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Title: Effects of inhibiting oligosaccharide trimming by 1-deoxynojirimycin on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

Journal Article · · J. Biol. Chem.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6934240

The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor has a subunit stoichiometry of ..cap alpha.. /sub 2/..beta gamma..delta; all 5 subunits contain N-linked oligosaccharides. The authors investigated what role trimming of the oligosaccharides played in the post-translational processing of the subunits and assembly of the receptor by examining the receptor synthesized in the presence of an inhibitor of oligosaccharide trimming, 1-deoxynojirimycin. BC3H-1 cells express one-third fewer receptors when grown in the presence of 1-deoxynojirimycin. The receptor subunits that are expressed have decreased mobility by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, indicating an inhibition of oligosaccharide trimming. In control cells, 40% of the translated ..cap alpha.. subunit acquires the capacity to bind ..cap alpha..-bungarotoxin with a half-time of 40 min before assembly with the other subunits; the rest is rapidly degraded. In 1-deoxynojirimycin-treated cells approximately the same amount of ..cap alpha.. subunit is translated as in control cells, but that ..cap alpha.. subunit is degraded more rapidly, and only 25% acquires the capacity to bind ..cap alpha..-bungarotoxin. From these results, they conclude that oligosaccharide processing either may aid in protecting the ..cap alpha.. subunit primary translation product from degradation or may be required for the conformational change or other post-translational modifications(s) necessary for formation of the ..cap alpha..-bungarotoxin binding form of the ..cap alpha.. subunit, which is then protected from proteolytic degradation. The cell surface receptor that is expressed in the presence of 1-deoxynojirimycin, however, is not altered in its affinity for cholinergic ligands. Thus, they conclude that differential N-linked oligosaccharide trimming of the 2 ..cap alpha.. subunits does not appear to play a part in the differences in affinities of the 2 ..cap alpha.. subunits for cholinergic ligands.

Research Organization:
Washington Univ. School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
OSTI ID:
6934240
Journal Information:
J. Biol. Chem.; (United States), Vol. 261:31
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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