Kontou Maria, Weidemann Wenke, Bauer Christian, Reutter Werner, Horstkorte Rüdiger
Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Charite-Campus Benjamin-Franklin, Arnimallee 22, Berlin, Germany.
Neuroreport. 2008 Aug 6;19(12):1239-42. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32830b368a.
Axonal outgrowth is a prerequisite for the development of the most complex organ, the brain. It depends partially on the attachment of sialic acid on glycans of (sialo)-glycoproteins expressed on the plasma membrane. In our study, we showed that nerve growth factor-induced neurite outgrowth of PC12-cells enhances the expression of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase/N-acetylmannosamine-kinase (GNE), the key enzyme for the biosynthesis of sialic acid. Furthermore, we could show that overexpression of GNE induces neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells. The neurite-outgrowth promoting activity of overexpressed GNE, however, does not lead to an increased biosynthesis of sialic acid. These data suggest a novel role of GNE during neurite outgrowth, which is independent to its specific enzymatic activity.
轴突生长是最复杂器官——大脑发育的一个先决条件。它部分依赖于唾液酸附着在质膜上表达的（唾液酸）糖蛋白的聚糖上。在我们的研究中，我们表明神经生长因子诱导的PC12细胞神经突生长增强了UDP-N-乙酰葡糖胺2-表异构酶/N-乙酰甘露糖胺激酶（GNE）的表达，GNE是唾液酸生物合成的关键酶。此外，我们能够证明GNE的过表达诱导PC12细胞的神经突生长。然而，过表达的GNE促进神经突生长的活性并不会导致唾液酸生物合成增加。这些数据表明GNE在神经突生长过程中具有一种新的作用，这与其特定的酶活性无关。
