The acetylation of d-glucosamine by pigeon liver extracts.

One of the few naturally occurring acetyl derivatives in the animal body is that of glucosamine. It is well known that glucosamine is present in a large number of polysaccharides in many organisms and almost always is present there in acetylated form. During studies in this laboratory on the acetylation reaction, we, therefore, became interested in the possibility of carrying out an enzymatic acet.ylation of glucosamine in vitro. Pigeon liver extract had previously been used extensively in experiments on enzymatic acetylation and had been found to contain acetylating systems for several amines (1, 2). It will be reported here that this extract likewise contains the system for acetylation of glucosamine. As with previously studied acet,ylat.ion reactions, glucosamine acetylation is also dependent on coenzyme A (CoA) or, more precisely, acetylwCoA is the immediate acetyl donor in this reaction.