Separation of dolichol monophosphate mannose and dolichol monophosphate glucose by thin-layer chromatography

Stereoselective transbilayer translocation of mannosyl phosphoryl dolichol by an endoplasmic reticulum flippase

Mannose-phosphate-dolichol (MPD) is a multifunctional glycolipid that is synthesized on the cytoplasmic face of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and used on the opposite side of the membrane in the ER lumen as a mannose donor for protein N-glycosylation, glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchoring, and C- and O-mannosylation. For this, it must be translocated, i.e., flipped, across the ER membrane. The molecular identity of the MPD translocator (MPD flippase) is not known. Here we show that MPD-flippase activity can be reconstituted in large unilamellar proteoliposomes prepared from phosphatidylcholine and Triton X-100-solubilized rat liver ER-membrane proteins. Using carboxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl NO(+) as a topological probe to selectively oxidize MPD molecules in the outer leaflet of the reconstituted vesicles, we demonstrate rapid, protein-dependent, ATP-independent transbilayer translocation of MPD from the inner to the outer leaflet. MPD flipping is highly specific. A stereoisomer of MPD was weakly translocated (> 10-fold lower rate) compared with natural MPD. Competition experiments with water-soluble isoprenyl monophosphates showed that MPD flippase recognizes the dolichol chain of MPD, preferring a saturated alpha-isoprene to unsaturated trans- or cis- alpha-isoprene units. Chromatography of the detergent-solubilized ER protein mixture prior to reconstitution indicated that MPD flippase (i) is not a Con A-binding glycoprotein and (ii) can be resolved from the oligosaccharide-diphosphate dolichol flippase that translocates Man(5)GlcNAc(2)-PP-dolichol, a lipid intermediate of N-glycosylation. These data provide a mechanistic framework for understanding MPD flipping, as well as a biochemical basis for identifying MPD flippase.

Dolichol-sugar derivative synthesis in human breast cancer cell line (T47D). Effects of estrogens and antiestrogens

In the present paper we report evidence about the formation of polyprenyl-phosphate monosaccharides, their elongation products and the assembly of dolichyl-diphosphate-oligosaccharide to endogenous T47D clone 11 proteins upon incubation with [14C]glucose. The influence of estradiol and two nonesteroidal antiestrogens -nafoxidine and tamoxifen- was examined on the dolichol pathway in T47D cell cultures. Estradiol (1 nM) does not change the rate of synthesis of dolichyl-phosphate-sugar derivatives in contrast to nafoxidine and tamoxifen both a micromolar concentration, which induce a remarkable decrease in the formation of dolichol-sugar derivatives. In addition, T47D cells were pretreated with nafoxidine or tamoxifen during one hour, fresh medium supplemented with estradiol was added to the cells simultaneously with [14C]glucose. Results indicated that estradiol after nafoxidine induces a slight increase in the polyprenyl-sugar derivatives formation, however, estradiol after tamoxifen decreases the synthesis of these substances.