Translocation of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine into vesicles derived from rat liver rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus.

A mixture of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine labeled with different radioisotopes in the uridine and glucosamine was used to show that the intact sugar nucleotide was translocated across the membrane of vesicles derived from rat liver rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and Golgi apparatus. Translocation was dependent on temperature, saturable at high concentrations of sugar nucleotide, and inhibited by treatment of vesicles with proteases, suggesting protein carrier mediated transport. Translocation of UDP-GlcNAc by RER-derived vesicles appeared to be specific since these vesicles were unable to translocate UDP-galactose, in contrast to those derived from the Golgi apparatus. Preliminary results suggest that the mechanism of UDP-GlcNAc translocation into RER-derived vesicles is via a coupled exchange with lumenal nucleoside monophosphate. This is similar to the recently postulated mechanism for translocation of sugar nucleotides into vesicles derived from the Golgi apparatus.