Substrate Ambiguity of 3-Deoxy-d-manno-Octulosonate 8-Phosphate Synthase from Neisseria gonorrhoeae Revisited

Homogeneous, recombinant 3-deoxy-d-manno-octulosonate 8-phosphate synthase from Neisseria gonorrhoeae is shown to catalyze the formation of 3-deoxy-d-manno-octulosonate 8-phosphate from phosphoenolpyruvate and d-arabinose 5-phosphate as determined from (1)H-nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of the product. This enzyme does not catalyze the condensation of d-erythrose 4-phosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate to form 3-deoxy-d-ribo-heptulosonate 7-phosphate, as was previously reported (P. S. Subramaniam, G. Xie, T. Xia, and R. A. Jensen, J. Bacteriol. 180:119–127, 1998).