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Dr. William Lennarz served as an Editor-in -Chief for Biochmical and Biopysical Researc Communicatios for 27 years. This obituary thanks for Dr. William Lennarz for his great contribution and admires his accomplishments in life science. • Dr.William Lennarz (Bill) served as an Editor-in -Chief for BBRC for 27 years. • This obituary thanks Bill for his great contribution.g • We admire his grand-breaking contribution to the life Science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fbs1 is a cytosolic lectin putatively operating as a chaperone as well as a substrate-recognition subunit of the SCFFbs1 ubiquitin ligase complex. To provide structural and functional basis of preferential binding of Fbs1 to unfolded glycoproteins, we herein characterize the interaction of Fbs1 with a heptapeptide carrying Man3GlcNAc2 by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and other biochemical methods. Inspection of the NMR data obtained by use of the isotopically labeled glycopeptide indicated that Fbs1 interacts with sugar-peptide junctions, which are shielded in native glycoprotein, in many cases, but become accessible to Fbs1 in unfolded glycoproteins. Furthermore, Fbs1 was shown to inhibit deglycosylation of denatured ribonuclease B by a cytosolic peptide:N-glycanase (PNGase). On the basis of these data, we suggest that Fbs1 captures malfolded glycoproteins, protecting them from the attack of PNGase, during the chaperoning or ubiquitinating operation in the cytosol. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Quality control of proteins is an essential process for maintaining normal cell activity. It ensures that only correctly folded proteins are produced and terminally misfolded proteins are eliminated by degradation. ER-associated degradation (ERAD) of misfolded proteins is an important aspect of protein quality control system. Recent studies have revealed that glycoprotein glycans play significant roles in this process. It includes polyubiquitination, deglycosylation, and proteasomal degradation. In the present study, a systematic analysis of these steps was carried out using chemically synthesized glycopeptides. We revealed that N-linked glycopeptides are degraded by 20S proteasome, but with drastically reduced rate compared to non-glycosylated peptide. This result strongly suggests that deglycosylating activity of peptide:N-glycanase (PNGase) is important for the facile degradation of glycoproteins. Our study showed, for the first time, that PNGase cleaves truncated glycans as short as chitobiose from peptide. However, this cleavage required the presence of hydrophobic region nearby N-glycosylation site. Furthermore, analysis of interactions with F-box protein Fbs1 was conducted with fluorescent correlation spectroscopy (FCS). It was shown that the presence of Fbs1 perturb the activity of PNGase toward high-mannose-type glycopeptides. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In species as diverse as yeast and mammals, peptide:N-glycanase (PNG1 in yeast; Ngly1 in mouse) is believed to play a key role in the degradation of misfolded glycoproteins by the proteasome. In this study, we report the genomic organization and mRNA distribution of the mouse Ngly1. Mouse Ngly1 spans 61 kb and is composed of 12 exons, the organization of which is conserved throughout vertebrates. Comparison of the mouse and human genomic sequence identifies a conserved gene structure with significant sequence similarity extending into introns. A 2.6 kb Ngly1 message was detected in all mouse tissues examined, with the highest abundance in the testis. In addition, a lower molecular weight transcript of 2.4 kb was detected in the testis. From analysis of dbESTs the alternative transcript of Ngly1 is predicted to be present in the human placenta. Given the key role Ngly1 plays in glycoprotein degradation, we predict that Ngly1 may be a contributing factor in “disease” susceptibility. To begin to address this question, we used radiation hybrid mapping to localize mouse Ngly1 to chromosome 14 and the human orthologue to chromosome 3 with a strong link with known genes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A cytoplasmic peptide:N-glycanase has been implicated in the proteasomal degradation of newly synthesized misfolded glycoproteins that are exported from the endoplasmic reticulum to the cytosol. Recently, the gene encoding this enzyme (Png1p) was identified in yeast and shown to bind to the 26S proteasome through its interaction with a component of the DNA repair system, Rad23p. Moreover, a mouse homologue of Png1p (mPng1p), which has an extended N-terminal domain, was found to bind not only to the Rad23 protein, but also to various proteins related to the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway. An extended N-terminus of mPng1p, which is not found in yeast, contains a potential site of protein–protein interaction called the PUB/PUG domain. The PUB/PUG domain is predicted to be helix-rich and is found in various proteins that may be involved in the ubiquitin/proteasome-related pathway. This review will discuss the consequence of the deglycosylation reaction by peptide:N-glycanase in cellular processes. In addition, the potential importance of the PUB/PUG domain for the formation of a putative “glycoprotein-degradation complex” will be discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]