A monosialoganglioside, W-NeuNAcLcOse,Cer, has recently been detected in colorectal carcinoma cells, small cell lung carcinoma cells, embryonal carcinoma cells and in human brain extracts. We report here the presence of a CMP-sialic: LcOse,Cer sialyl transferase activity in subcellular membrane fractions of the human colorectal carcinoma, SW1 116, which recognizes the non-reducing terminal galactosyl moiety of lactotetraosylceramide. A convenient method for structural analysis of picomolar quantities of the radioactive enzymatic product(s) using bacterial endoglycoceramidase, sialidase and a viral sialidase is presented.

Purified lactotetraosylceramide (Gal beta 1----3GlcNAc beta 1----3Gal beta 1----4Glc1-Cer) was tested for its ability to accept [14C]sialic acid from CMP-[14C]sialic into monosialoganglioside fractions in the presence of membrane fractions purified from human colorectal carcinoma cells (SW1116). Membrane fractions were isolated by three different methods: sucrose density centrifugation, CMP-agarose gel column chromatography, and LcOse4 gel chromatography. We optimized the incubation conditions for detergent dependency (taurocholate), pH (6.3), and acceptor concentration. The sialyltransferase activity was dependent on membrane protein and linear for time up to at least 4 h. The LcOse4 affinity chromatography of the crude microsomal membrane pellet from these cells yielded a membrane fraction that was 136-fold enriched in LcOse4 acceptor specific activity compared to cell homogenates. The apparent Km for the sialyltransferase activity with LcOse4Cer acceptor in the presence of affinity-purified membranes was 20 microM and the Vmax was 7 pmol h-1 (100 micrograms of protein)-1. Acceptor capabilities of other core structures were 5-20-fold lower: LcOse4Cer much greater than GgOse4Cer greater than nLcOse4Cer much greater than GbOse4Cer. The enzymatic activity was purified further (900-fold) by a combination of LcOse4 and CMP affinity gels. SDS-PAGE electrophoresis of this material showed a major set of closely migrating bands of Mr 58,000-54,000 compared to authentic proteins, as well as a minor band at 27,000. We analyzed picomole quantities of the radioactive product by convenient controlled short-term hydrolyses with an endoglycoceramidase and sialidases (from four different sources) in comparison to sialylated tetrasaccharides of known structure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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