Evaluation of synthase and hemisynthase activities of glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase (GlmS, EC 2.6.1.16) catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step in the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway, leading to the synthesis of uridine-5′-diphospho-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine, the major building block for the edification of peptidoglycan in bacteria, chitin in fungi, and glycoproteins in mammals. This bisubstrate enzyme converts d-fructose-6-phosphate (Fru-6P) and l-glutamine (Gln) into d-glucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN-6P) and l-glutamate (Glu), respectively. We previously demonstrated that matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) allows determination of the kinetic parameters of the synthase activity. We propose here to refine the experimental protocol to quantify Glu and GlcN-6P, allowing determination of both hemisynthase and synthase parameters from a single assay kinetic experiment, while avoiding interferences encountered in other assays. It is the first time that MALDI-MS is used to survey the activity of a bisubstrate enzyme.