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. 1983 Jun;154(3):1284–1290. doi: 10.1128/jb.154.3.1284-1290.1983

Pool levels of UDP N-acetylglucosamine and UDP N-acetylglucosamine-enolpyruvate in Escherichia coli and correlation with peptidoglycan synthesis.

D Mengin-Lecreulx, B Flouret, J van Heijenoort
PMCID: PMC217602  PMID: 6222035

Abstract

A high-pressure liquid chromatography procedure was developed for the isolation and quantitation of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, UDP-N-acetylglucosamine-enolpyruvate, and UDP-N-acetylmuramic acid, which are the early cytoplasmic precursors of bacterial peptidoglycan. In exponential-phase cells of Escherichia coli K-12, the intracellular concentration of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine was about 100 microM, whereas that of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine-enolpyruvate was only 2 microM. The phosphoenolpyruvate: UDP-N-acetylglucosamine transferase and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine-enolpyruvate reductase activities were investigated in extracts from E. coli. These activities appeared to be present in amounts sufficient for the ongoing rate of peptidoglycan synthesis. Certain uridine nucleotide peptidoglycan precursors were found to inhibit phosphoenolpyruvate: UDP-N-acetylglucosamine transferase activity.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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