Recognition of glycan and protein substrates by N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-V

N-Glycosylation is crucial for protein folding, trafficking, and functions. N-Glycans have a different number of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) branches in a protein-selective manner, and the β1,6-linked GlcNAc branch on specific proteins produced by N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-V (GnT-V or MGAT5) promotes cancer malignancy. However, little is known about how GnT-V acts on specific target proteins. Based on our structural model, we hypothesized that GnT-V interacts with the N-glycan core or polypeptide moiety as well as the accepter site of N-glycan. To explore this possibility, we selected four candidate residues involved in the interaction with the glycan core or surrounding amino acids, created point mutants of these residues, and examined the in vitro and in vivo activities of the mutants. Our in vitro enzyme assays using various types of substrates including oligosaccharides and glycoproteins revealed that the V354N mutant had dramatically reduced activity for all tested substrates with an altered substrate preference and that K361A had reduced activity for an oligosaccharide with asparagine (Asn), but not a shorter oligosaccharide without the reducing end of GlcNAc and Asn. These results suggest that V354 and K361 are involved in the recognition of N-glycan core and surrounding amino acids. We further performed rescue experiments using GnT-V knockout HeLa cells and confirmed the importance of these residues for modifications of glycoproteins in cells. We identified several residues involved in the action of GnT-V toward N-glycan cores and surrounding amino acids. Our data provide new insights into how GnT-V recognizes glycoproteins. •GnT-V is a glycosyltransferase that makes a GlcNAc branch in N-glycans.•The mechanism of the protein-selective action of GnT-V has not been elucidated.•Mutation of the residues outside the catalytic pocket altered the substrate preference.•GnT-V likely recognizes N-glycan core and/or surrounding amino acids.