Patent Application: US-10579605-A

Abstract:
a novel gene defining a novel enzyme in the udp - d - galactose : b - n - acetyl - glucosamine β - 1 , 4 - galactosyltransferase family , termed β4gal - t2 , with unique enzymatic properties is disclosed . the enzymatic activity of β4gal - t2 is shown to be distinct from that of previously identified enzymes of this gene family . the invention discloses isolated dna molecules and dna constructs encoding β4gal - t2 and derivatives thereof by way of amino acid deletion , substitution or insertion exhibiting β4gal - t2 activity , as well as cloning and expression vectors including such dna , cells transfected with the vectors , and recombinant methods for providing β4gal - t2 . the enzyme β4gal - t2 and β4gal - t2 - active derivatives thereof are disclosed , in particular soluble derivatives comprising the catalytically active domain of β4gal - t2 . further , the invention discloses methods of obtaining β - 1 , 4 - galactosyl glycosylated saccharides , glycopeptides or glycoproteins by use of an enzymically active β4gal - t2 protein or fusion protein thereof or by using cells stably transfected with a vector including dna encoding an enzymatically active β4gal - t2 protein as an expression system for recombinant production of such glycopeptides or glycoproteins . also a method for the identification of dna sequence variations in the β4gal - t2 gene by isolating dna from a patient , amplifying β4gal - t2 - coding exons by pcr , and detecting the presence of dna sequence variation , are disclosed .

Description:
all patent applications , patents , and literature references cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety . in the case of conflict , the present description , including definitions , is intended to control . 1 . “ nucleic acid ” or “ polynucleotide ” as used herein refers to purine - and pyrimidine - containing polymers of any length , either polyribonucleotides or polydeoxyribonucleotides or mixed polyribo - polydeoxyribo nucleotides . this includes single - and double - stranded molecules , i . e ., dna - dna , dna - rna and rna - rna hybrids , as well as “ protein nucleic acids ” ( pna ) formed by conjugating bases to an amino acid backbone . this also includes nucleic acids containing modified bases ( see below ). 2 . “ complementary dna or cdna ” as used herein refers to a dna molecule or sequence that has been enzymatically synthesized from the sequences present in an mrna template , or a clone of such a dna molecule . a “ dna construct ” is a dna molecule or a clone of such a molecule , either single - or double - stranded , which has been modified to contain segments of dna that are combined and juxtaposed in a manner that would not otherwise exist in nature . by way of non - limiting example , a cdna or dna which has no introns is inserted adjacent to , or within , exogenous dna sequences . 3 . a plasmid or , more generally , a vector , is a dna construct containing genetic information that may provide for its replication when inserted into a host cell . a plasmid generally contains at least one gene sequence to be expressed in the host cell , as well as sequences that facilitate such gene expression , including promoters and transcription initiation sites . it may be a linear or closed circular molecule . 4 . nucleic acids are “ hybridizable ” to each other when at least one strand of one nucleic acid can anneal to another nucleic acid under defined stringency conditions . stringency of hybridization is determined , e . g ., by a ) the temperature at which hybridization and / or washing is performed , and b ) the ionic strength and polarity ( e . g ., formamide ) of the hybridization and washing solutions , as well as other parameters . hybridization requires that the two nucleic acids contain substantially complementary sequences ; depending on the stringency of hybridization , however , mismatches may be tolerated . typically , hybridization of two sequences at high stringency ( such as , for example , in an aqueous solution of 0 . 5 × ssc , at 65 ° c .) requires that the sequences exhibit some high degree of complementarity over their entire sequence . conditions of intermediate stringency ( such as , for example , an aqueous solution of 2 × ssc at 65 ° c .) and low stringency ( such as , for example , an aqueous solution of 2 × ssc at 55 ° c . ), require correspondingly less overall complementarily between the hybridizing sequences . ( 1 × ssc is 0 . 15 m nacl , 0 . 015 m na citrate .) 5 . an “ isolated ” nucleic acid or polypeptide as used herein refers to a component that is removed from its original environment ( for example , its natural environment if it is naturally occurring ). an isolated nucleic acid or polypeptide contains less than about 50 %, preferably less than about 75 %, and most preferably less than about 90 %, of the cellular components with which it was originally associated . 6 . a “ probe ” refers to a nucleic acid that forms a hybrid structure with a sequence in a target region due to complementarily of at least one sequence in the probe with a sequence in the target region . 