JBC, Vol. 270, Issue 19, 11267-11275, May, 1995
Biosynthesis of heparin/heparan sulfate. The D-glucosaminyl 3-O- sulfotransferase reaction: target and inhibitor saccharides
N Razi and U Lindahl
Department of Medical and Physiological Chemistry, University of Uppsala, Sweden.
O-Sulfation at C-3 of N-sulfated GlcN units concludes polymer modification
and the formation of antithrombin binding regions in the biosynthesis of
heparin/heparan sulfate. The resulting GlcNSO3(3-OSO3) units are largely
restricted to heparin chains with high affinity for antithrombin (HA
heparin). Low affinity (LA) heparin fails to serve as a substrate in the
3-O-sulfotransferase reaction yet contains potential 3-O-sulfate acceptor
sites (Kusche, M., Torri, G., Casu, B., and Lindahl, U. (1990) J. Biol.
Chem. 265, 7292-7300), as verified in the present study using a novel
sequencing procedure. O-Desulfated, re-N- sulfated LA heparin, as well as
an octasaccharide fraction isolated after heparinase I digestion of LA
heparin, both yielded labeled HA components following incubation with
solubilized mouse mastocytoma microsomal enzymes and [35S]adenosine
3'-phosphate 5'phosphosulfate (PAPS), suggesting that the
3-O-sulfo-transferase may be inhibited by sulfated saccharide sequences
outside the 3-O-sulfate acceptor region. Indeed, the addition of LA heparin
precluded enzymatic 3-O-sulfation of a synthetic pentasaccharide substrate.
The Km for the pentasaccharide was determined to approximately be 6 microM.
Incubations of mixed pentasaccharide substrate and saccharide inhibitors
revealed Ki values for intact LA heparin and for a heparin octasaccharide
fraction of approximately 1.3 and approximately 0.7 microM, respectively.
Inhibition experiments with selectively desulfated heparin indicated that
both IdoA 2-O-sulfate and GlcN 6-O-sulfate groups contributed to the
inhibition of the 3-O-sulfotransferase. By contrast, chondroitin sulfate or
dermatan sulfate showed no significant inhibitory activity. It is proposed
that the regulation of GlcN 3-O-sulfation during biosynthesis of
heparin/heparan sulfate depends on the topological organization of the
membrane-bound enzyme machinery in the intact cell.