Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Inorganic Polyphosphate: A Molecule of Many Functions

  • Chapter
Inorganic Polyphosphates

Part of the book series: Progress in Molecular and Subcellular Biology ((PMSB,volume 23))

Abstract

Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is a linear polymer of many tens or hundreds of orthophosphate (Pi) residues linked by high-energy, phosphoanhydride bonds (Fig.1). PolyP is formed from P, by dehydration at an elevated temperature and was likely involved in prebiotic evoluton. Of greatest interest is that polyP is found in every living thing - bacteria, fungi, protozoa, plants and animals (Kulaev 1979; Wood and Clark 1988; Kornberg 1994). Yet, for lack of any known function, it was for a long time dismissed as a “molecular fossil” and is still ignored in all textbooks of biology, biochemistry and chemistry.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Ahn K, Kornberg A (1990) Polyphosphate kinase from Escherichia coli. J Biol Chem 265: 11734–11739

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Akiyama M, Crooke E, Kornberg A (1992) The polyphosphate kinase gene of Escherichia coli. Isolation and sequence of the ppk gene and membrane location of the protein. J Biol Chem 267: 22556–22561

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Akiyama M, Crooke E, Kornberg A (1993) An exopolyphosphatase of Escherichia coli. The enzyme and its ppx gene in a polyphosphate operon. J Biol Chem 268: 633–639

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andreeva NA, Okorokov LA (1993) Purification and characterization of highly active and stable polyphosphatase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell envelope. Yeast 9: 127–139

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andreeva NA, Kulakovskaya T, Sidorov I, Karpov A, Kulaev I (1998) Purification and properties of polyphosphatase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytosol. Yeast 14: 383–390

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Archibald FS, Fridovich I (1982) Investigations of the state of the manganese in Lactobacillus plantarum. Arch Biochem Biophys 215: 589–596

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bonting CFC, Kortstee GJJ, Zehnder AJB (1991) Properties of polyphosphate: AMP phosphotransferase of Acinetobacter strain 210A. J Bacteriol 173: 6484–6488

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Butler L (1977) A suggested approach to ATP regeneration for enzyme technology applications. Biotechnol Bioeng 19: 591–593

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cowling RT, Birnboim HC (1994) Incorporation of [32P] orthophospate into inorganic polyphosphates by human granulocytes and other human cell types. J Biol Chem 269: 9480–9485

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crooke E, Akiyama M, Rao NN, Kornberg A (1994) Genetically altered levels of inorganic polyphosphate in Escherichia coli. J Biol Chem 269: 6290–6295

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Das S, Lengweiler UD, Seebach D, Reusch RN (1997) Proof for a non-proteinaceous calcium-selective channel in Escherichia coli by total synthesis from (R)-3-hydroxybutanoic acid and inorganic polyphosphate. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94: 9075–9079

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn T, Gable K, Beeler T (1994) Regulation of cellular Ca2+ by yeast vacuoles. J Biol Chem 269: 7273–7278

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ebel JP (1949) `Participation de lácide metaphosphorique à la constitution des bacteries et des tissus animaux’. C.R. Acad. Sci Paris 228: 1312

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gabel NW, Thomas V (1971) Evidence for the occurence and distribution of inorganic polyphospate in vertebrate tissues. J Neurochem 18: 1229–1242

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Griffith EJ (1992) In search of a safe mineral fiber. Chemtech 22: 220–226

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harada K, Fox S (1965) Thermal polycondensation of free amino acids with polyphosphoric acid. In: Fox S (ed) Origins of prebiological systems. Academic Press, New York, pp 289–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardoyo K, Yamada K, Shinjo H, Kato J, Ohtake H (1994) Production and release of polyphosphate by a genetically engineered strain of Escherichia coli. Appl Environ Microbiol 60: 3485–3490

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harold FM (1967) Inorganic polyphosphates in biology: structure, metabolism and function. Bacteriol Rev 30: 772–794

