The S-layer has to maintain the cell integrity and stabilize as well as to protect the cell against mechanical and osmotic stresses or extreme pH conditions. It is also predicted that the S-layer has to maintain or even determine the cell shape. It is also responsible for cell-cell interaction.
Glycosylation Status
Glycosylation Type
N- (Asn) linked
Experimentally Validated Glycosite(s) in Full Length Protein
Similar to eukaryotes and unlike other archaea, the tribranched glycan is linked via chitobiose core (GlcNAcβ1-4GlcNAc) to the Asn in S. acidocaldarius glycoproteins. Hence sulfolobus has been suggested as closest eukaryotic model for N glycosylation studies among archaeal speceis. The glycosylation density at C terminus of the protein averages around 1 site per 30-40 residues. Similarity found in glycan sequence in SlaA and cytochrome b558/566 subunit A strengthen the existing understanding of conservation of N glycosylation in a given species in archaea. The glycosylation was detected in other strains by thymol-sulfuric acid staining and DIG-glycan detection by 1996 (Ref. no. 3).