J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 261, Issue 16, 7287-7293, Jun, 1986
Regulation of thyroglobulin glycosylation. A comparative study of the thyroglobulins from porcine thyroid glands and follicles in serum-free culture
C Ronin, E Fenouillet, S Hovsepian, G Fayet and B Fournet
Porcine thyroid cells were cultured in serum-free medium and thyrotropin
was or was not added at day 4 and [3H]glucosamine at day 6 for 24 h. The
major glycoprotein secreted outside the follicles proved to be
thyroglobulin by immunoprecipitation, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis,
and amino acid composition. Thyroglobulin glycopeptides were analyzed by
sequential affinity chromatography on immobilized lectins and compared to
chemically labeled carbohydrate chains released from thyroid-derived
thyroglobulin by hydrazinolysis. 82% and 85% of the glucosamine-labeled
oligosaccharides of thyroglobulin from control and stimulated cells,
respectively, were unretained on concanavalin A (ConA)-Sepharose compared
to 46% only for in vivo thyroglobulin. 35-42% and 33-35% of the
ConA-unbound glycopeptides were retarded on erythrophytohemagglutinin and
leukophytohemagglutinin under basal or stimulatory conditions,
respectively, while none of the triantennary structures of in vivo
thyroglobulin was. Moreover, binding to Bandieraea-agarose showed that 20%
of these complex structures contained alpha-linked galactose in
thyroglobulin secreted by control cells, but only 10% in the molecules
derived from thyroid. When analyzed on ricin-agarose after neuraminidase
treatment, the ConA-unbound glycopeptides were retained to an extent of 65%
for those from control cells and 98% for those from stimulated cells.
Furthermore, 15% of desialylated ConA-unbound glycopeptides from cellular
origin were also found to bind to wheat germ agglutinin. Carbohydrate
composition, gel chromatography, and exoglycosidase treatment further
demonstrated that thyroglobulin carbohydrate chains synthesized under
serum-free cell culture were essentially composed of heterogeneous
multiantennary structures instead of usual biantennary and high mannose
type species. Under thyrotropin stimulation, 85% of the carbohydrate chains
of thyroglobulin was shown to be sialylated by high performance liquid
chromatography analysis instead of 65% under basal conditions, suggesting
that thyrotropin may shift terminal glycosylation of thyroglobulin from
alpha-galactose to sialic acid.