A New Class of Phosphotransferases Phosphorylated on an Aspartate Residue in an Amino-terminal DXDX(T/V) Motif

When incubated with their substrates, human phosphomannomutase and l-3-phosphoserine phosphatase are known to form phosphoenzymes with chemical characteristics of an acyl-phosphate. The phosphorylated residue in phosphomannomutase has now been identified by mass spectrometry after reduction of the phosphoenzyme with tritiated borohydride and trypsin digestion. It is the first aspartate in a conserved DVDGT motif. Replacement of either aspartate of this motif by asparagine or glutamate resulted in complete inactivation of the enzyme. The same mutations performed in the DXDST motif of l-3-phosphoserine phosphatase also resulted in complete inactivation of the enzyme, except for the replacement of the second aspartate by glutamate, which reduced the activity by only about 40%. This suggests that the first aspartate of the motif is also the phosphorylated residue inl-3-phosphoserine phosphatase. Data banks contained seven other phosphomutases or phosphatases sharing a similar, totally conserved DXDX(T/V) motif at their amino terminus. One of these (β-phosphoglucomutase) is shown to form a phosphoenzyme with the characteristics of an acyl-phosphate. In conclusion, phosphomannomutase and l-3-phosphoserine phosphatase belong to a new phosphotransferase family with an amino-terminal DXDX(T/V) motif that serves as an intermediate phosphoryl acceptor.