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsieh P-C, Shenoy BC, Jentoft JE, Phillips NFB (1993) Purification of polyphosphate and ATP glucose phosphotransferase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra: evidence that poly (P) and ATP glucokinase activities are catalyzed by the same enzyme. Protein Expr Purif 4: 76–84

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keasling, JD, Bertsch L, Kornberg A (1993) Guanosine pentaphosphate phosphohydrolase of Escherichia coli is a long-chain exopolyphosphatase. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 90: 7029–7033

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kornberg A (1957) Pyrophosphorylases and phosphorylases in biosynthetic reactions. Adv Enzymol 18: 191–240

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kornberg A (1993) Recollections. ATP and inorganic pyro-and polyphosphate. Protein Sci 2: 131–132

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kornberg A (1994) Inorganic polyphosphate: a molecular fossil come to life. In: Torriani-Gorini A, Silver S, Yagil E (eds) Phosphate in microorganisms: cellular and molecular biology. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, pp 204–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Kornberg A, Kornberg SR, Simmes ES (1956) Metaphosphate synthesis by an enzyme from Escherichia coli. Biochim Biophys Acta 20: 215–227

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kornberg SR (1957) Adensine triphosphate synthesis from polyphosphate by an enzyme from Escherichia coli. Biochim Biophys Acta 26: 294–300

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kulaev IS (1979) The biochemistry of inorganic polyphosphates. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulaev IS, Skryabin KG (1974) Reactions of nonenzymic trans-phosphorylation performed by high-polymeric polyphosphates and role in abiogenesis. Zh Evol Biokhim Fiziol 10: 533

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulaev IS, Vagabov VM, Shabalin YA (1987) New data in biosynthesis of polyphosphates in yeast. In: Torriani-Gorini A, Rothman FG, Silver S, Wright A, Yagil E (eds) Phosphate metab-olism and cellular regulation in microorganisms. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, pp 233–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumble KD, Kornberg A (1995) Inorganic polyphosphate in mammalian cells and tissues. J Biol Chem 270: 5818–5822

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumble KD, Kornberg A (1996) Endopolyphosphatases for long chain inorganic polyphosphate in yeast and mammals. J Biol Chem 271: 27146–27151

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kumble KD, Ahn K, Kornberg A (1996) Phosphohistidyl active sites in polyphosphate kinase of Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93: 14391–14395

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kuroda A, Kornberg A (1997) Polyphosphate kinase as a nucleoside diphosphate kinase in Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Proct Natl Acad Sci USA 94: 439–442

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee RM, Hartmann PA, Stahr HM, Olson DG, Williams FD (1994) Antibacterial mechanism of long-chain polyphosphate in Staphylococcus aureus. J Food Protect 57: 289–294

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liebermann L (1890) Detection of metaphosporic acid in the nuclein of yeast. Pflugers Arch 47: 155–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer A (1904) Orientierende Untersuchungen über Verbreitung, Morphologie, and Chemie des Volutins. Bot Z 62(1): 113–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Noguchi T, Shiba T (1998) Use of Escherichia coli polyphosphate kinase for oligosaccharides synthesis. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 62: 1594–1596

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nyren P, Nore BF, Strid A (1991) Proton-pumping N,N’-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-sensitive inorganic pyrophosphate synthase from Rhodospirillum rubrum : purification, characterization, and reconstitution. Bichemistry 30: 2883–2887

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Offenbacher S, Kline ES (1984) Evidence for polyphosphate in phosphorylated nonhistone nuclear proteins. Arch Biochem Biophys 231: 114–123

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pick U, Weiss M (1991) Polyphosphate hydrolysis within acidic vacuoles in response to amine-induced alkaline stress in the halotolerant alga Dunaliella salina. Plant Physiol 97: 1234–1240

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pisoni RL, Lindley ER (1991) Incorporation of [32P] orthophosphate into long chains of inor-ganic polyphosphate within lysosomes of human fibroblasts. J Biol Chem 267: 3626–3631

