N-acetylhexosamine 1-kinase (, NahK, LnpB, N-acetylgalactosamine/N-acetylglucosamine 1-kinase) is an enzyme with systematic name ATP:N-acetyl-D-hexosamine 1-phosphotransferase. This enzyme catalyses the two related chemical reaction that use adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to transfer a phosphate group to a hexose sugar.
ATP + N-acetyl-D-hexosamine ADP + N-acetyl-alpha-D-hexosamine 1-phosphate
For example, the enzyme characterised from Bifidobacterium longum converts N-acetyl-D-glucosamine to N-acetyl-α-D-glucosamine 1-phosphate:
Similarly, N-acetylgalactosamine is converted to N-acetyl-α-D-galactosamine 1-phosphate:
The enzyme is involved in the lacto-N-biose I/galacto-N-biose degradation pathway in this probiotic bacterium. It differs from N-acetylgalactosamine kinase, since it can phosphorylate both N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylglucosamine at similar rates and is active on some other sugars.
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