Mucolipidosis III β-N-acetyl-d-hexosaminidase A. Purification and properties
Mucolipidosis III acid hydrolases possess an altered carbohydrate recognition marker needed for their lysosomal localization. As a result of this alteration, a portion of these enzymes is secreted from the cell to the extracellular spaces. The structural changes that may have occurred to one of these secreted enzymes, β-N-acetyl-d-hexosaminidase A (EC 3.2.1.52) were investigated. Normal and mucolipidosis III urinary β-N-acetyl-d-hexosaminidase A were purified to apparent homogeneity by using affinity [Sepharose-2-acetamido-N-(ε-aminocaproyl)-2-deoxy-β- d-glucopyranosylamine] and ion-exchange (DEAE- and CM-cellulose) chromatography. Sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-slab-gel electrophoresis showed that both enzymes had similar subunit patterns consisting of apparent mol.wts. of 68000, 60000–58000, 55000 and 29000. Differences, however, were noted in the relative proportions of the protein bands where the normal urinary β-N-acetyl-d-hexosaminidase A contained predominantly the smaller subunits, whereas the mucolipidosis III enzyme had a predominance of the larger subunits. The binding of mucolipidosis III β-N-acetyl-d-hexosaminidase A to Ricinus communis lectin and concanavalin A with and without endo-β-N-acetyl-d-glucosaminidase H treatment indicated that the mutation leads to a modification of a portion of the normally occurring high-mannose-type oligosaccharide units to the complex-type. This was further supported by carbohydrate compositional analysis, which revealed a mannose/galactose ratio of 2.1 for the mucolipidosis III β-N-acetyl-d-hexosaminidase A compared with a ratio of 3.5 for the normal enzyme. Our results indicate that as a result of their inability to be properly localized to the lysosome the majority of the mucolipidosis III lysosomal hydrolase high-mannose oligosaccharide units are further processed to the complex-type before secretion of predominantly higher-molecular-weight subunits from the cell.