Biochemical and structural insights into an allelic variant causing the lysosomal storage disorder – aspartylglucosaminuria

Abstract

Aspartylglucosaminuria (AGU) is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by defects of the hydrolase glycosylasparaginase (GA). Previously, we showed that a Canadian AGU mutation disrupts an obligatory intramolecular autoprocessing with the enzyme trapped as an inactive precursor. Here, we report biochemical and structural characterizations of a model enzyme corresponding to a Finnish AGU allele, the T234I variant. Unlike the Canadian counterpart, the Finnish variant is capable of a slow autoprocessing to generate detectible hydrolyzation activity of the natural substrate of GA. We have determined a 1.6 Å-resolution structure of the Finnish AGU model and built an enzyme–substrate complex to provide a structural basis for analyzing the negative effects of the point mutation on KM and kcat of the mature enzyme. Enzyme: Glycosylasparaginase or aspartylglucosaminidase, EC3.5.1.26.