Different fates of the oligosaccharide moieties of lipid intermediates.

We have previously described that the N-glycosylation process was accompanied by the release of oligosaccharide-phosphates and neutral oligosaccharides. The relationship between oligosaccharide-P-P-dolichol and its metabolic products (glycoproteins, oligosaccharide-phosphates and neutral oligosaccharides) was investigated by analysing the structure of the oligosaccharide moieties and the kinetic behaviour of the various species in pulse and pulse/chase experiments. For these studies, a glycosylation mutant of Chinese hamster ovary cells (B3F7) which does not synthesize mannosylphosphoryldolichol was utilized. Evidence was obtained for the presence of two pools of oligosaccharide-P-P-dolichol which have different fates. One pool is not glucosylated, is rapidly labelled and immediately chased by mannose, and generates the oligosaccharide-phosphate species. The second pool is glucosylated, exhibits a lag time (5-10 min) prior to being labelled, and is utilized in the glycosylation of proteins and in the production of neutral oligosaccharides. We postulate that the cleavage of non-glycosylated lipid intermediates generating oligosaccharide-phosphates represents a 'bypass' in the dolichol cycle which allows direct regeneration of dolichyl phosphate. The other metabolic fate of non-glucosylated oligosaccharide-lipids, glucosylation, results in their use as effective substrates for the glycosylation of proteins or in the generation of neutral oligosaccharides.