Evidence that the lipid carrier for N-acetylglucosamine is different from that for mannose in mung beans and cotton fibers.

Cell-free enzyme particles from mung beans (Phaseolus aureus) or cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fibers catalyze the incorporation of mannose from GDP-[(14)C]mannose and N-acetylglucosamine from UDP-[(3)H]-N-acetylglucosamine into polyprenyl-type lipids. These lipids have been synthesized and purified and the lipid moieties compared to each other as well as to dolichyl phosphate and to lipids isolated from similar mannoseand N-acetylglucosamine-containing lipids from liver and aorta.The following lines of evidence indicate that in plants, the lipid carrier for N-acetylglucosamine is different from the lipid carrier for mannose: [List: see text]We propose that the apparent difference in the lipid carrier for these two sugars may be a point of control of glycoprotein synthesis.