Degradation of gangliosides by the lysosomal sialidase requires an activator protein

Lysosomal sialidase, which was formerly believed to degrade only water-soluble substrates but not glycolipids, cleaves ganglioside substrates II3NeuNAc-LacCer, IV3NeuNAc, II3NeuNAc-GgOse4Cer, IV3 NeuNAc, II3(NeuNAc)2-GgOse4Cer when these are dispersed either with an appropriate detergent (taurodeoxycholate) or with the sulfatide activator protein, a physiologic lipid solubilizer required for the lysosomal hydrolysis of other glycolipids by water-soluble hydrolases. In the presence of the activator protein, time and protein dependence were linear within wide limits, while the detergent rapidly inactivated the enzyme. The disialo group of the b-series gangliosides was only poorly attacked by the enzyme when the lipids were dispersed with the activator protein, whereas in the presence of the detergent, they were hydrolyzed as fast as terminal sialic acid residues. With the appropriate assay method, significant ganglioside sialidase activity could be demonstrated in the secondary lysosome fraction of normal skin fibroblasts but not of sialidosis fibroblasts. Our results support the notion that there is only one lysosomal sialidase, which degrades both the water-soluble and the membrane-bound sialyl glycoconjugates.