A research group led by Professor Yasuhiko Kizuka of the Institute for Glycobiology Core Research (iGCORE) has discovered that two similar glycosyltransferases involved in diabetes and other diseases, GnT GnT-IVa and GnT-IVb are enzymes that create branching structures on glycans on proteins and have been thought to have almost the same function, but this research has revealed that these two enzymes create glycans on different proteins. However, this research has revealed that these two enzymes make glycans on different proteins.
Until now, the mechanism for selecting proteins to attach glycans has been largely unknown for many glycosyltransferases. This research is expected to provide important insights into the mechanism by which complex glycans are made on various proteins, as well as to help elucidate the pathophysiology of diabetes and other diseases and develop therapeutic methods.
The research results were published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry on August 18, 2022.
Title: Examination of differential glycoprotein preferences of N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-IV isozymes a and b
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