UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase (hydrolysing) explained

UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase (hydrolysing)
Ec Number:	3.2.1.183

UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase (hydrolysing) (UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase, GNE (gene), siaA (gene), neuC (gene)) is an enzyme with systematic name UDP-N-acetyl-alpha-D-glucosamine hydrolase (2-epimerising).^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction

UDP-N-acetyl-alpha-D-glucosamine + H₂O

\rightleftharpoons N-acetyl-D-mannosamine + UDP

The enzyme is found in mammalian liver, as well as in some pathogenic bacteria including Neisseria meningitidis and Staphylococcus aureus.

Notes and References

1. Stäsche R, Hinderlich S, Weise C, Effertz K, Lucka L, Moormann P, Reutter W . A bifunctional enzyme catalyzes the first two steps in N-acetylneuraminic acid biosynthesis of rat liver. Molecular cloning and functional expression of UDP-N-acetyl-glucosamine 2-epimerase/N-acetylmannosamine kinase . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 272 . 39 . 24319–24 . September 1997 . 9305888 . 10.1074/jbc.272.39.24319 . free .
2. Chou WK, Hinderlich S, Reutter W, Tanner ME . Sialic acid biosynthesis: stereochemistry and mechanism of the reaction catalyzed by the mammalian UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase . Journal of the American Chemical Society . 125 . 9 . 2455–61 . March 2003 . 12603133 . 10.1021/ja021309g .
3. Blume A, Ghaderi D, Liebich V, Hinderlich S, Donner P, Reutter W, Lucka L . UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase/N-acetylmannosamine kinase, functionally expressed in and purified from Escherichia coli, yeast, and insect cells . Protein Expression and Purification . 35 . 2 . 387–96 . June 2004 . 15135418 . 10.1016/j.pep.2004.02.013 .
4. Murkin AS, Chou WK, Wakarchuk WW, Tanner ME . Identification and mechanism of a bacterial hydrolyzing UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase . Biochemistry . 43 . 44 . 14290–8 . November 2004 . 15518580 . 10.1021/bi048606d .