C(alpha)-formylglycine (FGly) is the catalytic residue in the active site of eukaryotic sulfatases. It is posttranslationally generated from a cysteine in the endoplasmic reticulum. The genetic defect of FGly formation causes multiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD), a lysosomal storage disorder. We purified the FGly generating enzyme (FGE) and identified its gene and nine mutations in seven MSD patients. In patient fibroblasts, the activity of sulfatases is partially restored by transduction of FGE encoding cDNA, but not by cDNA carrying an MSD mutation. The gene encoding FGE is highly conserved among pro- and eukaryotes and has a paralog of unknown function in vertebrates. FGE is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum and is predicted to have a tripartite domain structure.

There is little quantitative information regarding how much splicing occurs co-transcriptionally in higher eukaryotes, and it remains unclear where precisely splicing occurs in the nucleus. Here we determine the global extent of co-and post-transcriptional splicing in mammalian cells, and their respective subnuclear locations, using antibodies that specifically recognize phosphorylated sF3b155 (P-sF3b155) found only in catalytically activated/active spliceosomes. Quantification of chromatin-and nucleoplasm-associated P-sF3b155 after fractionation of HeLa cell nuclei, reveals that ~80% of pre-mRnA splicing occurs co-transcriptionally. Active spliceosomes localize in situ to regions of decompacted chromatin, at the periphery of or within nuclear speckles. Immunofluorescence microscopy with anti-P-sF3b155 antibodies, coupled with transcription inhibition and a block in splicing after sF3b155 phosphorylation, indicates that post-transcriptional splicing occurs in nuclear speckles and that release of posttranscriptionally spliced mRnA from speckles is coupled to the nuclear mRnA export pathway. our data provide new insights into when and where splicing occurs in cells.

Deficiency of GDP-Man:Man 1 GlcNAc 2 -PP-dolichol mannosyltransferase (hALG2), is the cause of a new type of congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) designated CDG-Ii. The patient presented normal at birth but developed in the 1st year of life a multisystemic disorder with mental retardation, seizures, coloboma of the iris, hypomyelination, hepatomegaly, and coagulation abnormalities. An accumulation of Man 1 GlcNAc 2 -PP-dolichol and Man 2 GlcNAc 2 -PP-dolichol was observed in skin fibroblasts of the patient. Incubation of patient fibroblast extracts with Man 1 GlcNAc 2 -PP-dolichol and GDP-mannose revealed a severely reduced activity of the mannosyltransferase elongating Man 1 GlcNAc 2 -PP dolichol. Because the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant alg2-1 was known to accumulate the same shortened dolichol-linked oligosaccharides as the patient, the yeast ALG2 sequence was used to identify the human ortholog. Genetic analysis revealed that the patient was heterozygous for a single nucleotide deletion and a single nucleotide substitution in the human ortholog of yeast ALG2. Expression of wild type but not of mutant hALG2 cDNA restored the mannosyltransferase activity and the biosynthesis of dolichol-linked oligosaccharides both in patient fibroblasts and in the alg2-1 yeast cells. hALG2 was shown to act as an ␣1,3-mannosyltransferase. The resulting Man␣1,3-ManGlcNAc 2 -PP dolichol is further elongated by a yet unknown ␣1,6-mannosyltransferase.Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) 1 compose a rapidly growing group of inherited multisystemic disorders in man, which are commonly associated with severe psychomotor and mental retardation (1). The characteristic biochemical feature of CDG is defective glycosylation of proteins due to mutations in genes required for the biosynthesis of N-linked oligosaccharides.The attachment of oligosaccharide chains onto newly synthesized proteins is one of the most widespread forms of co-and post-translational modifications and is found in animals, plants, and bacteria. Glycoproteins are located inside cells predominantly in subcellular organelles and in cellular membranes and most abundantly in extracellular fluids and matrices. The oligosaccharide moiety of the glycoproteins can affect their folding, their transport, as well as their biological activity and stability (2, 3). The complex process of protein glycosylation requires more than a hundred glycosyltransferases, glycosidases, and transport proteins. CDG are classified into two groups. Defects of the assembly of lipid-linked oligosaccharides or their transfer onto nascent glycoproteins compose CDG type I, whereas CDG type II includes all defects of trimming and elongation of N-linked oligosaccharides (4). In the past 7 years the molecular nature of eight CDG-I and four CDG-II types could be identified (5-24).Here we describe for the first time a molecular defect in glycoprotein biosynthesis in man which affects at the cytosolic side of the endoplasmic reticulum the transfer of mannosyl residues from GDP-Man to Man 1 Glc...