Salmonid polysialyltransferases to generate a variety of sialic acid polymers

The human polysialyltransferases ST8Sia II and ST8Sia IV catalyze the transfer of several Neu5Ac residues onto glycoproteins forming homopolymers with essential roles during different physiological processes. In salmonids, heterogeneous set of sialic acids polymers have been described in ovary and on eggs cell surface and three genes st8sia4, st8sia2-r1 and st8sia2-r2 were identified that could be implicated in these heteropolymers. The three polysialyltransferases from the salmonid Coregonus maraena were cloned, recombinantly expressed in HEK293 cells and the ST8Sia IV was biochemically characterized. The MicroPlate Sialyltransferase Assay and the non-natural donor substrate CMP-SiaNAl were used to demonstrate enzyme activity and optimize polysialylation reactions. Polysialylation was also carried out with natural donor substrates CMP-Neu5Ac, CMP-Neu5Gc and CMP-Kdn in cell-free and cell-based assays and structural analyses of polysialylated products using the anti-polySia monoclonal antibody 735 and endoneuraminidase N and HPLC approaches. Our data highlighted distinct specificities of human and salmonid polysialyltransferases with notable differences in donor substrates use and the capacity of fish enzymes to generate heteropolymers. This study further suggested an evolution of the biological functions of polySia. C. maraena ST8Sia IV of particular interest to modify glycoproteins with a variety of polySia chains.