enzymology Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

, an UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 1-carboxyvinyltransferase () is an

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

that catalyzes the first

committed step In enzymology, the committed step (also known as the ''first'' committed step) is an effectively irreversible enzymatic reaction that occurs at a branch point during the biosynthesis of some molecules. As the name implies, after this step, the m ...

in peptidoglycan biosynthesis of bacteria: :phosphoenolpyruvate + UDP-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine

\rightleftharpoons

phosphate + UDP-N-acetyl-3-O-(1-carboxyvinyl)-D-glucosamine Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are phosphoenolpyruvate and

UDP-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine Uridine diphosphate ''N''-acetylglucosamine or UDP-GlcNAc is a nucleotide sugar and a coenzyme in metabolism. It is used by glycosyltransferases to transfer ''N''-acetylglucosamine residues to substrates. D-Glucosamine is made naturally in the f ...

, whereas its two products are

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

and UDP-N-acetyl-3-O-(1-carboxyvinyl)-D-glucosamine. The pyruvate moiety provides the linker that bridges the glycan and peptide portion of peptidoglycan. The enzyme is inhibited by the antibiotic

fosfomycin Fosfomycin, sold under the brand name Monurol among others, is an antibiotic primarily used to treat lower UTI. It is not indicated for kidney infections. Occasionally it is used for prostate infections. It is generally taken by mouth. Common ...

, which covalently modifies an active site

cysteine Cysteine (symbol Cys or C; ) is a semiessential proteinogenic amino acid with the formula . The thiol side chain in cysteine often participates in enzymatic reactions as a nucleophile. When present as a deprotonated catalytic residue, sometime ...

residue. This enzyme belongs to the family of

transferase A transferase is any one of a class of enzymes that catalyse the transfer of specific functional groups (e.g. a methyl or glycosyl group) from one molecule (called the donor) to another (called the acceptor). They are involved in hundreds of di ...

s, specifically those transferring aryl or alkyl groups other than methyl groups. The systematic name of this enzyme class is phosphoenolpyruvate:UDP-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine 1-carboxyvinyltransferase.Other names in common use include MurA transferase, UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 1-carboxyvinyl-transferase, UDP-N-acetylglucosamine enoylpyruvyltransferase, enoylpyruvate transferase, phosphoenolpyruvate-UDP-acetylglucosamine-3-enolpyruvyltransferase, phosphoenolpyruvate:UDP-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose 2-enoyl-1-carboxyethyltransferase, phosphoenolpyruvate:uridine diphosphate N-acetylglucosamine enolpyruvyltransferase, phosphoenolpyruvate:uridine-5'-diphospho-N-acetyl-2-amino-2-deoxyglucose 3-enolpyruvyltransferase, phosphopyruvate-uridine diphosphoacetylglucosamine pyruvatetransferase, pyruvate-UDP-acetylglucosamine transferase, pyruvate-uridine diphospho-N-acetylglucosamine transferase, pyruvate-uridine diphospho-N-acetyl-glucosamine transferase, and pyruvic-uridine diphospho-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase. This enzyme participates in

amino sugar In organic chemistry, an amino sugar (or more technically a 2-amino-2-deoxysugar) is a sugar molecule in which a hydroxyl group has been replaced with an amine group. More than 60 amino sugars are known, with one of the most abundant being ''N'' ...

s metabolism and

glycan The terms glycans and polysaccharides are defined by IUPAC as synonyms meaning "compounds consisting of a large number of monosaccharides linked glycosidically". However, in practice the term glycan may also be used to refer to the carbohydrate p ...

biosynthesis.

Structural studies

As of late 2007, 10 structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes , , , , , , , , , and .

References

Literature

* * * EC 2.5.1 Enzymes of known structure {{2.5-enzyme-stub