Studies on the mechanism of collagen glucosyltransferase reaction

The mechanism of collagen glucosyltransferase reaction was studied with enzyme preparations purified about 2500-5000-fold from extract of homogenate of whole chick embryos. Data obtained in experiments on initial velocity and inhibition kinetics of the reaction were consistent with an ordered mechanism in which the substrates are bound to the enzyme in the following order: Mn2+, UDP-glucose and collagen substrate, the addition of Mn2+ being at thermodynamic equilibrium and the binding site of the UDP-glucose to the enzyme not being the same as that for Mn2+ and collagen substrate. Only one metal co-factor seems to be involved in the reaction. The collagen substrate can probably also react in some conditions with enzyme-Mn2+ and with enzyme-Mn2+-UDP, and the UDP with the free enzyme, but in all these instances dead-end complexes are formed. Evidence is presented for an ordered release of the products in the following order: glucosylated collagen, UDP and Mn2+, in which Mn2+ need not leave the enzyme during each catalytic cycle.