N-glycan structures and downstream mannose-phosphorylation of plant recombinant human alpha-l-iduronidase: toward development of enzyme replacement therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis I


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Authors: Pierce, OM; McNair, GR; He, X; Kajiura, H; Fujiyama, K; Kermode, AR
Year: 2017
Journal: Plant Mol.Biol. 95: 593-606   Article Link (DOI)
Title: N-glycan structures and downstream mannose-phosphorylation of plant recombinant human alpha-l-iduronidase: toward development of enzyme replacement therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis I
Abstract: Arabidopsis N-glycan processing mutants provide the basis for tailoring recombinant enzymes for use as replacement therapeutics to treat lysosomal storage diseases, including N-glycan mannose phosphorylation to ensure lysosomal trafficking and efficacy. Functional recombinant human alpha-l-iduronidase (IDUA; EC 3.2.1.76) enzymes were generated in seeds of the Arabidopsis thaliana complex-glycan-deficient (cgl) C5 background, which is deficient in the activity of N-acetylglucosaminyl transferase I, and in seeds of the Arabidopsis gm1 mutant, which lacks Golgi alpha-mannosidase I (GM1) activity. Both strategies effectively prevented N-glycan maturation and the resultant N-glycan structures on the consensus sites for N-glycosylation of the human enzyme revealed high-mannose N-glycans of predominantly Man(5) (cgl-IDUA) or Man(6-8) (gm1-IDUA) structures. Both forms of IDUA were equivalent with respect to their kinetic parameters characterized by cleavage of the artificial substrate 4-methylumbelliferyl-iduronide. Because recombinant lysosomal enzymes produced in plants require the addition of mannose-6-phosphate (M6P) in order to be suitable for lysosomal delivery in human cells, we characterized the two IDUA proteins for their amenability to downstream in vitro mannose phosphorylation mediated by a soluble form of the human phosphotransferase (UDP-GlcNAc: lysosomal enzyme N-acetylglucosamine [GlcNAc]-1-phosphotransferase). Gm1-IDUA exhibited a slight advantage over the cgl-IDUA in the in vitro M6P-tagging process, with respect to having a better affinity (i.e. lower K (m)) for the soluble phosphotransferase. This may be due to the greater number of mannose residues comprising the high-mannose N-glycans of gm1-IDUA. Our elite cgl- line produces IDUA at > 5.7% TSP (total soluble protein); screening of the gm1 lines showed a maximum yield of 1.5% TSP. Overall our findings demonstrate the relative advantages and disadvantages associated with the two platforms to create enzyme replacement therapeutics for lysosomal storage diseases.
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