The 1.9 Å X-ray structure of a membrane-associated
glycosyltransferase involved in peptidoglycan biosynthesis
is reported. This enzyme, MurG, contains two α/β
open sheet domains separated by a deep cleft. Structural
analysis suggests that the C-terminal domain contains the
UDP-GlcNAc binding site while the N-terminal domain contains
the acceptor binding site and likely membrane association
site. Combined with sequence data from other MurG homologs,
this structure provides insight into the residues that
are important in substrate binding and catalysis. We have
also noted that a conserved region found in many UDP-sugar
transferases maps to a β/α/β/α supersecondary
structural motif in the donor binding region of MurG, an
observation that may be helpful in glycosyltransferase
structure prediction. The identification of a conserved
structural motif involved in donor binding in different
UDP-sugar transferases also suggests that it may be possible
to identify—and perhaps alter—the residues
that help determine donor specificity.