7 . a nucleic acid that is “ derived from ” a designated sequence refers to a nucleic acid sequence that corresponds to a region of the designated sequence . this encompasses sequences that are homologous or complementary to the sequence , as well as “ sequence - conservative variants ” and “ function - conservative variants ”. sequence - conservative variants are those in which a change of one or more nucleotides in a given codon position results in no alteration in the amino acid encoded at that position . function - conservative variants of β4gal - t2 are those in which a given amino acid residue in the polypeptide has been changed without altering the overall conformation and enzymatic activity ( including substrate specificity ) of the native polypeptide ; these changes include , but are not limited to , replacement of an amino acid with one having similar physico - chemical properties ( such as , for example , acidic , basic , hydrophobic , and the like ). 8 . a “ donor substrate ” is a molecule recognized by , e . g ., a galactosyltransferase and that contributes a galactosyl moiety for the transferase reaction . for β4gal - t2 , a donor substrate is udp - galactose . an “ acceptor substrate ” is a molecule , preferably a saccharide or oligosaccharide , that is recognized by , e . g ., a galatosyltransferase and that is the target for the modification catalyzed by the transferase , i . e ., receives the galatosyl moiety . for β4gal - t2 , acceptor substrates include without limitation oligosaccharides , glycoproteins , o - linked glcnac - glycopeptides , and glycosphingolipids containing the sequences glcnacβ1 - 3gal , glcnacβ1 - 6gal , glcnacβ1 - 6galnac , glcnacβ1 - 3galnac , glcnacβ1 - 2man , glcnacβ1 - 4man , glcnacβ1 - 6man , glcnacβ1 - 3man , glcβ1 - ceramide . the present invention provides the isolated dna molecules , including genomic dna and cdna , encoding the udp - galactose : β - n - acetylglucosamine β - 1 , 4 - galactosyltransferase ( β4gal - t2 ). β4gal - t2 was identified by analysis of est database sequence information , and cloned based on est and 5 ′ race cdna clones . the cloning strategy may be briefly summarized as follows : 1 ) synthesis of oligonucleotides derived from est sequence information , designated eber102 ( seq id no : 30 ) and eber 104 ( seq id no : 31 ); 2 ) successive 5 ′- rapid amplification of cdna ends ( 5 ′ race ) using commercial marathon - ready cdna ; 3 ) cloning and sequencing of 5 ′ race cdna ; 4 ) identification of a novel cdna sequence corresponding to βgal - t2 ; 5 ) construction of expression constructs by reverse - transcription - polymerase chain reaction ( rt - pcr ) using colo205 human cell line mrna ; 6 ) expression of the cdna encoding β4gal - t2 in sf9 ( spodoptera frugiperda ) cells . more specifically , the isolation of a representative dna molecule encoding a novel second member of the mammalian udp - galactose : β - n - acetylglucosamine β - 1 , 4 - galactosyltransferase family involved the following procedures described below . novel human dna sequences with apparent homology to the human β4gal - t1 gene ( masri et al ., 1988 ) were identified by sequence similarity searches of the dbest database at the national center for biotechnology information , usa , using the blastn and tblastn algorithms . composites for identified novel genes were compiled and analysed for sequence similarity to human β4gal - t1 . est cdna clones with the longest inserts ( fig1 ) were obtained from genome systems inc , usa . two partly overlapping ests with predicted sequence similarity to β4gal - t1 were identified ( fig1 ). sequencing of the inserts revealed an open reading frame which potentially encoded a sequence similar to β4gal - t1 , but the 5 ′ sequence was shorter and without an initiation codon . further 5 ′ sequence was obtained by 5 ′ race using human fetal brain marathon - ready cdna ( clontech ) in combination with anti - sense primers eber102 and eber104 . the 5 ′ race products were cloned and multiple clones were sequenced . the entire sequence was confirmed by sequencing genomic p1 clones . the composite sequence contained an open reading frame of 1116 bp ( fig2 ), with an overall sequence identity of approximately 63 % to β4gal - t1 . the predicted open reading frame has one potential initiation codon in agreement with kozak &# 39 ; s rule ( kozak , 1992 ). the predicted coding sequence depicts a type ii transmembrane glycoprotein with a 11 amino acid residue n - terminal cytoplasmic domain , a transmembrane segment of 21 residues , and a stem region and catalytic domain of 340 residues , with three potential n - linked glycosylation sites ( fig2 ). multiple alignment analysis ( clustalw ) of human β4gal - t1 ( accession # m22921 ), human β4gal - t2 , and human β4gal - t3 ( accession # y12510 ) presented in fig3 a and 3b demonstrated sequence significant similarities especially in the central and c - terminal region and conservation of cysteine residues . the n - terminal regions show no sequence similarity . a 3 ′ untranslated region without polyadenylation signals was included in the oligo - dt primed est cdna clones sequenced . the 3 ′ ests ( stsg4681 ) were linked to chromosome 1 between d1s2861 and d1s211 microsatellite markers at 73 - 75 cm ( ncbi ). an expression construct designed to encode amino acid residues 31 - 372 of β4gal - t2 was prepared by rt - pcr with mrna from colo205 cell line , using the primer pair eber100for ( seq id no : 9 ) and eber114 ( fig2 ; seq id no : 10 ). expression of a soluble construct of β4gal - t2 in sf9 cells ( pharmingen ) resulted in marked increase in galactosyltransferase activity using the βglcnac - benzyl acceptor substrate compared to uninfected cells or cells infected with control constructs for polypeptide galnac - transferases or histo - blood group a and o genes ( bennett et al ., 1996 ; gentzsch and tanner , 1996 ) ( table 1 ). table i substrate specificity of β4gal - transferases β4gal - t2 a ( nmol / min / ml ) substrate concentration 1 mm 3 mm 9 mm d - glcnac 1 . 