Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are largely based on the immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) scaffold, and many elicit a cytotoxic cell-mediated response by binding Fc γ receptors. Core fucosylation, a prevalent modification to the asparagine (N)-linked carbohydrate on the IgG1 crystallizable fragment (Fc), decreases the Fc γ receptor IIIa (CD16a) binding affinity and mAb efficacy. We determined IgG1 Fc fucosylation reduced the CD16a affinity by 1.7 ± 0.1 kcal/mol when compared to that of afucosylated IgG1 Fc; however, CD16a N-glycan truncation decreased this penalty by 1.2 ± 0.1 kcal/mol or 70%. Fc fucosylation restricted the manifold of conformations sampled by displacing the CD16a Asn162-glycan that impinges upon the linkage between the α-mannose(1-6)β-mannose residues and promoted contacts with the IgG Tyr296 residue. Fucosylation also impacted the IgG1 Fc structure as indicated by changes in resonance frequencies and nuclear spin relaxation observed by solution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The effects of fucosylation on IgG1 Fc may account for the remaining 0.5 ± 0.1 kcal/mol penalty of fucosylated IgG1 Fc binding CD16a when compared to that of afucosylated IgG1 Fc. Our results indicated the CD16a Asn162-glycan modulates the antibody affinity indirectly by reducing the volume sampled, as opposed to a direct mechanism with intermolecular glycan-glycan contacts previously proposed to stabilize this system. Thus, antibody engineering to enhance intermolecular glycan-glycan contacts will likely provide limited improvement, and future designs should maximize the affinity by maintaining the CD16a Asn162-glycan conformational heterogeneity.

Asparagine-linked carbohydrates (N-glycans) are a common modification of eukaryotic proteins that confer multiple properties including the essential stabilization of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. Here we present a rapid and efficient strategy to identify N-glycans that contact polypeptide residues and apply the method to profile the five N-glycans attached to the human antibody receptor CD16A (Fc γ receptor IIIA). Human embryonic kidney 293S cells expressed CD16A with [13CU]-labeled N-glycans using standard protein expression techniques and medium supplemented with 3 g/L [13CU]-glucose. Anomeric resonances on the protein-linked N-acetylglucosamine residue at the reducing end of the glycan are particularly well suited to studies of multiply-glycosylated N-glycoproteins because only one reducing end and nitrogen-linked residue is present in each N-glycan. Correlations between anomeric 1H1-13C1 nuclei on the reducing end residue generate crosspeaks in a conventional 2d heteronuclear single quantum coherence NMR experiment that appear in a region of the spectrum devoid of other carbohydrate peaks or background protein signals. Two N-glycan peaks corresponding to the N45 and N162 N-glycans were dispersed from the rapidly averaged peaks corresponding to the N38, N74 and N169 N-glycans. We used a combination of NMR and 1 μs all-atom computational simulations to identify unexpected contacts between the N45 N-glycan and CD16A polypeptide residues.

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A comprehensive description of starch biosynthesis and granule assembly remains undefined despite the central nature of starch as an energy storage molecule in plants and as a fundamental calorie source for many animals. Multiple theories regarding the starch synthase (SS)-catalyzed assembly of (α1-4)-linked d-glucose molecules into maltodextrins generally agree that elongation occurs at the non-reducing terminus based on the degradation of radiolabeled maltodextrins, although recent reports challenge this hypothesis. Surprisingly, a direct analysis of the SS catalytic product has not been reported, to our knowledge. We expressed and characterized recombinant Zea mays SSIIa and prepared pure ADP-[C]glucose in a one-pot enzymatic synthesis to address the polarity of maltodextrin chain elongation. We synthesized maltoheptaose (degree of polymerization 7) using ADP-[C]glucose, maltohexaose (degree of polymerization 6), and SSIIa. Product analysis by ESI-MS revealed that the [C]glucose unit was added to the non-reducing end of the growing chain, and SSIIa demonstrated a >7,850-fold preference for addition to the non-reducing end versus the reducing end. Independent analysis of [C]glucose added to maltohexaose by SSIIa using solution NMR spectroscopy confirmed the polarity of maltodextrin chain elongation.