Efficient routing of glucocerebrosidase to lysosomes requires complex oligosaccharide chain formation

In situ visualization of glucocerebrosidase in human skin tissue: zymography versus activity-based probe labeling

Epidermal β-glucocerebrosidase (GBA1), an acid β-glucosidase normally located in lysosomes, converts (glucosyl)ceramides into ceramides, which is crucial to generate an optimal barrier function of the outermost skin layer, the stratum corneum (SC). Here we report on two developed in situ methods to localize active GBA in human epidermis: i) an optimized zymography method that is less labor intensive and visualizes enzymatic activity with higher resolution than currently reported methods using either substrate 4-methylumbelliferyl-β-D-glucopyranoside or resorufin-β-D-glucopyranoside; and ii) a novel technique to visualize active GBA1 molecules by their specific labeling with a fluorescent activity-based probe (ABP), MDW941. The latter method pro-ved to be more robust and sensitive, provided higher resolution microscopic images, and was less prone to sample preparation effects. Moreover, in contrast to the zymography substrates that react with various β-glucosidases, MDW941 specifically labeled GBA1. We demonstrate that active GBA1 in the epidermis is primarily located in the extracellular lipid matrix at the interface of the viable epidermis and the lower layers of the SC. With ABP-labeling, we observed reduced GBA1 activity in 3D-cultured skin models when supplemented with the reversible inhibitor, isofagomine, irrespective of GBA expression. This inhibition affected the SC ceramide composition: MS analysis revealed an inhibitor-dependent increase in the glucosylceramide:ceramide ratio.

Mechanism-based inhibitors of glycosidases: design and applications

This article covers recent developments in the design and application of activity-based probes (ABPs) for glycosidases, with emphasis on the different enzymes involved in metabolism of glucosylceramide in humans. Described are the various catalytic reaction mechanisms employed by inverting and retaining glycosidases. An understanding of catalysis at the molecular level has stimulated the design of different types of ABPs for glycosidases. Such compounds range from (1) transition-state mimics tagged with reactive moieties, which associate with the target active site—forming covalent bonds in a relatively nonspecific manner in or near the catalytic pocket—to (2) enzyme substrates that exploit the catalytic mechanism of retaining glycosidase targets to release a highly reactive species within the active site of the enzyme, to (3) probes based on mechanism-based, covalent, and irreversible glycosidase inhibitors. Some applications in biochemical and biological research of the activity-based glycosidase probes are discussed, including specific quantitative visualization of active enzyme molecules in vitro and in vivo, and as strategies for unambiguously identifying catalytic residues in glycosidases in vitro.

Action myoclonus-renal failure syndrome: diagnostic applications of activity-based probes and lipid analysis

Lysosomal integral membrane protein-2 (LIMP2) mediates trafficking of glucocerebrosidase (GBA) to lysosomes. Deficiency of LIMP2 causes action myoclonus-renal failure syndrome (AMRF). LIMP2-deficient fibroblasts virtually lack GBA like the cells of patients with Gaucher disease (GD), a lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the GBA gene. While GD is characterized by the presence of glucosylceramide-laden macrophages, AMRF patients do not show these. We studied the fate of GBA in relation to LIMP2 deficiency by employing recently designed activity-based probes labeling active GBA molecules. We demonstrate that GBA is almost absent in lysosomes of AMRF fibroblasts. However, white blood cells contain considerable amounts of residual enzyme. Consequently, AMRF patients do not acquire lipid-laden macrophages and do not show increased plasma levels of macrophage markers, such as chitotriosidase, in contrast to GD patients. We next investigated the consequences of LIMP2 deficiency with respect to plasma glycosphingolipid levels. Plasma glucosylceramide concentration was normal in the AMRF patients investigated as well as in LIMP2-deficient mice. However, a marked increase in the sphingoid base, glucosylsphingosine, was observed in AMRF patients and LIMP2-deficient mice. Our results suggest that combined measurements of chitotriosidase and glucosylsphingosine can be used for convenient differential laboratory diagnosis of GD and AMRF.

Modulation of the CD95-induced apoptosis: the role of CD95 N-glycosylation

Protein modifications of death receptor pathways play a central role in the regulation of apoptosis. It has been demonstrated that O-glycosylation of TRAIL-receptor (R) is essential for sensitivity and resistance towards TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. In this study we ask whether and how glycosylation of CD95 (Fas/APO-1), another death receptor, influences DISC formation and procaspase-8 activation at the CD95 DISC and thereby the onset of apoptosis. We concentrated on N-glycostructure since O-glycosylation of CD95 was not found. We applied different approaches to analyze the role of CD95 N-glycosylation on the signal transduction: in silico modeling of CD95 DISC, generation of CD95 glycosylation mutants (at N136 and N118), modulation of N-glycosylation by deoxymannojirimycin (DMM) and sialidase from Vibrio cholerae (VCN). We demonstrate that N-deglycosylation of CD95 does not block DISC formation and results only in the reduction of the procaspase-8 activation at the DISC. These findings are important for the better understanding of CD95 apoptosis regulation and reveal differences between apoptotic signaling pathways of the TRAIL and CD95 systems.