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao NN, Kornberg A (1996) Inorganic polyphosphate supports resistance and survival of stationary-phase Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol 178: 1394–1400

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rao NN, Liu S, Kornberg A (1998) Inorganic polyphosphate in Escherichia coli : the phosphate regulon and the stringent response. J. Bacteriol 180: 2186–2193

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rao NN, Torriani A (1990) Molecular aspects of phosphate transport in Escherichia coli. Mol Microbiol 4: 1083–1090

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reusch RN, Sadoff HL (1988) Putative structure and functions of a poly-β-hydroxybutyrate/ca1cium polyphosphate channel in bacterial plasma membranes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85: 4176–4180

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson NA, Clark JE, Wood HG (1987) Polyphosphate kinase from Propionibacterium shermanii. J Biol Chem 262: 5216–5222

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez RJ (1993) Polyphosphate present in DNA preparations from filamentous fungal species of Colletotrichum inhibits restriction endonucleases and other enzymes. Anal Biochem 209–291–297

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt G (1951) The biochemistry of inorganic pyrophosphates and metaphosphates. In: McElroy WD, Glass B (eds) Phosphorus metabolism. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, pp 443–475

    Google Scholar 

  • Shabalin YA, Kulaev IS (1989) Solubilization and properties of yeast dolichylpyrophosphate: polyphosphate phosphotransferase. Biokhimiya 54: 68–74 (in Russian)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Siegele DA, Kolter R (1992) Minireview: life after log. J Bacteriol 174: 345–348

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Skorko R (1989) Polyphosphate as a source of phosphoryl group in protein modification in the archaebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. Biochimie 71: 1089–1093

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tinsley CR, Manjula BN, Gotschlich EC (1993) Purification and characterization of polyphosphate kinase from Neisseria meningitidis. Infect Immun 61: 3703–3710

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tzeng C-M, Kornberg A (1998) Polyphosphate kinase is highly conserved in many bacterial pathogens. Mol Microbiol 29: 381–382

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Van Veen HW, Abee T, Kleefsman AWF, Melgers B, Kortstee GJJ, Konings WN, Zehnder AJB (1994) Energetics of alanine, lysine and proline transport in cytoplasmic membranes of the polyphosphate-accumulating Acinetobacter johnsonii strain 210A. J Bacteriol 176: 2670–2676

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Voelz H, Voelz U, Ortigoza RO (1966) The “polyphosphate overplus” phenomenon in Myxococ- cus xanthus and its influence on the architecture of the cell. Arch Mikrobiol 53: 371–388

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Waehneldt TV, Fox S (1967) Phosphorylation of nucleosides with polyphosphoric acid. Biochim Biophys Acta 134: 9–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiame J-M (1947) Yeast metaphosphate. Fed Proc 6: 302

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wood HG (1985) Inorganic pyrophosphate and polyphosphates as sources of energy. Curr Top Cell Regul 26: 355–369

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wood HG, Clark JE (1988) Biological aspects of inorganic polyphosphates. Annu Rev Biochem 57: 235–260

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wurst H, Kornberg A (1994) A soluble exopolyphosphatase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Biol Chem 269: 10996–11001

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yamagata Y, Watanabe H, Saitoh M, Namba T (1991) Volcanic production of polyphosphates and its relevance to prebiotec evolution. Nature 352: 516–519

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, 94305-5307, USA

    A. Kornberg

Authors
  1. A. Kornberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Physiologische Chemie Abteilung für Angewandte Molekularbiologie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Duesbergweg 6, D-55099, Mainz, Germany

    Heinz C. Schröder  & Werner E. G. Müller  & 

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kornberg, A. (1999). Inorganic Polyphosphate: A Molecule of Many Functions. In: Schröder, H.C., Müller, W.E.G. (eds) Inorganic Polyphosphates. Progress in Molecular and Subcellular Biology, vol 23. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58444-2_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58444-2_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-63597-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-58444-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation