Abstract

Biglycan and decorin have been overexpressed in eukaryotic cells and two major glycoforms isolated under native conditions: a proteoglycan substituted with glycosaminoglycan chains; and a core protein form secreted devoid of glycosaminoglycans (Hocking, A. M., Strugnell, R. A., Ramamurthy, P., and McQuillan, D. J. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 19571-19577; Ramamurthy, P., Hocking, A. M., and McQuillan, D. J. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 19578-19584). Far-UV CD spectroscopy of decorin and biglycan proteoglycans indicates that, although they are predominantly beta-sheet, biglycan has a significantly higher content of alpha-helical structure. Decorin proteoglycan and core protein are very similar, whereas the biglycan core protein exhibits closer similarity to the decorin glycoforms than to the biglycan proteoglycan form. However, enzymatic removal of the chondroitin sulfate chains from biglycan proteoglycan does not induce a shift to the core protein structure, suggesting that the final form is influenced by polysaccharide addition only during biosynthesis. Fluorescence emission spectroscopy demonstrated that the single tryptophan residue, which is at a conserved position at the C-terminal domain of both biglycan and decorin, is found in similar microenvironments. This indicates that in this specific domain the different glycoforms do exhibit apparent conservation of structure. Exposure of decorin and biglycan to 10 M urea resulted in an increase in fluorescent intensity, which indicates that the emission from tryptophan in the native state is quenched. Comparison of urea-induced protein unfolding curves provide further evidence that decorin and biglycan assume different structures in solution. Decorin proteoglycan and core protein unfold in a manner similar to a classic two-state model, in which there is a steep transition to an unfolded state between 1 and 2 M urea. The biglycan core protein also shows a similar steep transition. However, biglycan proteoglycan shows a broad unfolding transition between 1 and 6 M urea, probably indicating the presence of stable unfolding intermediates.

Highlights

  • Biglycan and decorin have been overexpressed in eukaryotic cells and two major glycoforms isolated under native conditions: a proteoglycan substituted with glycosaminoglycan chains; and a core protein form secreted devoid of glycosaminoglycans

  • Enzymatic removal of the chondroitin sulfate chains from biglycan proteoglycan does not induce a shift to the core protein structure, suggesting that the final form is influenced by polysaccharide addition only during biosynthesis

  • Fluorescence emission spectroscopy demonstrated that the single tryptophan residue, which is at a conserved position at the C-terminal domain of both biglycan and decorin, is found in similar microenvironments

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Summary

Introduction

Biglycan and decorin have been overexpressed in eukaryotic cells and two major glycoforms isolated under native conditions: a proteoglycan substituted with glycosaminoglycan chains; and a core protein form secreted devoid of glycosaminoglycans Comparison of urea-induced protein unfolding curves provide further evidence that decorin and biglycan assume different structures in solution. Our data indicate that recombinant human decorin and biglycan have different secondary structures in solution and marked differences in conformational stability, as assessed by circular dichroism and fluorescent spectroscopy.

Results
Conclusion

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