N-Azidoacetylmannosamine-mediated chemical tagging of gangliosides

Peracetylated N-alpha-azidoacetylmannosamine (Ac(4)ManNAz) is metabolized by cells to CMP-azidosialic acid. It has been demonstrated previously that in this way azidosialic acid-containing glycoproteins are formed that can be labeled on the cell surface by a modified Staudinger ligation. Here, we first demonstrate that the same procedure also results in the formation of azidosialic acid-containing gangliosides. Deoxymannojirimycin, an inhibitor of N-glycan processing in proteins, decreases the total cell surface labeling in Jurkat cells by approximately 25%. Inhibition of ganglioside biosynthesis with N-[5-(adamantan-1-yl-methoxy)-pentyl]1-deoxynojirimycin reduces cell surface labeling by approximately 75%. In conclusion, exposure of cells to Ac(4)ManNAz allows in vivo chemical tagging of gangliosides.

[Morbus gaucher--a report of two cases]

BACKGROUND

[corrected] Clinical features of inherited glucocerebrosidase deficiency were first described by Phillippe Charles Ernest Gaucher, French physician (1854-1918). Deficiency of glucocerebrosidase leads to the accumulation of the lipid glucocerebroside within the lysosomes of the monocyte macrophage system. Lipid-laden cells, known as Gaucher cells, lead to hepatosplenomegaly, multiorgan dysfunction and sceletal deterioration.

CASE REPORT

We reported a 36-year-old male and a 42-year-old female admitted for the clinical examination due to hepatosplenomegaly. The Clinical diagnosis was provided by a bone marrow examination and demonstration of the characteristic Gaucher cells. Both of the patients had type I Gaucher's disease (a mild form of the disease), wich is distiguished by the lack of central nervous system involvement and striking phenotypic variation. We had not a possibility of testing beta-glucocerebrosidase activity in peripheral leukocytes (a definitive diagnosis of Gaucher's disease). Also, enzyme replacement therapy had not been available in our country.

CONCLUSION

Althoungh rare, Gaucher's disease is also present in our country. Both molecular genetic, and the enzyme beta-glucocerebrosidase activity testing in peripheral leukocytes are needed for the definitive diagnosis of this disease.

Human glucocerebrosidase: heterologous expression of active site mutants in murine null cells

Using bioinformatics methods, we have previously identified Glu235 and Glu340 as the putative acid/base catalyst and nucleophile, respectively, in the active site of human glucocerebrosidase. Thus, we undertook site-directed mutagenesis studies to obtain experimental evidence supporting these predictions. Recombinant retroviruses were used to express wild-type and E235A and E340A mutant proteins in glucocerebrosidase-deficient murine cells. In contrast to wild-type enzyme, the mutants were found to be catalytically inactive. We also report the results of various studies (Western blotting, glycosylation analysis, subcellular fractionation, and confocal microscopy) indicating that the wild-type and mutant enzymes are identically processed and sorted to the lysosomes. Thus, enzymatic inactivity of the mutant proteins is not the result of incorrect folding/processing. These findings indicate that Glu235 plays a key role in the catalytic machinery of human glucocerebrosidase and may indeed be the acid/base catalyst. As concerns Glu340, the results both support our computer-based predictions and confirm, at the biological level, previous identification of Glu340 as the nucleophile by use of active site labeling techniques. Finally, our findings may help to better understand the molecular basis of Gaucher disease, the human lysosomal disease resulting from deficiency in glucocerebrosidase.

Lysosomal phospholipase activity is decreased in mucolipidosis II and III fibroblasts

Mucolipidosis (ML) II and III are rare autosomal recessively inherited diseases characterized by deficiency of multiple lysosomal enzymes and, as a result, a generalized storage of macromolecules in lysosomes of cells of mesenchymal origin. In ML II and ML III fibroblasts, most, but not all, newly synthesized lysosomal enzymes are secreted into the medium instead of being targeted correctly to lysosomes. Defects in the enzyme UDP-N-acetylglucosamine:lysosomal enzyme N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphotransferase underlie this effect. It is unknown how lysosomal phospholipases are targeted to the lysosomes of fibroblasts. In the present study lysosomal phospholipase activity was determined in delipidated fibroblast homogenates and plasma from ML II and ML III patients and controls using a [3H]choline-labeled phosphatidylcholine. After incubation, residual phosphatidylcholine and its labeled degradation products (lysophosphatidylcholine, glycerophosphorylcholine and choline phosphate) were quantified. We found that ML II and ML III fibroblasts are deficient in lysosomal phospholipase A and C activity. These enzymes were present in elevated amounts in plasma of ML II and ML III patients. These data indicate that phospholipases, like most other lysosomal enzymes in these diseases, are secreted into the blood instead of being targeted specifically to lysosomes. Thus, the mannose-6-phosphate receptor pathway is needed for proper delivery of lysosomal phospholipases to lysosomes. We also found that production of labeled choline phosphate was mainly due to the activity of acid sphingomyelinase instead of phospholipase C under the assay conditions used. Other active lipolytic enzymes were phospholipase A and lysophospholipase. No evidence for phospholipase D activity was found.

Clinical phenotype of Gaucher disease in relation to properties of mutant glucocerebrosidase in cultured fibroblasts

We have investigated several parameters of glucocerebrosidase in cultured skin fibroblasts from patients with various clinical phenotypes of Gaucher disease. In this study no strict correlation was found between the clinical manifestations of Gaucher disease and the parameters investigated in fibroblasts. These parameters included the specific activity of the enzyme in extracts towards natural lipid and artificial substrate in the presence of different activators; the enzymic activity per unit of glucocerebrosidase protein; the rate of synthesis of the enzyme and its stability; and the post-translational processing of the enzyme. In addition, the activity in situ of glucocerebrosidase in fibroblasts was investigated using a novel method by analysis of the catabolism of NBD-glucosylceramide in cells that were loaded with bovine serum albumin-lipid complexes. Again, no complete correlation with the clinical phenotype of patients was detectable. Glucocerebrosidase in fibroblasts from most non-neuronopathic (type 1) Gaucher disease patients differs in some aspects from enzyme in cells from patients with neurological forms (types 2 and 3). The stimulation by activator protein and phospholipid is clearly more pronounced in type 1 than in types 2 and 3; the enzymic activity per unit of glucocerebrosidase protein in type 1 is severely reduced in the presence of taurocholate and the amount of glucocerebrosidase appears (near) normal in contrast to the situation in types 2 and 3 Gaucher fibroblasts. However, this distinction was not always consistent; glucocerebrosidase in fibroblasts from some type 1 Gaucher patients, particularly some South African cases, was comparable in properties to enzyme in type 2 and 3 patients.

Function of oligosaccharide modification in glucocerebrosidase, a membrane-associated lysosomal hydrolase

The nature and function of oligosaccharide modification in glucocerebrosidase, a membrane-associated lysosomal hydrolase, have been investigated in cultured human skin fibroblasts. Glucocerebrosidase is synthesised as a 62.5-kDa precursor with high-mannose-type oligosaccharide chains and an apparent native isoelectric point of 6.0-7.0. Subsequent processing of the oligosaccharide moieties to sialylated complex-type structures results in formation of 65-68-kDa forms of the enzyme with apparent native isoelectric points of 4.3-5.0. These forms are transported to lysosomes and subsequently modified by the sequential action of lysosomal exoglycosidases, finally resulting in a 59-kDa form with an isoelectric point near neutrality. The existence of oligosaccharide modification of the enzyme in the lysosomes is illustrated by the accumulation of different intermediate forms of glucocerebrosidase in mutant cell lines deficient in lysosomal exoglycosidases. The enzyme does not undergo proteolytic modification during maturation. The possible physiological relevance of the oligosaccharide modification of glucocerebrosidase in the lysosomes was investigated by studying the properties of the enzyme in fibroblasts deficient in lysosomal exoglycosidases, and also the properties of homogeneous pure glucocerebrosidase from placenta, modified in the oligosaccharide moieties by digestion in vitro with glycosidases. Modification of the oligosaccharide moieties of glucocerebrosidase had no significant effect on the catalytic activity of the enzyme as measured with either artificial or natural substrates in the presence of artificial or natural activators. There was also no effect of modification of the oligosaccharide chains on the intracellular stability of the enzyme or on its apparent hydrophobicity. We conclude that oligosaccharide modification of glucocerebrosidase in the lysosomes simply reflects further maturation of the enzyme in the lysosome and is of no importance to its function.

