Once the newly synthesized surface (S)-layer glycoprotein of the halophilic archaeaon Haloferax volcanii has traversed the plasma membrane, the protein undergoes a membrane-related, Mg2+-dependent maturation event, revealed as an increase in the apparent molecular mass and hydrophobicity of the protein. To test whether lipid modification of the S-layer glycoprotein could explain these observations, H. volcanii cells were incubated with a radiolabelled precursor of isoprene, [3H]mevalonic acid. In Archaea, isoprenoids serve as the major hydrophobic component of archaeal membrane lipids and have been shown to modify other haloarchaeal S-layer glycoproteins, although little is known of the mechanism, site or purpose of such modification. In the present study we report that the H. volcanii S-layer glycoprotein is modified by a derivative of mevalonic acid and that maturation of the protein was prevented upon treatment with mevinolin (lovastatin), an inhibitor of mevalonic acid biosynthesis. These findings suggest that lipid modification of S-layer glycoproteins is a general property of halophilic archaea and, like S-layer glycoprotein glycosylation, lipid-modification of the S-layer glycoproteins takes place on the external cell surface, i.e. following protein translocation across the membrane.
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September 2002
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Research Article|
September 15 2002
Lipid modification of proteins in Archaea: attachment of a mevalonic acid-based lipid moiety to the surface-layer glycoprotein of Haloferax volcanii follows protein translocation
Zvia KONRAD;
Zvia KONRAD
Department of Life Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beersheva 84105, Israel
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Jerry EICHLER
Jerry EICHLER
1
Department of Life Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beersheva 84105, Israel
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (e-mail jeichler@bgumail.bgu.ac.il).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
May 13 2002
Revision Received:
June 06 2002
Accepted:
June 17 2002
Accepted Manuscript online:
June 17 2002
Online ISSN: 1470-8728
Print ISSN: 0264-6021
The Biochemical Society, London ©2002
2002
Biochem J (2002) 366 (3): 959–964.
Article history
Received:
May 13 2002
Revision Received:
June 06 2002
Accepted:
June 17 2002
Accepted Manuscript online:
June 17 2002
Citation
Zvia KONRAD, Jerry EICHLER; Lipid modification of proteins in Archaea: attachment of a mevalonic acid-based lipid moiety to the surface-layer glycoprotein of Haloferax volcanii follows protein translocation. Biochem J 15 September 2002; 366 (3): 959–964. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/bj20020757
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