Transitory effects of glucose starvation on the synthesis of dolichol-linked oligosaccharides in mammalian cells.

The distribution of lipid-linked oligosaccharide intermediates in cultured mammalian cells has been studied under conditions of glucose deprivation. It was found that at low to moderate cell densities within 20 min of glucose starvation, the major species of lipid-linked oligosaccharide shifted from mainly a single species containing three glucose, nine mannose, and two N-acetylglucosamine residues to a pattern dominated by two species containing either five mannose and two N-acetylglucosamine residues or two mannose and two N-acetylglucosamine residues. At high cell densities, this effect was not evident. Continued glucose starvation at low density resulted in a second shift in distribution in which the proportions of these two species decreased and that of the original major species (Glc3Man9GlcNAc2) increased. Addition of glucose or mannose, but not pyruvate, glutamine, galactose, inositol, or glycine, prevented the shift to the Man5GlcNAc2 and Man2GlcNAc2 species. The intermediates that accumulate during glucose starvation were identified by their elution position on gel filtration columns, sensitivity to digestion with alpha-mannosidase, resistance to digestion with endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H, and by the products of Smith degradation. These data suggest that a regulatory point in the lipid-linked oligosaccharide synthetic pathway exists at the reaction in which Man5GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol is converted to Man6GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol.