Isolation of Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylglucosamine-6- phospho-1-galactose from Hen Oviduct

The isolation and identification of uridine diphosphate N-acetylglucosamine 6-phosphate from extracts of hen oviduct was first reported by Strominger in 1955 (1). Since that time, essentially no information concerning the metabolic role of this compound has become available. Recently, however, brief reports from two independent laboratories (2, 3) have described the isolation of a modified compound in which the terminal phosphate of the hexosamine is found in phosphodiester linkage to the anomeric carbon of galactose. The possibility must be considered, therefore, that the original compound may represent a partial degradation product of the more highly substituted nucleotide conjugate. The present paper provides a detailed description of the isolation procedure as well as further documentation in support of the proposed structure of the galactose-containing nucleotide (Fig. 1).