O-phosphohydroxylysinuria: a new inborn error of metabolism?

An abnormal ninhydrin positive compound was observed in the urine of two unrelated patients with neurological abnormalities. The compound was isolated by cation exchange followed by preparative paper chromatography and finally purified via cation exchange column chromatography. Its identification as O-phosphohydroxylysine resulted from FAB mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. Chemical synthesis confirmed the structure. It was tentatively postulated that these patients had a defect of the metabolism of hydroxylysine, viz., a deficiency of the enzyme O-phosphohydroxylysine phospholyase.