Work

Evolutionary conservation of the active site of soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase

Year: 1992

Type: review

Abstract: Soluble inorganic pyrophosphatases (PPases) are essential enzymes that are important for controlling the cellular levels of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi). Although prokaryotic and eukaryotic PPases differ substantially in amino acid sequence, recent evidence now demonstrates clearly that PPases throughout evolution show a remarkable level of conservation of both an extended active site structure, which has the character of a mini-mineral, and a catalytic mechanism. PPases require several (three or four) Mg2+ ions at the active site for activity and many of the 15-17 fully conserved active site residues are directly involved in the binding of metal ions. Each of the eight microscopic rate constants that has been evaluated for the PPases from both Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae is quite similar in magnitude for the two enzymes, supporting the notion of a conserved mechanism.

Source: Trends in Biochemical Sciences

DOI: 10.1016/0968-0004(92)90406-y

Authors: Barry S. Cooperman, Alexander A. Baykov, Reijo Lahti

Institutions: University of Pennsylvania, Lomonosov Moscow State University, University of Turku

Language: English

Topic: Physical Organic Chemistry and Reaction Kinetics

Subfield: Organic Chemistry

Field: Chemistry

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $7,030

Funder: University of Chicago