At the Membrane Frontier: a Prospectus on the Remarkable Evolutionary Conservation of Polyprenols and Polyprenyl-phosphates

Overview

Journal Arch Biochem Biophys

Publisher Elsevier

Specialties Biochemistry
Biophysics

Date 2011 Nov 19

PMID 22093697

Citations 67

Authors

Meredith D Hartley

Barbara Imperiali

Affiliations

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Abstract

Long-chain polyprenols and polyprenyl-phosphates are ubiquitous and essential components of cellular membranes throughout all domains of life. Polyprenyl-phosphates, which include undecaprenyl-phosphate in bacteria and the dolichyl-phosphates in archaea and eukaryotes, serve as specific membrane-bound carriers in glycan biosynthetic pathways responsible for the production of cellular structures such as N-linked protein glycans and bacterial peptidoglycan. Polyprenyl-phosphates are the only form of polyprenols with a biochemically-defined role; however, unmodified or esterified polyprenols often comprise significant percentages of the cellular polyprenol pool. The strong evolutionary conservation of unmodified polyprenols as membrane constituents and polyprenyl-phosphates as preferred glycan carriers in biosynthetic pathways is poorly understood. This review surveys the available research to explore why unmodified polyprenols have been conserved in evolution and why polyprenyl-phosphates are universally and specifically utilized for membrane-bound glycan assembly.

Citing Articles

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