Maturation of N-Glycosylated Proteins is Required for Salinity Tolerance

The proteins produced after translation are packaged in the cell’s endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus. Polysaccharide chains are attached to target proteins through a process called glycosylation. “Coating” proteins with sugar serves several functions. Some proteins do not fold correctly unless they are first glycosylated. Glycosylation also confers stability to proteins. The N-glycosylation pathway in the endoplasmic reticulum has been shown to regulate protein quality control and cell wall synthesis in plants. An international team of scientists now reports that maturation of N-glycosylated proteins in the Golgi apparatus is required for salt tolerance in the model plant Arabidopsis. The researchers conducted a systematic salt tolerance analysis of protein N-glycosylation pathway mutants. Mutants with defective N-glycan modification exhibited extreme sensitivity to salt stress, as shown by growth inhibition and aberrant root-tip morphology.

The abstract of the paper published by PNAS is available at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/105/15/5933