Role of asparagine-linked oligosaccharides in secretion of glycoproteins of the mouse egg's extracellular coat.

Tunicamycin, an inhibitor of asparagine-linked glycosylation of glycoprotein, has been used here to examine the role of N-linked oligosaccharides in secretion of ZP2 and ZP3, two of the three glycoproteins that constitute the mouse egg's extracellular coat (zona pellucida). In the absence of tunicamycin, growing mouse oocytes cultured in vitro synthesize a 91,000-Mr ZP2 precursor and 53,000 and 56,000 Mr ZP3 precursors. All of these precursors contain high mannose-type oligosaccharides that are processed to complex-type prior to secretion of mature ZP2 (120,000 Mr) and ZP3 (80,000 Mr) (Greve, J. M., Salzmann, G. S., Roller, R. J., and Wassarman, P. M. (1982) Cell 31, 749-759; Salzmann, G. S., Greve, J. M., Roller, R. J., and Wassarman, P. M. (1983) Eur. Mol. Biol. Org. J. 2, 1451-1456). In the presence of 5 micrograms/ml of tunicamycin, growing oocytes cultured in vitro are unable to carry out "core" glycosylation of nascent ZP2 and ZP3. Consequently, under these conditions, ZP2 and ZP3 appear as 81,000 and 44,000 Mr polypeptide chains, respectively. The apparent rates of synthesis of core-glycosylated ZP2 and ZP3 precursors synthesized in the absence of tunicamycin and of precursors synthesized in the presence of the drug are virtually identical. On the other hand, in the presence of tunicamycin, nascent ZP3 is incorporated into the zona pellucida as an extremely heterogeneous species (approximately equal to 51,000 Mr) at about three times the rate observed for mature ZP3 in the absence of tunicamycin. In the presence of tunicamycin, ZP2 is incorporated into the zona pellucida as 81,000 and 76,000 Mr species at about one-sixth the rate observed for mature ZP2 in the absence of the drug. Results of pulse-chase experiments indicate that the low degree of incorporation of ZP2 lacking N-linked oligosaccharides into the zona pellucida is due to a greatly decreased rate of secretion as compared to the core-glycosylated precursor. ZP2 synthesized in the presence of tunicamycin is relatively stable and accumulates intracellularly. These results suggest that N-linked oligosaccharides are necessary for normal secretion of ZP2, but are probably not necessary for ZP3 secretion.