4 3 . 2 4 . 8 bz - β - d - glcnac 6 . 8 3 . 6 1 . 5 bz - α - d - glcnac 0 . 4 1 . 1 1 . 7 o - nph - α - d - glcnac 0 . 4 0 . 8 1 . 5 p - nph - β - d - glcnac 3 . 0 2 . 3 0 . 9 p - nph - 1 - thio - β - d - glcnac 1 . 2 1 . 6 0 . 2 4 - me - lumb - β - d - glcnac 0 . 8 0 . 6 0 . 4 β - d - glcnac -( 1 - 3 )- β - d - gal - 1 - ome 5 . 8 7 . 7 nd b β - d - clcnac -( 1 - 6 )- α - d - man - 1 - ome 8 . 5 11 . 3 nd bz - 2 -( 2 - β - d - glcnac )- α - d - glcnac 9 . 9 2 . 6 1 . 3 4 - me - lumb - β - d - galnac nd 0 . 0 nd o - nph - β - d - galnac nd 0 . 0 nd bz -*- d - galnac nd 0 . 0 nd 4 - me - lumb - β - d - gal nd 0 . 0 nd o - nph - β - d - gal nd 0 . 0 nd a enzyme sources were media of infected sf9 cells . background values obtained with uninfected cells or cells infected with an irrelevant construct were subtracted . the background rates were not higher than 0 . 5 nmol / min / ml . b nd , not determined analysis of the substrate specificity of the soluble β4gal - t2 activity showed that only βglcnac - benzyl and not βglcnac - benzyl or βgalnac - benzyl was an acceptor substrate . free glucose was not an acceptor , but in the presence of increasing concentrations of α - lactalbumin incorporation rates similar to bovine milk β4gal - transferase was observed ( fig4 a ). differences in the concentration of α - lactalbumin to achieve maximum activity with glc were observed with 0 . 4 mg / ml required for β4gal - t2 and only 0 . 1 mg / ml for the bovine milk enzyme . the activities of both β4gal - t2 and the bovine milk enzyme with glcnac were inhibited by α - lactalbumin , but β4gal - t1 ( bovine milk transferase preparation ) was overall more sensitive to inhibition ( fig4 b ). the apparent km for benzyl - βglcnac was 0 . 16 mm , and the km for udp - gal using benzyl - βglcnac was 0 . 011 mm . the bovine milk β4 - galactosyltransferase showed higher km for udp - gal in agreement with previous studies ( fujita - yamaguchi and yoshida , 1981 ; paquet and moscarello , 1984 ; furukawa et al ., 1990 ; nakazawa et al ., 1991 ; malissard et al ., 1996 ), and the measured km for glcnac was similar to that determined in some studies ( powell and brew , 1974 ; moscarello et al ., 1985 ), but 5 - 10 fold higher than compared to other studies ( fujita - yamaguchi and yoshida , 1981 ; paquet and moscarello , 1984 ; nakazawa et al ., 1991 ; malissard et al ., 1996 ). as shown in fig5 a and 5b β4gal - t2 was inhibited at high concentrations of both benzyl - βglcnac and free n - acetylglucosamine to higher degree than bovine milk β4gal - transferase and β4gal - t3 ( shur , 1982 ). β4gal - t2 showed strict donor substrate specificity for udp - gal and did not utilise udp - galnac or udp - glcnac with the acceptor substrates tested . β4gal - t2 utilised the lc 3 cer glycosphingolipid substrates , and the product formed with this substrate was confirmed by 1 h - nmr to be nlc 3 cer similar to what was found for the activity of β4gal - t3 ( almeida et al ., 1997 ). β4gal - t2 exhibited the overall best activities with the glycoprotein acceptors ovalbumin , asialo - agalacto - fetuin , and asialo - agalacto - transferrin ( table ii ). table ii substrate specificity of β4 - galactosyltransferases with glycopeptide and glycoprotein acceptors acceptor substrate a β4gal - t2 β4gal - t3 bovine milk β4gal - t nmol / min / ml nmol / min / ml nmol / min / μg β - d - glcnac - 1 - bz 3 . 5 3 . 9 3 . 4 β - d - glcnac - 1 - 1 . 3 0 . 9 ( fapgsypal ) *- d - galnac - 1 - 0 . 0 0 . 0 0 . 0 ( fapsnypal ) hen egg albumin 2 . 0 1 . 0 0 . 7 asialo - agalacto - 2 . 8 0 . 7 0 . 8 fetuin asialo - fetuin 0 . 2 0 . 0 0 . 1 a β - d - glcnac - 1 - bz was used at 0 . 25 mm with β4gal - t2 , 0 . 625 mm with bovine milk β4gal - t , 2 mm with β4gal - t3 , and 20 mm with β4gal - t5 ; glycopeptides were used at 0 . 1 mm ; glycoproteins were used at 10 mg / ml . the activities of the b4gal - transferases were analysed relative to benzyl - β - glcnac , and β4gal - t2 showed 2 - 3 fold higher activity than other β4gal - transferases tested . β4gal - t2 also showed the best activity with a synthetic o - linked βglcnac - glycopeptide ( table ii ), suggesting that this enzyme will show higher sensitivity in labeling o - linked βglcnac - glycoproteins as well . northern analysis with mrna from 16 human adult organs showed a single transcript of both genes of approximately 2 . 2 kb ( fig6 ). β4gal - t2 was expressed weakly in several adult organs with highest expression in prostate , testis , ovary , intestine , and muscle . the present invention also provides isolated genomic dna molecules encoding β4gal - t2 . a human p1 library ( dupont merck pharmaceutical company human foreskin fibroblast p1 library ) was screened using primer pairs eber100 ( seq id no : 29 ) and eber102 ( seq id no : 30 ). three clones ; dpmc - hff # 10638 : 515 : g9 , dpmc - hff # 10639 : 516 : g4 , and dpmc - hff # 10640 : 924 : a11 , were obtained from genome systems . southern blot analysis with various oligonucleotides covering the 3 ′ and 5 ′ coding sequence of the existing full length β4gal - t2 cdna indicated that the entire coding sequence was included in the p1 clone . a comparative southern blot analysis between cloned p1 dna and total human genomic dna using a full length cdna as probe gave similar patterns , validating the use of cloned p1 dna as a model . the coding region of β4gal - t2 were found in six exons ( fig7 ; the nucleic acid sequences for these exons , numbered as exons i , ii , iii , iv , v and vi , are depicted as seq id nos : 11 - 16 respectively ). human and mouse β4gal - t1 is encoded in six exons ( hollis et al ., 1989 ; mengle - gaw et al ., 1991 ). comparison of the intron / exon boundaries of β4gal - t1 , - t2 , and - t3 , revealed that the five introns in the coding regions of the three genes are placed identically . fig8 and 9 depict a pcr strategy and primer sequences for amplification of all coding exons in β4gal - t2 using genomic dna . ( the primer sequences for cloning each exon are depicted in fig9 and defined as eber151 and eber143 for exon i , seq id nos : 17 and 18 , respectively ; eber142 and eber144 for exon ii , seq id nos : 19 and 20 , respectively ; eber145 and eber146 for exon iii , seq id nos : 21 and 22 , respectively ; eber147 and eber148 for exon iv , seq id nos : 23 and 23 , respectively ; eber149 and eber150 for exon v , seq id nos : 25 and 26 , respectively ; and eber132 and 1003pri2 for exon vi , seq id nos : 27 and 28 , respectively .) in practicing the present invention , many conventional techniques in molecular biology , microbiology , recombinant dna , and immunology , are used . such techniques are well known and are explained fully in , for example , sambrook et al ., 1989 , molecular cloning : a laboratory manual , second edition , cold spring harbor laboratory press , cold spring harbor , n . y . ; dna cloning : a practical approach , volumes i and ii , 1985 ( d . n . glover ed . ); oligonucleotide synthesis , 1984 , ( m . l . gait ed . ); nucleic acid hybridization , 1985 , ( hames and higgins ); transcription and translation , 1984 ( hames and higgins eds . ); animal cell culture , 1986 ( r . i . freshney ed . ); immobilized cells and enzymes , 1986 ( irl press ); perbal , 1984 , a practical guide to molecular cloning ; the series , methods in enzymology ( academic press , inc . ); gene transfer vectors for mammalian cells , 1987 ( j . h . miller and m . p . calos eds ., cold spring harbor laboratory ); methods in enzymology vol . 154 and vol . 155 ( wu and grossman , and wu , eds ., respectively ); immunochemical methods in cell and molecular biology , 1987 ( mayer and waler , eds ; academic press , london ); scopes , 1987 , protein purification : principles and practice , second edition ( springer - verlag , n . y .) and handbook of experimental immunology , 1986 , volumes i - iv ( weir and blackwell eds .). the invention encompasses isolated nucleic acid fragments comprising all or part of the nucleic acid sequence disclosed herein as seq id no : 1 . the fragments are at least about 8 nucleotides in length , preferably at least about 12 nucleotides in length , and most preferably at least about 15 - 20 nucleotides in length . the invention further encompasses isolated nucleic acids comprising sequences that are hybridizable under stringency conditions of 2 × ssc , 55 ° c ., to seq id no : 1 ; preferably , the nucleic acids are hybridizable at 2 × ssc , 65 ° c . ; and most preferably , are hybridizable at 0 . 5 × ssc , 65 ° c . the nucleic acids may be isolated directly from cells . alternatively , the polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) method can be used to produce the nucleic acids of the invention , using either chemically synthesized strands or genomic material as templates . primers used for pcr can be synthesized using the sequence information provided herein and can further be designed to introduce appropriate new restriction sites , if desirable , to facilitate incorporation into a given vector for recombinant expression . the nucleic acids of the present invention may be flanked by natural human regulatory sequences , or may be associated with heterologous sequences , including promoters , enhancers , response elements , signal sequences , polyadenylation sequences , introns , 5 ′- and 3 ′- noncoding regions , and the like . the nucleic acids may also be modified by many means known in the art . non - limiting examples of such modifications include methylation , “ caps ”, substitution of one or more of the naturally occurring nucleotides with an analog , internucleotide modifications such as , for example , those with uncharged linkages ( e . g ., methyl phosphonates , phosphotriesters , phosphoroamidates , carbamates , etc .) and with charged linkages ( e . g ., phosphorothioates , phosphorodithioates , etc .). nucleic acids may contain one or more additional covalently linked moieties , such as , for example , proteins ( e . g ., nucleases , toxins , antibodies , signal peptides , poly - l - lysine , etc . ), intercalators ( e . g ., acridine , psoralen , etc . ), chelators ( e . g ., metals , radioactive metals , iron , oxidative metals , etc . ), and alkylators . the nucleic acid may be derivatized by formation of a methyl or ethyl phosphotriester or an alkyl phosphoramidate linkage . furthermore , the nucleic acid sequences of the present invention may also be modified with a label capable of providing a detectable signal , either directly or indirectly . exemplary labels include radioisotopes , fluorescent molecules , biotin , and the like . according to the present invention , useful probes comprise a probe sequence at least eight nucleotides in length that consists of all or part of the sequence from among the sequences designated seq id no : 1 or sequence - conservative or function - conservative variants thereof , or a complement thereof , and that has been labelled as described above . the invention also provides nucleic acid vectors comprising the disclosed sequence or derivatives or fragments thereof . a large