibited by these polypeptide GalNAc-transferases. Key words: glycopeptide/NMR/O-glycosylation/substrate specificit

NMR-based Structural Studies of the Glycosylated MUC1 Tandem Repeat Peptide

Abstract: MUC1 is a glycoprotein that plays an important role in cancer pathogenesis. In order to study the effect of glycosylation on the conformational propensities of the tandem repeat domain of MUC1, we have determined the structure of the MUC1 tandem repeat peptide AHGVTSAPDTRPAPGSTAPP, O-glycosylated with the trisaccharide (α-Glc-1,4β-Glc-1,4-α-GalNAc-) at Thr5. This glycopeptide was synthesized to model a heavily O-glycosylated threonine residue in the tandem repeat domain. The NMR experiments used i