Tunicamycin inhibits GlcNAc-lipid formation in plants.
Previous studies from this laboratory (Forsee, W. T., and Elbein, A. D. (1975) J. Biol. Chem. 250, 9283-9293; Forsee, W. T., Valkovich, G., and Elbein, A. D. (1976) Arch Biochem. Biophys. 174, 469-479) have shown that particulate extracts from cotton fibers and mung been seedlings catalyze the transfer of mannose from GDP-[14C]mannose and GlcNAc from UDP-[3H]GlcNAc into lipid-linked saccharides, Concentrations of tunicamycin of 5 microgram/ml or higher inhibit the incorporation of GlcNAc into GlcNAc-pyrophosphoryl-polyprenol but this antibiotic, even at 500 microgram/ml, had no effect on the synthesis of mannosyl-phosphoryldolichol. Tunicamycin also caused a slight inhibition in the incorporation of mannose into lipid-linked oligosaccharides. The concentration of tunicamycin necessary for inhibition was dependent on the amount of particulate enzyme in the incubations.
D000117:Acetylglucosamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005944:Glucosamine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D003368:Gossypium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D006155:Guanosine Diphosphate Mannose / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D010944:Plants / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D014537:Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylglucosamine / Q000378:metabolism
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D006017:Glycolipids; D006155:Guanosine Diphosphate Mannose; D014537:Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylglucosamine; D005944:Glucosamine; D000117:Acetylglucosamine