number of vectors , including plasmid and fungal vectors , have been described for replication and / or expression in a variety of eukaryotic and prokaryotic hosts , and may be used for gene therapy as well as for simple cloning or protein expression . recombinant cloning vectors will often include one or more replication systems for cloning or expression , one or more markers for selection in the host , e . g . antibiotic resistance , and one or more expression cassettes . the inserted coding sequences may be synthesized by standard methods , isolated from natural sources , or prepared as hybrids , etc . ligation of the coding sequences to transcriptional regulatory elements and / or to other amino acid coding sequences may be achieved by known methods . suitable host cells may be transformed / transfected / infected as appropriate by any suitable method including electroporation , cacl 2 mediated dna uptake , fungal infection , microinjection , microprojectile , or other established methods . appropriate host cells included bacteria , archebacteria , fungi , especially yeast , and plant and animal cells , especially mammalian cells . of particular interest are saccharomyces cerevisiae , schizosaccharomyces pombi , sf9 cells , c129 cells , 293 cells , neurospora , and cho cells , cos cells , hela cells , and immortalized mammalian myeloid and lymphoid cell lines . preferred replication systems include m13 , cole1 , sv40 , baculovirus , lambda , adenovirus , and the like . a large number of transcription initiation and termination regulatory regions have been isolated and shown to be effective in the transcription and translation of heterologous proteins in the various hosts . examples of these regions , methods of isolation , manner of manipulation , etc . are known in the art . under appropriate expression conditions , host cells can be used as a source of recombinantly produced β4gal - t2 derived peptides and polypeptides . advantageously , vectors may also include a transcription regulatory element ( i . e ., a promoter ) operably linked to the β4gal - t2 - coding portion . the promoter may optionally contain operator portions and / or ribosome binding sites . non - limiting examples of bacterial promoters compatible with e . coli include : â - lactamase ( penicillinase ) promoter ; lactose promoter ; tryptophan ( trp ) promoter ; arabinose bad operon promoter ; lambda - derived p1 promoter and n gene ribosome binding site ; and the hybrid tac promoter derived from sequences of the trp and lac uv5 promoters . non - limiting examples of yeast promoters include 3 - phosphoglycerate kinase promoter , glyceraldehyde - 3 phosphate dehydrogenase ( gapdh ) promoter , galactokinase ( gali ) promoter , galactoepimerase promoter , and alcohol dehydrogenase ( adh ) promoter . suitable promoters for mammalian cells include without limitation viral promoters such as that from simian virus 40 ( sv40 ), rous sarcoma virus ( rsv ), adenovirus ( adv ), and bovine papilloma virus ( bpv ). mammalian cells may also require terminator sequences and poly a addition sequences and enhancer sequences which increase expression may also be included ; sequences which cause amplification of the gene may also be desirable . furthermore , sequences that facilitate secretion of the recombinant product from cells , including , but not limited to , bacteria , yeast , and animal cells , such as secretory signal sequences and / or prohormone pro region sequences , may also be included . these sequences are known in the art . nucleic acids encoding wild - type or variant polypeptides may also be introduced into cells by recombination events . for example , such a sequence can be introduced into a cell , and thereby effect homologous recombination at the site of an endogenous gene or a sequence with substantial identity to the gene . other recombination - based methods such as nonhomologous recombinations or deletion of endogenous genes by homologous recombination may also be used . the nucleic acids of the present invention find use , for example , as probes for the detection of β4gal - t2 in other species and as templates for the recombinant production of peptides or polypeptides . these and other embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail below . the present invention encompasses isolated peptides and polypeptides encoded by the disclosed genomic sequence . peptides are preferably at least five residues in length . nucleic acids comprising protein - coding sequences can be used to direct the recombinant expression of polypeptides in intact cells or in cell - free translation systems . the known genetic code , tailored if desired for more efficient expression in a given host organism , can be used to synthesize oligonucleotides encoding the desired amino acid sequences . the phosphoramidite solid support method of matteucci et al ., 1981 , j . am . chem . soc . 103 : 3185 , the method of yoo et al ., 1989 , j . biol . chem . 