title: The UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 1-carboxyvinyl-transferase of Enterobacter cloacae. Molecular cloning, sequencing of the gene and overexpression of the enzyme.
abstract: The UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 1-carboxyvinyltransferase (enolpyruvyltransferase, EC 2.5.1.7) which catalyses the first committed step in the biosynthesis of the bacterial cell-wall peptidoglycan was purified to near homogeneity from Enterobacter cloacae and the NH2-terminal amino-acid sequence determined. Using the polymerase chain reaction a 53-bp DNA fragment was synthesized; this fragment encodes the NH2-terminal sequence of the enzyme. A clone was then isolated which contained an open reading frame of 1257 bp coding for a protein of 419 amino acids. This protein was overexpressed 100-fold in transformed Escherichia coli cells and shown to possess the enolpyruvyltransferase activity. The overall amino-acid sequence of the enolpyruvyltransferase is significantly similar to that of the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate synthase, the only other enzyme known to catalyse the transfer of the enolpyruvate moiety of phosphoenolpyruvate to a substrate.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wanke
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Falchetto
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amrhein
mesh_terms: D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D016972:Enterobacter cloacae / Q000201:enzymology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014166:Transferases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D014166:Transferases; D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases; C022566:UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 1-carboxyvinyltransferase