C ␣ -formylglycine is the key catalytic residue in the active site of sulfatases. In eukaryotes formylglycine is generated during or immediately after sulfatase translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum by oxidation of a specific cysteine residue. We established an in vitro assay that allowed us to measure formylglycine modification independent of protein translocation. The modifying enzyme was recovered in a microsomal detergent extract. As a substrate we used ribosome-associated nascent chain complexes comprising in vitro synthesized sulfatase fragments that were released from the ribosomes by puromycin. Formylglycine modification was highly efficient and did not require a signal sequence in the substrate polypeptide. Ribosome association helped to maintain the modification competence of nascent chains but only after their release efficient modification occurred. The modifying machinery consists of soluble components of the endoplasmic reticulum lumen, as shown by differential extraction of microsomes. The in vitro assay can be performed under kinetically controlled conditions. The activation energy for formylglycine formation is 61 kJ/mol, and the pH optimum is Ϸ10. The activity is sensitive to the SH/SS equilibrium and is stimulated by Ca 2؉ . Formylglycine formation is efficiently inhibited by a synthetic sulfatase peptide representing the sequence directing formylglycine modification. The established assay system should make possible the biochemical identification of the modifying enzyme.

Two types of modifications are known so far that are required for catalytic activity of lysosomal enzymes. The first type represents the conversion of the catalytically inactive pro-form of cysteinyl- and aspartyl-proteinases into the catalytically active mature form by limited proteolysis. This chapter focuses on the second type of modification, which is represented by the posttranslational generation of a Ca-formylglycine (FGly) residue in the catalytic centre of sulfatases. Deficiency of this modification is the molecular cause of multiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD).

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