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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Jul 14.
Published in final edited form as: Biochemistry. 2009 Apr 14;48(14):3068–3077. doi: 10.1021/bi900167q

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Reaction catalyzed by LpxC and the structure of E. coli lipid A. The biosynthesis of lipid A begins with the 3-O-acylation of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine by the cytosolic enzyme LpxA (5). In the first irreversible (committed) reaction of the pathway, the deacetylase LpxC unblocks the nitrogen at the 2 position of the glucosamine ring for subsequent acylation by LpxD (5). Seven downstream reactions produce Kdo2-lipid A, the hydrophobic membrane anchor of lipopolysaccharide (5).