The biochemical diagnosis of lysosomal storage diseases--a review of five years experience

The inherited lysosomal storage diseases are a distinct group of inborn errors of metabolism characterised by deficiencies in specific lysosomal enzymes. As many as 40 such disorders have now been described in man. We have measured the activities of up to 16 lysosomal acid hydrolases in plasma and/or extracts of leucocytes and cultured skin fibroblasts from 198 patients referred from throughout Ireland. These 16 assays allowed the biochemical diagnosis of 20 lysosomal storage diseases. Activities were compared with reference ranges to determine homozygotes and heterozygotes. Of the 44 patients with positive results, 15 were diagnosed as being homozygous for a specific lysosomal enzyme deficiency, 4 were identified as having multiple enzyme deficiencies (mucolipidosis Type II/I-cell disease) and 25 had heterozygote (carrier) enzyme levels. Of the latter, 24 were either parents (obligate heterozygotes) or siblings of homozygotes and one was a heterozygote for the X-linked recessively inherited Fabry's disease.

Effect of glycosylation inhibitors and acidotropic amines on the synthesis, processing, and intracellular-extracellular distribution of alpha-L-fucosidase in B-lymphoblastoid cells

N-Methyldeoxynojirimycin, 1-deoxymannojirimycin, and monensin interferred with normal processing of asparagine-linked oligosaccharide chains of alpha-L-fucosidase in lymphoid cells by blocking conversion of high-mannose oligosaccharides of newly made precursor enzyme to complex oligosaccharides of mature intracellular and extracellular forms of enzyme. These compounds did not substantially alter the distribution of newly made alpha-L-fucosidase between intracellular and extracellular compartments. Thus, sorting of newly made alpha-L-fucosidase molecules that are retained intracellularly from molecules that are eventually secreted does not require terminal glycosylation or the trimming of glucose or alpha-D-(1----2)-linked mannose residues from carbohydrate chains. Chloroquine and ammonium chloride had no substantial effect on the structural processing or on the intracellular-extracellular distribution of alpha-L-fucosidase in lymphoid cells. In other cell types, these weak bases caused a massive secretion and an intracellular deficiency of acid hydrolases. The different responses to weak bases in lymphoid cells and the other cell types can be explained either by an inability of these agents to neutralize the pH of intracellular organelles in lymphoid cells or by a routing mechanism in lymphoid cells that is independent of pH.

Acid beta-glucosidase: enzymology and molecular biology of Gaucher disease

Human lysosomal beta-glucosidase (D-glucosyl-acylsphingosine glucohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.45) is a membrane-associated enzyme that cleaves the beta-glucosidic linkage of glucosylceramide (glucocerebroside), its natural substrate, as well as synthetic beta-glucosides. Experiments with cultured cells suggest that in vivo this glycoprotein requires interaction with negatively charged lipids and a small acidic protein, SAP-2, for optimal glucosylceramide hydrolytic rates. In vitro, detergents (Triton X-100 or bile acids) or negatively charged ganglioside or phospholipids and one of several "activator proteins" increase hydrolytic rate of lipid and water-soluble substrates. Using such in vitro assay systems and active site-directed covalent inhibitors, kinetic and structural properties of the active site have been elucidated. The defective activity of this enzyme leads to the variants of Gaucher disease, the most prevalent lysosomal storage disease. The nonneuronopathic (type 1) and neuronopathic (types 2 and 3) variants of this inherited (autosomal recessive) disease but panethnic, but type 1 is most prevalent in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. Several missense mutations, identified in the structural gene for lysosomal beta-glucosidase from Gaucher disease patients, are presumably casual to the specifically altered posttranslational oligosaccharide processing or stability of the enzyme as well as the altered in vitro kinetic properties of the residual enzyme from patient tissues.

Impaired lysosomes in a temperature-sensitive mutant of Chinese hamster ovary cells

We describe here the properties of a mutant of Chinese hamster ovary cells that expresses a conditional-lethal mutation affecting dense lysosomes. This mutant, termed V.24.1, is a member of the End4 complementation group of temperature-sensitive mutants selected for resistance to protein toxins (Colbaugh, P. A., C.-Y. Kao, S.-P. Shia, M. Stookey, and R. K. Draper. 1988. Somatic Cell Mol. Genet. 14:499-507). Vesicles present in postnuclear supernatants prepared from V.24.1 cells harvested at the restrictive temperature had a 50% reduction in acidification activity, assessed by the ATP-stimulated accumulation of the dye acridine orange in acidic vesicles. To investigate whether specific populations of vesicles were impaired in acidification, we measured acidification activity in three subcellular fractions prepared from Percoll gradients: one containing endosomal and Golgi markers, one containing buoyant lysosomes, and the third containing dense lysosomes. Activity in dense lysosomes was reduced by 90%, activity in the buoyant lysosome fraction was unaffected, and activity in the endosome-Golgi fraction was mildly reduced. The activity of three lysosomal enzymes--beta-hexosaminidase, beta-galactosidase, and beta-glucocerebrosidase--was also reduced in dense lysosomes but nearly normal in the buoyant lysosome fraction. However, beta-hexosaminidase and beta-glucocerebrosidase activity was increased two- to threefold in the endosome-Golgi fraction. We conclude that the lesion selectively impairs dense lysosomes but has little effect on properties of buoyant lysosomes.

