[Differential effect of tunicamycin on glycosylation of cell surface glycoproteins from chick fibroblasts during embryo development (author's transl)]

Abstract

The antibiotic tunicamycin inhibits glycosylation of proteins as demonstrated by the inhibition of the incorporation of 14C glucosamine glycoproteins of chick embryo fibroblasts at two stages of development. Fibroblasts from 8-day embryos are more sensitive to TM treatment than 16-day embryos. This differential effect is directly related to the level of N- and O-glycosidically linked glycoproteins. This ratio decreased within development. Moreover, a parallelism is observed between inhibition of cell surface glycoprotein glycosylation by TM and adhesion properties of treated cells, suggesting that N- glycosidically linked glycoproteins might be involved in cell adhesivity.