Identification of a major poly‐N‐acetyllactosamine‐containing cell‐surface glycoprotein of mouse teratocarcinoma cells

Mouse teratocarcinoma F9 cells were induced to primitive endoderm differentiation with retinoic acid, and poly-N-acetyllactosamine-containing surface glycoproteins were identified by radiolabelling endo-beta-galactosidase-cleavable glycans with galactosyltransferase and radiolabelled UDP-galactose. One major radiolabelled band with an apparent size of 250-500 kDa was identified which differed from the known poly-N-acetyllactosamine-containing glycoproteins laminin, fibronectin, lysosome-associated membrane protein (LAMP)-1 and LAMP-2. This acidic glycoprotein, resistant to glycosaminoglycan-degrading enzymes and proteases, was purified by extraction and phase partition with Triton X-114, octyl Sepharose and Helix pomatia lectin chromatography. The purified glycoprotein could be digested by endo-beta-galactosidase and glycopeptide N-glycosidase F to an apparent size of 160-240 kDa. During retinoic-acid-induced differentiation into primitive endoderm cells, the glycoprotein showed a several-fold increase and a broadening to an apparent size of 200- > 700 kDa. The glycoprotein was no longer detected in retinoic-acid and dibutyryl-cAMP-treated cells which had undergone further differentiation to parietal endoderm cells, nor in the permanently differentiated parietal endoderm line F9-AC. The results suggest that the glycoprotein is a major carrier of poly-N-acetyllactosamine chains on differentiating teratocarcinoma F9 cells, and that its expression as revealed by the poly-N-acetyllactosamine labelling method is regulated by the stage of cellular differentiation.