Peptidoglycan glycosyltransferase

In enzymology, a peptidoglycan glycosyltransferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction


 * [GlcNAc-(1->4)-Mur2Ac(oyl-L-Ala-gamma-D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala)]n- diphosphoundecaprenol + GlcNAc-(1->4)-Mur2Ac(oyl-L-Ala-gamma-D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala)- diphosphoundecaprenol $$\rightleftharpoons$$ [GlcNAc-(1->4)-Mur2Ac(oyl-L-Ala-gamma-D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala)]n+1- diphosphoundecaprenol + undecaprenyl diphosphate

The 4 substrates of this enzyme are [GlcNAc-(1->4)-Mur2Ac(oyl-L-Ala-gamma-D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala)]n-, diphosphoundecaprenol, GlcNAc-(1->4)-Mur2Ac(oyl-L-Ala-gamma-D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala)-, and diphosphoundecaprenol, whereas its 3 products are [GlcNAc-(1->4)-Mur2Ac(oyl-L-Ala-gamma-D-Glu-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala)]n+1-, diphosphoundecaprenol, and undecaprenyl diphosphate.

This enzyme belongs to the family of glycosyltransferases, specifically the hexosyltransferases. The systematic name of this enzyme class is undecaprenyldiphospho-(N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyl-(1->4)-(N-acetyl-D-mu ramoylpentapeptide):undecaprenyldiphospho-(N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyl-( 1->4)-N-acetyl-D-muramoylpentapeptide) disaccharidetransferase. Other names in common use include PG-II, bactoprenyldiphospho-N-acetylmuramoyl-(N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyl)-, pentapeptide:peptidoglycan, N-acetylmuramoyl-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyltransferase, penicillin binding protein (3 or 1B), and peptidoglycan transglycosylase. This enzyme participates in peptidoglycan biosynthesis.

Structural studies
As of late 2007, 3 structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes, , and.