Characterization and partial purification of a novel enzymatic activity. UDP-GlcNAc:Ser-protein N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphotransferase from the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum.

An enzymatic activity that transfers N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate residues from UDP-GlcNAc to serine units in proteins (UDP-GlcNAc:Ser-protein N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphotransferase) was detected in membranes of the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. The enzyme was partially purified by affinity chromatography in concanavalin A-Sepharose and ion exchange chromatography in a Mono Q column. The enzyme showed an absolute requirement for bivalent cations, Mn2+ being more effective than Mg2+. It had a broad optimum pH value (6.5-9.0). The Km for UDP-GlcNAc was 18 microM. In cell free assays it used apomucin and native or 8 M urea-denatured thyroglobulin but neither bovine serum albumin nor native or denatured uteroferrin as exogenous acceptors. Analysis of proteins isolated from cells grown in the presence of [32P]phosphate and from the culture medium showed that the majority of proteins bearing the structure Glc-NAc-1-P-Ser were secreted. In equilibrium density centrifugations of microsomes, the enzyme appeared in membranes having lighter densities than the enzyme that phosphorylates high mannose-type oligosaccharides. This showed that the activity that phosphorylates serine residues in proteins (UDP-GlcNAc:Ser-protein N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphotransferase) is different from that phosphorylating protein-linked high mannose-type oligosaccharides (UDP-GlcNAc:glycoprotein N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphotransferase).