Abstract
The mechanisms for the biosynthesis of three polysaccharides are presented: (i) starch synthesized by starch synthase and adenosine diphospho glucose; (ii) dextran synthesized by Leuconostoc mesenteroides B-512FMC dextransucrase and sucrose; and (iii) Acetobacter xylinum cellulose synthesized by cellulose synthase, uridine diphospho glucose, and bactoprenol phosphate. All three enzymes were pulsed with substrates, containing 14C-glucose and chased with the same nonlabeled substrates. When the polysaccharides were isolated, reduced, and hydrolyzed, the pulsed reactions gave 14C-glucitol, which was significantly decreased in the chase reaction. These experiments definitively show that all three polysaccharides are biosynthesized by the addition of glucose to the reducing-ends of the growing polysaccharides and not by the addition to the nonreducing-ends of primers. Additional evidence indicates that glucose and the polysaccharides are covalently attached to the active-sites of the enzymes. A two catalytic-site insertion mechanism at one active-site is proposed for the biosyntheses. Two of the polysaccharides are α-linked glucans, starch and dextran, and cellulose is a β-linked glucan, known for several years to require a bactoprenol lipid phosphate intermediate. It is shown how this intermediate is involved in determining that β-linkages are synthesized. Other β-linked polysaccharides: bacterial cell wall peptidomurein, Salmonella O-antigen polysaccharide, and Xanthanomonas camprestris xanthan, are heteropolysaccharides, with the later two also being hetero-linked polysaccharides, with the β-linkage at the reducing-end of the repeating unit. All three require bactoprenol lipid phosphate intermediates and are biosynthesized by the addition of the repeating units to the reducing-end of a growing polysaccharide chain, with the formation of a β-linkage.
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Abbreviations
- ADPGlc:
-
adenosine diphospho glucose
- CP:
-
conversion period, which is the theoretical time necessary to convert the substrate into product for the amount of enzyme present
- d.p.:
-
degree of polymerization
- α-Glc-1-P:
-
α-D-glucose-1-phosphate
- Pi :
-
inorganic phosphate
- UDPGlc:
-
uridine diphospho glucose
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Robyt, J.F. Mechanisms involved in the biosynthesis of polysaccharides. Biologia 63, 980–988 (2008). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-008-0168-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-008-0168-y