Functional and transcriptomic analyses in Neurospora crassa reveal a crucial role for the N-glycoprotein deglycosylation process in fungal homeostasis.

Abstract

N-glycosylation is an essential post-translational modification required for proper protein folding, stability, trafficking, and secretion in eukaryotes. In such organisms, efficient endoplasmic reticulum (ER) quality control, such as that provided by the ER-associated degradation (ERAD) pathway, is critical for maintaining cellular homeostasis. During ERAD, terminally misfolded glycoproteins undergo N-deglycosylation prior to proteasomal degradation, a process typically mediated by peptide N-glycanase (PNGase). However, in filamentous fungi, the PNGase seems to be catalytically inactive, indicating evolutionary divergence from the canonical PNGase pathway. Filamentous fungi also encode endo-β-n-acetylglucosaminidases (ENGases), particularly members of glycoside hydrolase family 18 (GH18), which may compensate for the loss of canonical PNGase activity. Here, we investigated the roles of the cytosolic GH18 ENGase and a putative acidic PNGase in N. crassa using transcriptomic and functional approaches. Our results demonstrate that the cytosolic GH18 ENGase is an active deglycosylating enzyme likely associated with the ERAD pathway, whereas no deglycosylation activity was detected for the acidic PNGase. Deletion of the cytosolic ENGase severely compromises tolerance to diverse stress conditions and induces substantial transcriptomic reprogramming, including upregulation of a GH20 exo-β-n-acetylhexosaminidase under ER stress. These findings identify the cytosolic ENGase as a key component of fungal proteostasis and suggest that N. crassa activates alternative compensatory mechanisms to maintain protein quality control when canonical deglycosylation pathways are impaired.