Fig. 3: MUC2 protein glycosylation in homeostatic (normal) gut
environment versus disease/dysbiotic gut environment. A. MUC2 protein
domain organization. The high density of O-glycosylation takes place in
PTS domains. B. AlphaFold depiction of MUC2 region from
residues 1260 to 1460 (UniProt Primary Accession: Q02817). Protein
structure is colored according to model confidence. Visualization of the
predicted aligned error plot demonstrates high model confidence between
residues 1300-1395, associated with the ordered domain highlighted in
dark and light blue. Model confidence falters in regions associated with
PTS-repeats, indicative of the inherent disordered state of the protein
backbone and displayed in orange and yellow. MUC2 glycans observed in a
homeostatic (normal) gut environment are found to be densely packed.
Glycan structures are elongated, sulfated, and fucosylated. MUC2 glycans
observed in disease/dysbiotic gut environment are found to be sparser.
Glycan structures are shorter, altered, and aberrant with increased
expression of T antigen, Tn antigen, and STn
antigen134,156,176,177,288,289.