A novel ER α-mannosidase-like protein accelerates ER-associated degradation

The quality control mechanism in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) discriminates correctly folded proteins from misfolded polypeptides and determines their fate. Terminally misfolded proteins are retrotranslocated from the ER and degraded by cytoplasmic proteasomes, a mechanism known as ER-associated degradation (ERAD). We report the cDNA cloning of Edem, a mouse gene encoding a putative type II ER transmembrane protein. Expression of Edem mRNA was induced by various types of ER stress. Although the luminal region of ER degradation enhancing α-mannosidase-like protein (EDEM) is similar to class I α1,2-mannosidases involved in N-glycan processing, EDEM did not have enzymatic activity. Overexpression of EDEM in human embryonic kidney 293 cells accelerated the degradation of misfolded α1-antitrypsin, and EDEM bound to this misfolded glycoprotein. The results suggest that EDEM is directly involved in ERAD, and targets misfolded glycoproteins for degradation in an N-glycan dependent manner

Organizational Diversity among Distinct Glycoprotein Endoplasmic Reticulum-associated Degradation Programs

Protein folding and quality control in the early secretory pathway function as posttranslational checkpoints in eukaryote gene expression. Herein, an aberrant form of the hepatic secretory protein α1-antitrypsin was stably expressed in a human embryonic kidney cell line to elucidate the mechanisms by which glycoprotein endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (GERAD) is administered in cells from higher eukaryotes. After biosynthesis, genetic variant PI Z underwent alternative phases of secretion and degradation, the latter of which was mediated by the proteasome. Degradation required release from calnexin- and asparagine-linked oligosaccharide modification by endoplasmic reticulum mannosidase I, the latter of which occurred as PI Z was bound to the molecular chaperone grp78/BiP. That a distinct GERAD program operates in human embryonic kidney cells was supported by the extent of PI Z secretion, apparent lack of polymerization, inability of calnexin to participate in the degradation process, and sequestration of the glycoprotein folding sensor UDP-glucose:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase in the Golgi complex. Because UDP-glucose:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase sustains calnexin binding, its altered distribution is consistent with a GERAD program that hinders the reentry of substrates into the calnexin cycle, allowing grp78/BiP to partner with a lectin, other than calnexin, in the recognition of a two-component GERAD signal to facilitate substrate recruitment. How the processing of a mutant protein, rather than the mutation itself, can contribute to disease pathogenesis, is discussed