α1,4-Fucosyltransferase Activity: A Significant Function in the Primate Lineage has Appeared Twice Independently

Abstract

In the animal kingdom the enzymes that catalyze the formation of alpha1,4 fucosylated-glycoconjugates are known only in apes (chimpanzee) and humans. They are encoded by FUT3 and FUT5 genes, two members of the Lewis FUT5-FUT3-FUT6 gene cluster, which had originated by duplications of an alpha3 ancestor gene. In order to explore more precisely the emergence of the alpha1,4 fucosylation, new Lewis-like fucosyltransferase genes were studied in species belonging to the three main primate groups. Two Lewis-like genes were found in brown and ruffed lemurs (prosimians) as well as in squirrel monkey (New World monkey). In the latter, one gene encodes an enzyme which transfers fucose only in alpha1,3 linkage, whereas the other is a pseudogene. Three genes homologous to chimpanzee and human Lewis genes were identified in rhesus macaque (Old World monkey), and only one encodes an alpha3/4-fucosyltransferase. The ability of new primate enzymes to transfer fucose in alpha1,3 or alpha1,3/4 linkage confirms that the amino acid R or W in the acceptor-binding motif "HH(R/W)(D/E)" is required for the type 1/type 2 acceptor specificity. Expression of rhesus macaque genes proved that fucose transfer in alpha1,4 linkage is not restricted to the hominoid family and may be extended to other Old World monkeys. Moreover, the presence of only one enzyme supporting the alpha1,4 fucosylation in rhesus macaque versus two enzymes in hominoids suggests that this function occurred twice independently during primate evolution.

Activity, Splice Variants, Conserved Peptide Motifs, and Phylogeny of Two New α1,3-Fucosyltransferase Families (FUT10 and FUT11)

“…Then a third conserved motif of six amino acids was called the acceptor motif ((I/V/ F)HH(R/W)(D/E)(I/V/L)), because a single amino acid change (Trp 111 3 Arg) was able to transform the type 1 ␣1,4-fucosylation of FUT3 (leading to the Le a epitope) into the type 2 ␣1,3-fucosylation (leading to the Le x epitope) (46,47). A fourth conserved motif, located on the NH 2 -terminal side of the sequence, before the acceptor motif, was later called motif III (12,47), giving the following order for these four conserved motifs: III, acceptor motif, I and II. Finally, while writing the present paper, we found a fifth conserved motif located between the acceptor motif and motif I.…”

C-terminal Amino Acids of Helicobacter pylori α1,3/4 Fucosyltransferases Determine Type I and Type II Transfer

“…To date, FucT enzymes that display ␣1,4 activity have also been found in the chimpanzee (48), Rhesus macaque (Old World Monkey) (49), and plants (50,51). According to sequence alignment, all of these FucTs contain a tryptophan residue within the N-terminal hypervariable stem region, which was found to be essential for conferring ␣1,4 activity in mammalian FucTs (18).…”

Non-ABO blood group systems phenotyping in non-human primates for blood banking laboratory and xenotransplantation

“…None of the chacma baboons in this study have shown the presence of Le a antigen, confirming previously reported data. The fucosyltransferase encoding genes for rhesus macaques and squirrel monkey were sequenced in 2002, 26 and homologous sequences were found for rhesus macaques but not for squirrel monkeys, meaning that functional alpha 3/4-fucosyltransferases could be present in OWMs and absent in NWMs. This may justify the absence of Le antigens in all the squirrel monkeys tested in this study.…”