Arabinogalactan-proteins from Nicotiana alata and Pyrus communis contain glycosylphosphatidylinositol membrane anchors.

Arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs) are a class of proteoglycans found in cell secretions and plasma membranes of plants. Attention is currently focused on their structure and their potential role in growth and development. We present evidence that two members of a major class of AGPs, the classical AGPs, AGPNa1 from styles of Nicotiana alata and AGPPc1 from cell suspension cultures of Pyrus communis, undergo C-terminal processing involving glycosylphosphatidylinositol membrane anchors. The evidence is that (i) the transmembrane helix at the C terminus predicted from the cDNA encoding these proteins is not present-the C-terminal amino acid is Asn87 and Ser97 for AGPNa1 and AGPPc1, respectively; (ii) both AGP protein backbones are substituted with ethanolamine at the C-terminal amino acid; and (iii) inositol, glucosamine, and mannose are present in the native AGPs. An examination of the deduced amino acid sequences of other classical AGP protein backbones shows that glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchors may be a common feature of this class of AGPs.