Page 216 - The Biochemistry of Inorganic Polyphosphates

WU095/Kulaev
WU095-10
Polyphosphates in chemical and biological evolution
200 March 9, 2004 15:45 Char Count= 0
× 10 −5 ) Uptake of [ 32 P]orthophosphate (mCi (mg protein) −1

Figure 10.3 Synthesis of pyrophosphate by yeast mitochondria depleted in ADP and ATP
(Mansurova et al., 1975b).

processes taking place in the membranes, and above all in photosynthetic phosphorylation
and phosphorylation in the respiratory chain.
In the opinion of some investigators, the PP-dependent H -pumps are more ancient than
+
the H -ATPases (Baltscheffsky, 1997; Baltscheffsky et al., 1999). However, it should be
+
noted that all contemporary microorganisms, including the most ancient archae, possess in
+
their membranes H -ATPases of different types (Nelson, 1992).
It cannot be excluded therefore that the ATP- and pyrophosphate-based energetics were
developed in the course of evolution in parallel and their joint existence in some organisms
is one of the ways for the best adaptation to the changing environment. In some cases, the
pyrophosphate-dependent enzymes might arise from ATP-dependent ones as a later adapta-
tion. For example, the single mutation in the pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase
of Entamoeba histolytica changed the preference of the enzyme from PP i to ATP (Chi and
Kemp, 2000). This result suggested the presence of a latent ATP-binding site in this enzyme
and it was proposed that the ancestral pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase was
ATP-dependent.
In the opinion of Oparin (1924, 1938), the earliest process to provide energy for the
first living organisms on the Earth, even before the appearance of oxygen, was anaerobic