Title: Conversion of N-acetylglucosamine to CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid in a cell-free system of rat liver
Abstract: A soluble fraction of rat liver converts glucosamine and N-acetylglucosamine in the presence of ATP and UTP to N-acetylneuraminic acid. This system, when supplemented with CTP, forms CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid in high yield. Nicotinamide was found to enhance the synthesis of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylneuraminic acid. Kinetic analysis reveals N-acetylglucosamine 6-phosphate, UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylmannosamine, N-acetylmannosamine 6-phosphate and N-acetylneuraminic acid 9-phosphate as intermediates. Under certain experimental conditions, however, an epimerisation of N-acetylglucosamine to N-acetylmannosamine was seen. Labelled UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylneuraminic acid and CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid, respectively, were obtained in good yield by varying the experimental conditions. A chromatographic method for the separation of N-acetylglucosamine 6-phosphate and N-acetylmannosamine 6-phosphate was developed.
Publication Year: 1972
Publication Date: 1972-06-26
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 21
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