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The molecular basis of disease progression from UV-induced precancerous actinic keratosis (AK) to malignant invasive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) and potentially lethal metastatic disease remains unclear. DNA sequencing studies have revealed a massive mutational burden but have yet to illuminate mechanisms of disease progression. Here we perform RNAseq transcriptomic profiling of 110 patient samples representing normal sun-exposed skin, AK, primary and metastatic cSCC and reveal a disease continuum from a differentiated to a progenitor-like state. This is accompanied by the orchestrated suppression of master regulators of epidermal differentiation, dynamic modulation of the epidermal differentiation complex, remodelling of the immune landscape and an increase in the preponderance of tumour specific keratinocytes. Comparative systems analysis of human cSCC coupled with the generation of genetically engineered murine models reveal that combinatorial sequential inactivation of the tumour suppressor genes Tgfbr2, Trp53, and Notch1 coupled with activation of Ras signalling progressively drives cSCC progression along a differentiated to progenitor axis. Taken together we provide a comprehensive map of the cSCC disease continuum and reveal potentially actionable events that promote and accompany disease progression., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Asparagine-linked N-glycosylation is a common modification of proteins that promotes productive protein folding and increases protein stability. Although N-glycosylation is important for glycoprotein folding, the precise sites of glycosylation are often not conserved between protein homologues. Here we show that, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, proteins upregulated during sporulation under nutrient deprivation have few N-glycosylation sequons and in their place tend to contain clusters of like-charged amino-acid residues. Incorporation of such sequences complements loss of in vivo protein function in the absence of glycosylation. Targeted point mutation to create such sequence stretches at glycosylation sequons in model glycoproteins increases in vitro protein stability and activity. A dependence on glycosylation for protein stability or activity can therefore be rescued with a small number of local point mutations, providing evolutionary flexibility in the precise location of N-glycans, allowing protein expression under nutrient-limiting conditions, and improving recombinant protein production.