Functional analysis of the Ser149/Thr149 variants of human aspartylglucosaminidase and optimization of the coding sequence for protein production

Antje Banning, Jan F. König, Steven J. Gray, Ritva Tikkanen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aspartylglucosaminidase (AGA) is a lysosomal hydrolase that participates in the breakdown of glycoproteins. Defects in the AGA gene result in a lysosomal storage disorder, aspartylglucosaminuria (AGU), that manifests mainly as progressive mental retardation. A number of AGU missense mutations have been identified that result in reduced AGA activity. Human variants that contain either Ser or Thr in position 149 have been described, but it is unknown if this affects AGA processing or activity. Here, we have directly compared the Ser149/Thr149 variants of AGA and show that they do not differ in terms of relative specific activity or processing. Therefore, Thr149 AGA, which is the rare variant, can be considered as a neutral or benign variant. Furthermore, we have here produced codon-optimized versions of these two variants and show that they are expressed at significantly higher levels than AGA with the natural codon-usage. Since optimal AGA expression is of vital importance for both gene therapy and enzyme replacement, our data suggest that use of codon-optimized AGA may be beneficial for these therapy options.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number706
JournalInternational journal of molecular sciences
Volume18
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2017

Keywords

  • Aspartylglucosaminidase
  • Aspartylglucosaminuria
  • Gene therapy
  • Lysosomal storage disorder
  • Lysosomes
  • Single nucleotide polymorphism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Catalysis
  • Molecular Biology
  • Spectroscopy
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry

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