Targeting of lysosomal acid phosphatase with altered carbohydrate

Human lysosomal acid phosphatase is transported as a transmembrane protein to lysosomes, where it is converted into a soluble protein by a limited proteolysis (Waheed et al., 1988, EMBO J. 7, 2351-2358). Transport of human lysosomal acid phosphatase in heterologous BHK-21 cells was examined under conditions that impair mannose-6-phosphate receptor-dependent transport, N-glycosylation or processing of N-linked oligosaccharides. Targeting of lysosomal acid phosphatase to lysosomes was neither affected by antibodies blocking the mannose-6-phosphate/IGF II receptor, nor by NH4Cl, which inhibited the mannose-6-phosphate receptor-dependent targeting of soluble lysosomal enzymes. 1-Deoxynojirimycin, 1-deoxymannojirimycin and swainsonine inhibited processing of N-linked oligosaccharides in lysosomal acid phosphatase without significantly affecting its transport. Tunicamycin inhibited N-glycosylation of lysosomal acid phosphatase. The non-glycosylated lysosomal acid phosphatase polypeptides accumulated within light membranes and were not transported to dense lysosomes. These results indicate that transport of lysosomal acid phosphatase is independent of mannose-6-phosphate receptors, does not involve an acid pH-dependent step and does not require processing of N-linked oligosaccharides. N-glycosylation appears to be necessary to achieve a transport competent form of lysosomal acid phosphatase.

Glucocerebrosidase, a lysosomal enzyme that does not undergo oligosaccharide phosphorylation

Labelling of cultured human skin fibroblasts from either control subjects or patients with mucolipidosis II (I-cell disease) with [32P]phosphate resulted in tight association of phosphate with immunoprecipitated glucocerebrosidase, a membrane-associated lysosomal enzyme. Endoglycosidase F digestion of the immunoprecipitated glucocerebrosidase did not release labelled phosphate, suggesting that the phosphate was not associated with the oligosaccharide moiety of this glycoprotein. Purification of the enzyme from cells labelled with [32P]phosphate and [35S]methionine by an immunoaffinity chromatography procedure, which included a washing step with detergent, resulted in complete separation of the phosphate label from the peak of glucocerebrosidase activity and methionine labelling. We conclude that oligosaccharide phosphorylation, which is essential for transport of soluble lysosomal enzymes to the lysosomes in fibroblasts, does not occur in glucocerebrosidase.

Glycosylation and processing of high levels of active human glucocerebrosidase in invertebrate cells using a baculovirus expression vector

A human cDNA containing the complete coding region for the lysosomal glycoprotein glucocerebrosidase (EC 3.2.1.45) was introduced into the genome of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus downstream from the polyhedrin promoter. Infection of Spodoptera frugiperda cells (SF9) with recombinant virus produced high levels of glucocerebrosidase, 40% of which was in the culture medium. The amino-terminal amino acid sequence of the recombinantly produced enzyme was identical to that of mature, human placental glucocerebrosidase, demonstrating that the signal sequence of the human preenzyme was recognized and appropriately removed in the SF9 invertebrate cells. The glucocerebrosidase in both the culture supernatant and SF9 cell pellet was glycosylated and contained, in part, high mannose oligosaccharide. These results demonstrate that insect cells can be used to produce abundant quantities of active mature human glucocerebrosidase that contains high mannose oligosaccharide as a consequence of post-translational processing.

Inborn errors of cellular organelles: an overview

Metabolic processes in the cell are catalysed by enzymes and enzyme systems present in discrete intracellular compartments consisting of the cytosol and various intracellular organelles. Three well defined groups of genetic diseases in man can now be recognized in which the functions of an intracellular organelle are impaired: lysosomal storage diseases, mitochondrial disorders and peroxisomal diseases. Extensive studies carried out during the last decade on the biogenesis of intracellular organelles have contributed to an understanding of the molecular basis of the lesions leading to these three groups of genetic disorders. The results of the studies have stressed that such lesions can arise not only through mutations in the structural genes for the proteins in an organelle but also through mutations in the genes coding for components required for the specific transport and incorporation of proteins into organelles.