764 : 17078 , or other well known methods can be used for such synthesis . the resulting oligonucleotides can be inserted into an appropriate vector and expressed in a compatible host organism . the polypeptides of the present invention , including function - conservative variants of the disclosed sequence , may be isolated from native or from heterologous organisms or cells ( including , but not limited to , bacteria , fungi , insect , plant , and mammalian cells ) into which a protein - coding sequence has been introduced and expressed . furthermore , the polypeptides may be part of recombinant fusion proteins . methods for polypeptide purification are well - known in the art , including , without limitation , preparative disc - gel elctrophoresis , isoelectric focusing , hplc , reversed - phase hplc , gel filtration , ion exchange and partition chromatography , and countercurrent distribution . for some purposes , it is preferable to produce the polypeptide in a recombinant system in which the protein contains an additional sequence tag that facilitates purification , such as , but not limited to , a polyhistidine sequence . the polypeptide can then be purified from a crude lysate of the host cell by chromatography on an appropriate solid - phase matrix . alternatively , antibodies produced against a protein or against peptides derived therefrom can be used as purification reagents . other purification methods are possible . the present invention also encompasses derivatives and homologues of polypeptides . for some purposes , nucleic acid sequences encoding the peptides may be altered by substitutions , additions , or deletions that provide for functionally equivalent molecules , i . e ., function - conservative variants . for example , one or more amino acid residues within the sequence can be substituted by another amino acid of similar properties , such as , for example , positively charged amino acids ( arginine , lysine , and histidine ); negatively charged amino acids ( aspartate and glutamate ); polar neutral amino acids ; and non - polar amino acids . the isolated polypeptides may be modified by , for example , phosphorylation , sulfation , acylation , or other protein modifications . they may also be modified with a label capable of providing a detectable signal , either directly or indirectly , including , but not limited to , radioisotopes and fluorescent compounds . the present invention encompasses antibodies that specifically recognize immunogenic components derived from β4gal - t2 . such antibodies can be used as reagents for detection and purification of β4gal - t2 . β 4 gal - t2 specific antibodies according to the present invention include polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies . the antibodies may be elicited in an animal host by immunization with β4gal - t2 components or may be formed by in vitro immunization of immune cells . the immunogenic components used to elicit the antibodies may be isolated from human cells or produced in recombinant systems . the antibodies may also be produced in recombinant systems programmed with appropriate antibody - encoding dna . alternatively , the antibodies may be constructed by biochemical reconstitution of purified heavy and light chains . the antibodies include hybrid antibodies ( i . e ., containing two sets of heavy chain / light chain combinations , each of which recognizes a different antigen ), chimeric antibodies ( i . e ., in which either the heavy chains , light chains , or both , are fusion proteins ), and univalent antibodies ( i . e ., comprised of a heavy chain / light chain complex bound to the constant region of a second heavy chain ). also included are fab fragments , including fab ′ and f ( ab ) 2 fragments of antibodies . methods for the production of all of the above types of antibodies and derivatives are well - known in the art . for example , techniques for producing and processing polyclonal antisera are disclosed in mayer and walker , 1987 , immunochemical methods in cell and molecular biology , ( academic press , london ). the antibodies of this invention can be purified by standard methods , including but not limited to preparative disc - gel elctrophoresis , isoelectric focusing , hplc , reversed - phase hplc , gel filtration , ion exchange and partition chromatography , and countercurrent distribution . purification methods for antibodies are disclosed , e . g ., in the art of antibody purification , 1989 , amicon division , w . r . grace & amp ; co . general protein purification methods are described in protein purification : principles and practice , r . k . scopes , ed ., 1987 , springer - verlag , new york , n . y . anti - β4gal - t2 antibodies , whether unlabeled or labeled by standard methods , can be used as the basis for immunoassays . the particular label used will depend upon the type of immunoassay used . examples of labels that can be used include , but are not limited to , radiolabels such as 32 p , 125 i , 3 h and 14 c ; fluorescent labels such as fluorescein and its derivatives , rhodamine and its derivatives , dansyl and umbelliferone ; chemiluminescers such as luciferia and 2 , 3 - dihydrophthal - azinediones ; and enzymes such as horseradish peroxidase , alkaline phosphatase , lysozyme and glucose - 6 - phosphate dehydrogenase . the antibodies can be tagged with such labels by known methods . for example , coupling agents such as aldehydes , carbodiimides , dimaleimide , imidates , succinimides , bisdiazotized benzadine and the like may be used to tag the antibodies with fluorescent , chemiluminescent or enzyme labels . the general methods involved are well known in the art and are described in , e . g ., chan ( ed . ), 1987 , immunoassay : a practical guide , academic press , inc ., orlando , fla . the following examples are intended to further illustrate the invention without limiting its scope . a : identification of cdna homologous to b4gal - t1 by analysis of est database sequence information . database searches were performed with the coding sequence of the human β4gal - t1 sequence ( masri et al ., 1988 ) using the blastn and tblastn algorithms against