Reaction: UDP-N-acetyl-α-D-glucosamine + ditrans,octacis-undecaprenyl phosphate = UMP + N-acetyl-α-D-glucosaminyl-diphospho-ditrans,octacis-undecaprenol
Glossary: N-acetyl-α-D-glucosaminyl-diphospho-ditrans,octacis-undecaprenol = lipid I = GlcNAc-pyrophosphorylundecaprenol = ditrans,octacis-undecaprenyl-N-acetyl-α-D-glucosaminyl diphosphate
Other name(s): UDP-N-acetylglucosamine:undecaprenyl-phosphate GlcNAc-1-phosphate transferase; WecA; WecA transferase; UDP-GIcNAc:undecaprenyl phosphate N-acetylglucosaminyl 1-P transferase; GlcNAc-P-P-Und synthase; GPT (ambiguous); TagO; UDP-GlcNAc:undecaprenyl-phosphate GlcNAc-1-phosphate transferase; UDP-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine:ditrans,octacis-undecaprenyl phosphate N-acetyl-D-glucosaminephosphotransferase
Systematic name: UDP-N-acetyl-α-D-glucosamine:ditrans,octacis-undecaprenyl phosphate N-acetyl-α-D-glucosaminephosphotransferase
Comments: This enzyme catalyses the synthesis of ditrans,octacis-undecaprenyl-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyl diphosphate, an essential lipid intermediate for the biosynthesis of various bacterial cell envelope components. The enzyme also initiates the biosynthesis of enterobacterial common antigen and O-antigen lipopolysaccharide in certain Escherichia coli strains, including K-12 [2] and of teichoic acid in certain Gram-positive bacteria [4].
Links to other databases: BRENDA, EXPASY, KEGG, Metacyc, CAS registry number:
References:
1. Al-Dabbagh, B., Mengin-Lecreulx, D. and Bouhss, A. Purification and characterization of the bacterial UDP-GlcNAc:undecaprenyl-phosphate GlcNAc-1-phosphate transferase WecA. J. Bacteriol. 190 (2008) 7141-7146. [PMID: 18723618]
2. Lehrer, J., Vigeant, K.A., Tatar, L.D. and Valvano, M.A. Functional characterization and membrane topology of Escherichia coli WecA, a sugar-phosphate transferase initiating the biosynthesis of enterobacterial common antigen and O-antigen lipopolysaccharide. J. Bacteriol. 189 (2007) 2618-2628. [PMID: 17237164]
4. Soldo, B., Lazarevic, V. and Karamata, D. tagO is involved in the synthesis of all anionic cell-wall polymers in Bacillus subtilis 168. Microbiology 148 (2002) 2079-2087. [PMID: 12101296]