During N-linked glycosylation of proteins, oligosaccharide chains are assembled on the carrier molecule dolichyl pyrophosphate in the following order: 2 molecules of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), 9 molecules of mannose, and 3 molecules of glucose. These 14-residue oligosaccharide cores are then transferred to asparagine residues on nascent polypeptide chains in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). As proteins progress through the Golgi apparatus, the oligosaccharide cores are modified by trimming and extension to generate a diverse array of glycosylated proteins (reviewed in 3, 4).

The oligosaccharyl transferase complex (OST complex) (EC 2.4.1.119) transfers 14-sugar branched oligosaccharides from dolichyl pyrophosphate to asparagine residues. The complex contains nine protein subunits: Ost1p, Ost2p, Ost3p, Ost4p, Ost5p, Ost6p, Stt3p, Swp1p, and Wbp1p, all of which are integral membrane proteins of the ER. The OST complex interacts with the Sec61p pore complex (5) involved in protein import into the ER.

Swp1p is the delta subunit of the OST complex, one of the original six subunits purified (2). It was originally isolated as an allele-specific high-copy suppressor of the wbpl-2 mutant (1). SWP1 is essential, and its depletion leads to loss of transferase activity (1). Swp1p is related to the carboxy terminal half of mammalian ribophorin II (OMIM) (2).

Last updated: 2005-06-27