Aspergillus niger van Tieghem mannosylation: polyprenylphosphate mannosyltransferase specificity

Aspergillus niger van Tieghem microsomes contain an enzyme that catalyzes mannose transfer from GDP-mannose to polyprenylphosphate. The studies of the specificity of this enzyme for both the sugar donor (nucleoside diphosphate sugar) and the acceptor (polyprenylphosphates that were made available to the enzyme by means of the fusion of acceptor-loaded liposomes with the microsomal membranes) gave the following results. i) All the polyprenylphosphates from C15 to C120 were acceptors except retinylphosphate. ii) The specificity of the enzyme for both the sugar and the base is very strict.