Activated Lactococcus lactis -phosphoglucomutase ( PGM) catalyzes the conversion of -Dglucose 1-phosphate ( G1P) derived from maltose to -D-glucose 6-phosphate (G6P). Activation requires Mg 2+ binding and phosphorylation of the active site residue Asp8. Initial velocity techniques were used to define the steady-state kinetic constants k cat ) 177 ( 9 s -1 , K m ) 49 ( 4 µM for the substrate G1P and K m ) 6.5 ( 0.7 µM for the activator -D-glucose 1,6-bisphosphate ( G1,6bisP). The observed transient accumulation of [ 14 C] G1,6bisP (12% at ∼0.1 s) in the single turnover reaction carried out with excess PGM (40 µM) and limiting [ 14 C] G1P (5 µM) and G1,6bisP (5 µM) supported the role of G1,6bisP as a reaction intermediate in the conversion of the G1P to G6P. Single turnover reactions of [ 14 C] G1,-6bisP with excess PGM were carried out to demonstrate that phosphoryl transfer rather than ligand binding is rate-limiting and to show that the G1,6bisP binds to the active site in two different orientations (one positioning the C(1)phosphoryl group for reaction with Asp8, and the other orientation positioning the C(6)phosphoryl group for reaction with Asp8) with roughly the same efficiency. Single turnover reactions carried out with PGM, [ 14 C] G1P, and unlabeled G1,6bisP demonstrated complete exchange of label to the G1,6bisP during the catalytic cycle. Thus, the reorientation of the G1,6bisP intermediate that is required to complete the catalytic cycle occurs by diffusion into solvent followed by binding in the opposite orientation. Published X-ray structures of G1P suggest that the reorientation and phosphoryl transfer from G1,6bisP occur by conformational cycling of the enzyme between the active site open and closed forms via cap domain movement. Last, the equilibrium ratio of G1,6bisP to G1P plus G6P was examined to evidence a significant stabilization of PGM aspartyl phosphate.Phosphoglucomutases catalyze the interconversion of D-glucose 1-phosphate (G1P) 1 and D-glucose 6-phosphate (G6P). Operating in the forward G6P-forming direction, this reaction links polysaccharide phosphorolysis to glycolysis. In the reverse direction, the reaction provides G1P for the biosynthesis of exo-polysaccharides (2). There are two classes of phosphoglucomutases, the R-phosphoglucomutases (RPGM, EC 5.4.2.2), ubiquitous among eucaryotes and procaryotes, and the -phosphoglucomutases ( PGM, EC 5.4.2.6), present in certain bacteria and protists. The two classes of mutases are distinguished by their specificity for R-and -D-glucose phosphates and by their protein-fold family. The rabbit muscle RPGM (3) and the closely related Pseudomonas aeruginosa RPGM/RPMM (4) are members of the phosphohexomutase enzyme superfamily (5), whereas PGM (6) belongs to the haloalkanoic acid (HAD) enzyme superfamily (7). The four-domain RPGM and RPGM/RPMM (∼50 kDa) are approximately twice the size of the twodomain PGM (∼25 kDa).In RPGM (and in RPGM/RPMM), phosphoryl transfer is mediated by an active site serine which forms a stable phosphate ester...