Diabetes, Vol 43, Issue 2 240-246, Copyright © 1994 by American Diabetes Association
Mutational analysis of the NH2-terminal glycosylation sites of the insulin receptor alpha-subunit
LH Caro, A Ohali, P Gorden and E Collier
Diabetes Branch, National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
The insulin receptor is synthesized as a single chain of 190 kiloDaltons,
which is processed to disulfide-linked mature alpha- and beta- subunits,
containing N- and O-linked oligosaccharides and fatty acids. Previously
(Collier E, Carpentier J-L, Beitz L, Caro LHP, Taylor SI, Gorden P:
Biochemistry 32:7818-23, 1993), site directed mutagenesis of the asparagine
in the first four sites of N-linked glycosylation to glutamine resulted in
a receptor that was retained in the endoplasmic reticulum and not processed
past the proreceptor form. In this study, mutation of these sites
individually and in various combinations is studied. Mutation in the first
or second glycosylation site does not significantly impair processing of
the receptor; the receptor is found on the cell surface and binds insulin
normally. If both the first and second sites are mutated, a significant
reduction occurs in the amount of receptor found on the cell surface and in
insulin binding. There is some processing of the receptor in cells
expressing this mutant compared with the four-part mutant. If only the
third and fourth sites are mutated, processing is impaired less than in the
mutant with the first and second sites mutated. However, the amount of
receptor found on the cell surface is less than in the mutant of only the
first or only the second site. In all of these glycosylation mutants, the
amount of receptor on the cell surface correlates with the level of
125I-labeled insulin binding on the cell surface.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250
WORDS)