the dbest database at the national center for biotechnology information , usa . the blastn algorithm was used to identify ests representing the query gene ( identities of ≦ 95 %), whereas tblastn was used to identify non - identical , but similar est sequences . ests with 50 - 90 % nucleotide sequence identity were regarded as different from the query sequence . the results of tblastn searches were evaluated by visual inspection after elimination of ests regarded as identical to the query sequence (& lt ; 95 % nucleotide sequence identity ). ests with several apparent short sequence motifs and cysteine residues arranged with similar spacing were selected for further sequence analysis . initially , the identified ests ( 5 ′ sequence ) were used in blastn searches of the dbest database to search for overlapping ests ( 95 - 100 % identity in at least 30 bp ) ( fig1 ). if new ests were identified , the procedure was repeated and sequences merged . in addition , all identified ests were analysed in the unigene database in order to confirm that they were from the same gene transcript , and to select cdna clones with the longest inserts as well as information for each set of ests were compiled and analysed for sequence similarity to human β4gal - t 1 . two partly overlapping ests were identified ( fig1 ). sequencing of the inserts revealed an open reading frame which potentially encoded a sequence similar to β4gal - t1 , but the 5 ′ sequence was shorter and without an initiation codon . further 5 ′ sequence was obtained by 5 ′ race using human fetal brain marathon - ready cdna ( clontech ) in combination with anti - sense primers eber102 ( 5 ′- gaaactgagccttactcaggc ; seq id no : 30 ) and eber104 ( 5 ′- tccacatcgctgaagatgaagc ; seq id no : 31 ) for 35 cycles at 95 ° c ., 45 sec ; 55 ° c ., 15 sec ; 68 ° c ., 3 min , using the expand kit enzyme ( boehringer mannheim ). the race products were cloned into the bamhi site of pt7t3ui9 and multiple clones were sequenced . the entire sequence was confirmed by sequencing genomic p1 clones . an expression construct designed to encode amino acid residues 31 - 372 of β4gal - t2 was prepared by rt - pcr with mrna from colo205 cell line , using the primer pair eber100for ( 5 ′- tactttgacgtctacgcccag ; seq id no : 9 ) and eber114 ( 5 ′- gaaaacagagcccagctcag ; seq id no : 10 ) with bamh1 restriction sites ( fig2 ). the pcr product were cloned into the bamhi site of pacgp67 ( pharmingen ), and the construct sequenced to verify correct insertion and sequence . the plasmid pacgp67 - β4gal - t2 - sol was co - transfected with baculo - goldä dna ( pharmingen ) as described previously ( bennett et al ., 1996 ). recombinant baculo - virus were obtained after two successive amplifications in sf9 cells grown in serum - containing medium , and titres of virus were estimated by titration in 24 - well plates with monitoring of enzyme activities . controls included pacgp67 - β4gal - t3 - sol ( almeida et al ., 1997 ) and pacgp67 - galnac - t3 - sol ( bennett et al ., 1996 ). standard assays were performed in 50 ml total reaction mixtures containing 25 mm tris ( ph 7 . 5 ), 10 mm mncl 2 , 0 . 25 % triton x - 100 , 100 mm udp -[ 14 c ]- gal ( 2 , 300 cpm / nmol ) ( amersham ), and varying concentration of acceptor substrates ( sigma ) ( see table i for structures ). the soluble constructs were assayed with 5 - 20 ml of culture supernatant from infected cells , whereas the full length construct was assayed with 1 % triton x - 100 homogenates of washed cells . bovine milk p1 , 4gal - transferase ( sigma ) was used as control . assays used for determination of km of acceptor substrates were modified to include 200 mm udp -[ 14 c ]- gal , and assays for donor substrate km were performed with 2 mm ( for β4gal - t3 and bovine milk gal - t ) or 0 . 25 mm oglcnac - benzyl . reaction products were quantified by dowex - 1 chromatography . assays with hen egg ovalbumin ( sigma ), asialo - fetuin ( sigma ), and asialo - agalacto - fetuin ( sigma , treated with bgalactosidase ) were performed with the standard reaction mixture modified to contain 200 mm udp - gal , 54 mm nacl , and 0 . 5 mg ovalbumin . the transfer of gal was evaluated after precipitation by filtration through whatman gf / c glass fiber filters . c : stable expression of full coding sequence of βgal - t2 in cho cells . a cdna sequence encoding the full coding sequence of the putative β4gal - t2 gene was derived by rt - pcr using primers eber 120 ( 5 ′- agcggatccatgagcagactgctgggg - 3 ′; seq id no : 32 ) and eber 114 with bamhi restriction sites introduced . the pcr product was designed to yield a β4gal - t2 protein with a hydrophobic transmembrane retention signal in order to have the enzyme expressed and positioned in the appropriate golgi compartment of the transfected cell . the pcr product was inserted into the bamhi site of a mammalian expression vector pcdna3 ( invitrogen ), and the construct , pcdna3 - β4gal - t2 - mem , was transfected into cho and stable transfectants were selected . d : stable expression of the soluble form of bgal - t2 in cho cells . cdna pacgp67 - b4gal - t2 - sol containing the coding sequence of the putative soluble b4gal - t2 enzyme was cloned into the bamhi site of a modified mammalian expression vector pcdna3 ( invitrogen ). pcdna3 had been modified by insertion of an interferon signal peptide sequence into the kpni / bamhi site of ensuring secretion of the expressed product when cloned into the vector . the pcdna3γinf - β4gal - t2 - sol construct was transfected into cho and stable transfectants were selected . human multiple tissue northern blots were obtained from clontech . the soluble expression construct of β4gal - t2 was used as probe . the probe was random primed labelled using αp 32 dctp ( amersham ) and an oligo labelling kit ( pharmacia ). the blots were probed 18 hours at 42 ° c . as previously described ( bennett et al ., 1996 ), and washed 2 × 10 min at rt with 2 × ssc , 1 % na4p202 ; 2 × 20 min at 65 ° c . with 0 . 2 × ssc , 1 % sds , 1 % na 4 p 2 o 2 ; and once 10 min with 0 . 2 × ssc at rt . a human foreskin genomic p1 library ( dupont merck pharmaceutical company human foreskin fibroblast p1 library ) was screened using primer pair eber100 ( 5 ′- tgaaggaggatgccgcctatgac ; seq id no : 29 )/ eber102 ( 5 ′- gaaactgagccttactcaggc ; seq id no : 30 ). p1 clones were obtained from genome systems inc , and dna from p1 phages prepared as recommended by genome systems inc . the entire coding sequence of each gene was sequenced in full using automated sequencing ( ab1377 , perkin elmer ) with dye terminator chemistry . intron / exon boundaries were determined by comparison with the cdna sequences optimising for the gt / ag rule ( breathnach and chambon , 1981 ). primer pairs as described in fig8 and 9 have been used for pcr amplification of individual coding sequence of the 6 exons ( seq id nos : 11 - 16 ). each pcr product was subcloned and the sequence of 10 clones containing the appropriate insert was determined assuring that both alleles of each individual are characterized . from the foregoing it will be evident that , although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration , various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention . 1 . almeida , r ., amado , m ., david , l ., levery , s . b ., holmes , e . h ., merkx , g ., van kessel , a . g ., hassan , h ., bennett , e . p ., and clausen , h . 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( 1988 ) identification of the full - length coding sequence for human galactosyltransferase ( beta - n - acetylglucosaminide : beta 1 , 4 - galactosyltransferase ). biochem biophys res comm ., 157 , 657 - 663 . 18 . mengle - gaw , l ., mccoy - haman , m . f ., and tiemeier , d . c . ( 1991 ) genomic structure and expression of human beta - 1 , 4 - galactosyltransferase . biochem biophys res comm ., 176 , 1269 - 1276 . 19 . moscarello , m . a ., mitranic , m . m ., and vella , g . ( 1985 ) stimulation of bovine milk galactosyltransferase activity by bovine colostrum n - acetylglucosaminyltransferase i . biochim biophys acta ., 831 , 192 - 200 . 20 . nakazawa , k ., ando , t ., kimura , t ., and narimatsu , h . ( 1988 ) cloning and sequencing of a full - length cdna of mouse n - acetylglucosamine ( beta 1 - 4 ) galactosyltransferase . j . biochem ., 104 , 165 - 168 . 21 . nakazawa , k ., furukawa , k ., kobata , a ., and narimatsu , h . ( 1991 ) characterization of a murine beta 1 - 4 galactosyltransferase expressed in cos - 1 cells . eur j . biochem ., 196 , 363 - 368 . 22 . narimatsu , h ., sinha , s ., brew , k ., okayama , h ., and qasba , p . k . ( 1986 ) cloning and sequencing of cdna of bovine n - acetylglucosamine ( beta 1 - 4 ) galactosyltransferase . proc natl acad sci usa ., 83 , 4720 - 4724 . 23 . paquet , m . r . and moscarello , m . a . ( 1984 ) a kinetic comparison of partially purified rat liver golgi and rat serum galactosyltransferases . biochem j ., 218 , 745 - 751 . 24 . powell , j . t . and brew , k . ( 1974 ) the preparation and characterization of two forms of bovine galactosyl transferase . eur j . biochem ., 48 , 217 - 228 . 25 . shaper , j . h ., joziasse , d . h ., meurer , j . a ., chou , t .- d . d ., schnaar , r . a ., and shaper , n . l . ( 1995 ) the chicken genome contains two functional non - allelic b1 , 4 - galactosyltransferase genes . glycoconjugate j ., 12 , 477 26 . shaper , n . l ., shaper , j . h ., meuth , j . l ., fox , j . l ., chang , h ., kirsch , i . r ., hollis , and g f . ( 1986 ) bovine galactosyltransferase : identification of a clone by direct immunological screening of a cdna expression library . proc natl acad sci usa ., 83 , 1573 - 1577 . 27 . shaper , n . l ., hollis , g . f ., douglas , j . g ., kirsch , i . r ., and shaper , j . h . ( 1988 ) characterization of the full length cdna for murine beta - 1 , 4 - galactosyltransferase . novel features at the 5 ′- end predict two translational start sites at two in - frame augs . j . biol . chem ., 263 , 10420 - 10428 . 28 . shaper , n . l ., meurer , j . a ., joziasse , d . h ., chou , t . d ., smith , e . j ., schnaar , r . a ., and shaper , j . h . ( 1997 ) the chicken genome contains two functional nonallelic b1 , 4 - galactosyltransferase genes : chromosomal assignment to syntenic regions tracks fate of the two gene lineages in the human genome . j . biol . chem ., 272 , 31389 - 31399 . 29 . sheares , b . t . and carlson , d . m . ( 1984 ) two distinct udp - galactose : 2 - acetamido - 2 - deoxy - d - glucose 4 beta - galactosyltransferases in porcine trachea . j . biol . chem ., 259 , 8045 - 8047 . 30 . shur , b . d . ( 1982 ) evidence that galactosyltransferase is a surface receptor for poly ( n )- acetyllactosamine glycoconjugates on embryonal carcinoma cells . j . biol . chem ., 257 , 6871 - 6878 . 31 . wilson , i . b ., platt , f . m ., isenberg , d . a ., and rademacher , t . w . ( 1993 ) aberrant control of galactosyltransferase in peripheral b lymphocytes and epstein - barr virus transformed b lymphoblasts from patients with rheumatoid arthritis [ see comments ]. j rheumatol ., 20 , 1282 - 1287 .