Comparative reactivity of carbamyl phosphate and glucose 6-phosphate with the glucose-6-phosphatase of intact microsomes.

The ability of glucose 6-phosphate and carbamyl phosphate to serve as substrates for glucose-6-phosphatase (D-glucose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase; EC 3.1.3.9) of intact and disrupted microsomes from rat liver was compared at pH 7.0. Results support carbamyl phosphate and glucose 6-phosphate as effective substrates with both. Km values for carbamyl phosphate and glucose 6-phosphate were greater with intact than with disrupted microsomes, but Vmax values were higher with the latter. The substrate translocase-catalytic unit concept of glucose-6-phosphatase function is thus confirmed. The Km values for 3-O-methyl-D-glucose and D-glucose were larger when determined with intact than with disrupted microsomes. This observation is consistent with the involvement of a translocase specific for hexose substrate as a rate-influencing determinant in phosphotransferase activity of glucose-6-phosphatase.