Enhancing the secretion of recombinant proteins by engineering N-glycosylation sites

• Published in: Biotechnology progress Vol. 25; no. 5; pp. 1468 - 1475
• Main Authors: Liu, Yan, Nguyen, Anton, Wolfert, Robert L., Zhuo, Shaoqiu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01-09-2009; Wiley
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Cells, Cultured; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glycosylation; Humans; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; mutagenesis; Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; N-glycosylation; Polysaccharides - metabolism; Protein engineering; Protein Engineering - methods; protein expression; protein folding; quality control; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Proteins - metabolism; Recombinant Proteins - secretion; secretion; Protein engineering; Glycosylation; Recombinant protein; Secretion
• ISSN: 8756-7938; 1520-6033; 1520-6033
• DOI: 10.1002/btpr.241

N‐glycosylation is important for the folding and quality control of membrane and secretory proteins. We used mutagenesis to introduce N‐glycosylation sequons in recombinant proteins to improve their secretion in HEK293 cells. Seven recombinant proteins, with or without endogenous N‐glycosylation sequons, were tested by this method. Our results indicate that N‐glycosylation sequons located at the N‐ or C‐terminal are glycosylated at high rates and thus the N‐ and C‐terminal may be convenient sites for effectively attaching oligosaccharide chains. More importantly, introduction of oligosaccharide chains at such positions has been found to improve the secretion levels for the majority of the recombinant proteins in our studies, regardless of endogenous N‐glycosylation, presumably by improving their folding in the endoplasmic reticulum. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2009