Postnatal lethality and chondrodysplasia in mice lacking both chondroitin sulfate N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase-1 and -2.

ABSTRACT: Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is a sulfated glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chain. In cartilage, CS plays important roles as the main component of the extracellular matrix (ECM), existing as side chains of the major cartilage proteoglycan, aggrecan. Six glycosyltransferases are known to coordinately synthesize the backbone structure of CS; however, their in vivo synthetic mechanism remains unknown. Previous studies have suggested that two glycosyltransferases, Csgalnact1 (t1) and Csgalnact2 (t2), are critical for initiation of CS synthesis in vitro. Indeed, t1 single knockout mice (t1 KO) exhibit slight dwarfism and a reduction in CS content in cartilage compared with wild-type (WT) mice. To reveal the synergetic roles of t1 and t2 in CS synthesis in vivo, we generated systemic single and double knocko

SUBMITTER: Shimbo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5747463 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature