Calnexin

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Calnexin

Lumenal domain of calnexin from PDB 1JHN.
Available structures
PDB Ortholog search: PDBe, RCSB
Identifiers
SymbolsCANX; CNX; IP90; P90
External IDsOMIM: 114217 MGI: 88261 HomoloGene: 1324 ChEMBL: 2719 GeneCards: CANX Gene
RNA expression pattern
More reference expression data
Orthologs
SpeciesHumanMouse
Entrez82112330
EnsemblENSG00000127022ENSMUSG00000020368
UniProtP27824P35564
RefSeq (mRNA)NM_001024649NM_001110499
RefSeq (protein)NP_001019820NP_001103969
Location (UCSC)Chr 5:
179.11 – 179.16 Mb
Chr 11:
50.29 – 50.33 Mb
PubMed search

Calnexin (CNX) is a 67kDa integral protein (that appears variously as a 90kDa, 80kDa or 75kDa band on western blotting depending on the source of the antibody) of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). It consists of a large (50 kDa) N-terminal calcium-binding lumenal domain, a single transmembrane helix and a short (90 residues), acidic cytoplasmic tail.

Function

Calnexin is a chaperone, characterized by assisting protein folding and quality control, ensuring that only properly folded and assembled proteins proceed further along the secretory pathway.

Calnexin acts to retain unfolded or unassembled N-linked glycoproteins in the ER.

Calnexin binds only those N-glycoproteins that have GlcNAc2Man9Glc1 oligosaccharides. These monoglucosylated oligosaccharides result from the trimming of two glucose residues by the sequential action of two glucosidases, I and II. Glucosidase II can also remove the third and last glucose residue.

If the glycoprotein is not properly folded, an enzyme called UGGT (for UDP-glucose:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase) will add the glucose residue back onto the oligosaccharide thus regenerating the glycoprotein's ability to bind to calnexin.

The improperly-folded glycoprotein chain thus loiters in the ER, risking the encounter with MNS1 (alpha-mannosidase), which eventually sentences the underperforming glycoprotein to degradation by removing its mannose residue.

If the protein is correctly translated, the chance of it being correctly folded before it encounters MNS1 is high.

Calnexin also functions as a chaperone for the folding of MHC class I alpha chain in the membrane of the ER. After folding is completed Calnexin is replaced by Calreticulin, which assists in further assembly of MHC class I.

Uses in molecular biology

Antibodies against calnexin can be used as markers for the ER in immmunofluorescence experiments. [1]

Cofactors

ATP and calcium ions are cofactors involved in substrate binding for calnexin.

External links

References

Further reading

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