Biosynthesis of a D-glucosyl polyisoprenyl diphosphate in particulate preparations of Micrococcus lysodeikticus

Particulate fractions of Micrococcus lysodeikticus incubated with UDP-D-[14C]glucose incorporated radioactivity into a chloroform - methanol-soluble, low-mol. wt. compound, and into a polymer. The low-mol. wt. compound consisted of a glucolipid that was extremely labile to mild acid hydrolysis with the formation of D-[14C]glucose, and to mild alkali, yielding 14C-labeled alpha-D-glucopyranose 1,2-phosphate and D-glucose 2-phosphate. The labeled glucolipid was eluted from a DEAE-cellulose column at a salt concentration higher than that required by synthetic ficaprenyl (D-glucopyranosyl phosphate), and it migrated more slowly than the latter compound in t.l.c. Formation of the glucolipid was stimulated by exogenous ficaprenyl phosphate, but not by C55-dolichyl phosphate. These results suggest that the [14C]glucolipid has the characteristic properties of a polyisoprenyl glucosyl diphosphate.