LacdiNAc synthase B4GALNT3 has a unique PA14 domain and suppresses N-glycan capping.
Structural variation of N-glycans is essential for the regulation of glycoprotein functions. GalNAcβ1-4GlcNAc (LacdiNAc or LDN), a unique subterminal glycan structure synthesized by B4GALNT3 or B4GALNT4, is involved in the clearance of N-glycoproteins from the blood and maintenance of cell stemness. Such regulation of glycoprotein functions by LDN is largely different from that by the dominant subterminal structure, N-acetyllactosamine (Galβ1-4GlcNAc, LacNAc). However, the mechanisms by which B4GALNT activity is regulated and how LDN plays different roles from LacNAc remain unclear. Here, we found that B4GALNT3 and four have unique domain organization containing a noncatalytic PA14 domain, which is a putative glycan-binding module. A mutant lacking this domain dramatically decreases the activity toward various substrates, such as N-glycan, O-GalNAc glycan, and glycoproteins, indicating that this domain is essential for enzyme activity and forms part of the catalytic region. In addition, to clarify the mechanism underlying the functional differences between LDN and LacNAc, we examined the effects of LDN on the maturation of N-glycans, focusing on the related glycosyltransferases upstream and downstream of B4GALNT. We revealed that, unlike LacNAc synthesis, prior formation of bisecting GlcNAc in N-glycan almost completely inhibits LDN synthesis by B4GALNT3. Moreover, the presence of LDN negatively impacted the actions of many glycosyltransferases for terminal modifications, including sialylation, fucosylation, and human natural killer-1 synthesis. These findings demonstrate that LDN has significant impacts on N-glycan maturation in a completely different way from LacNAc, which could contribute to obtaining a comprehensive overview of the system regulating complex N-glycan biosynthesis.