Nutrient Responsive O-GlcNAcylation Dynamically Modulates Galectin 3 Secretion

Endomembrane glycosylation and cytoplasmic O-GlcNAcylation each play essential roles in nutrient sensing, and in fact, characteristic changes in glycan patterns have been described in disease states such as diabetes and cancer. These changes in glycosylation have important functional roles and can drive disease progression. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying how these signals are integrated and transduced into biological effects. Galectins are proteins that bind glycans that are secreted by a poorly characterized non-classical secretory mechanism. Once outside the cell, galectins bind to terminal galactose residues of cell surface glycans and modulate numerous extracellular functions like clathrin independent endocytosis (CIE). Originating in the cytoplasm, galectins are predicted substrates for O-GlcNAc addition and removal. This study shows that galectin 3 is O-GlcNAcylated, and that changes in O-GlcNAc cycling alters its secretion. Moreover, we determined that there is a significant difference in O-GlcNAcylation status between cytoplasmic and secreted galectin 3. We observed dramatic alterations in galectin 3 secretion in response to nutrient conditions and that these changes were dependent on dynamic O-GlcNAcylation. Finally, we showed that alterations in galectin 3 secretion via disrupted O-GlcNAcylation drove changes in CIE. These results indicate that dynamic O-GlcNAcylation of galectin 3 plays a role in modulating its secretion and can tune its function of transducing nutrient sensing information coded in cell surface glycosylation into biological effects.