Galactosyl transferases of baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells. Characterization of two oligosaccharide products synthesised using bovine asialo submaxillary-gland mucin as acceptor.

Extracts of BHK (baby hamster kidney) cells catalyse incorporation of galactose from UDP-galactose into asialo bovine submaxillary gland mucin. The galactosylated oligosaccharide products were released by alkaline-borohydride treatment and purified by Bio-Gel P2 chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography. The structures of the oligosaccharide sequences synthesised have been identified unequivocally by high resolution 500 MHz 1H-NMR as galactosyl-(beta 1----3) N-acetylgalactosamine and galactosyl (beta 1----4) N-acetylglucosaminyl (beta 1----3)-N-acetylgalactosamine. Characterization of the latter sequence shows the presence in bovine mucin of the type III core sequence N-acetylglucosamine-(beta 1----3) N-acetylgalactosamine. Fractionation of BHK cell extracts on alpha-lactalbumin-Agarose has shown that the (beta 1----4)-galactosyl transferase responsible for synthesis of the trisaccharide binds to alpha-lactalbumin, a modulator of the (beta 1----4)-galactosyl transferase involved in N-glycan assembly. The evidence that the same transferase activity may be responsible for galactose transfer to both O-glycans and N-glycans is discussed.