Role of asparagine-linked glycosylation in cell surface expression and function of the human adrenocorticotropin receptor (melanocortin 2 receptor) in 293/FRT cells.

Asparagine-linked glycosylation (N-glycosylation) of G protein-coupled receptors may be necessary for functions ranging from agonist binding, folding, maturation, stability, and internalization. Human melanocortin 2 receptor (MC2R) possesses putative N-glycosylation sites in its N-terminal extracellular domain; however, to date, the role of MC2R N-glycosylation has yet to be investigated. The objective of the present study is to examine whether N-glycosylation is essential or not for cell surface expression and cAMP production in native and MC2R accessory protein (MRAP alpha, -beta, or -dCT)-expressing cells using 293/FRT transfected with Myc-MC2R. Western blot analyses performed with or without endoglycosidase H, peptide:N-glycosidase F or tunicamycin treatments and site-directed mutagenesis revealed that MC2R was glycosylated in the N-terminal domain at its two putative N-glycosylation sites (Asn(12)-Asn(13)-Thr(14) and Asn(17)-Asn(18)-Ser(19)). In the absence of human MRAP coexpression, N-glycosylation of at least one of the two sites was necessary for MC2R cell surface expression. However, when MRAP was present, cell surface expression of MC2R mutants was either rescued entirely with the N17-18Q (QQNN) and N12-13Q (NNQQ) mutants or partially with the unglycosylated N12-13, 17-18Q (QQQQ) mutant. Functional and expression analyses revealed a discrepancy between wild-type (WT) and QQQQ cell surface receptor levels and maximal cAMP production with a 4-fold increase in EC(50) values. Taken together, these results indicate that the absence of MC2R N-glycosylation abrogates to a large extent MC2R cell surface expression in the absence of MRAPs, whereas when MC2R is N-glycosylated, it can be expressed at the plasma membrane without MRAP assistance.