Kornberg A
Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305-5307, USA.
Prog Mol Subcell Biol. 1999;23:1-18. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-58444-2_1.
Pursuit of the enzymes that make and degrade polyP has provided analytic reagents which confirm the ubiquity of polyP in microbes and animals and provide reliable means for measuring very low concentrations. Many distinctive functions appear likely for polyP depending on its abundance, chain length, biologic source and subcellular location: an energy supply and ATP substitute, a reservoir for Pi, a chelator of metals, a buffer against alkali, a channel for DNA entry, a cell capsule, and, of major interest, a regulator of responses to stresses and adjustments for survival in the stationary phase of culture growth and development. Whether microbe or human, we depend on adaptations in the stationary phase, a dynamic phase of life. Much attention has focused on the early and reproductive phases of organisms, rather brief intervals of rapid growth, but more concern needs to be given to the extensive period of maturity. Survival of microbial species depends on being able to manage in the stationary phase. In view of the universality and complexity of basic biochemical mechanisms, it would be surprising if some of the variety of polyP functions observed in microorganisms did not apply to aspects of human growth and development, to aging and to the aberrations of disease. Of theoretical interest regarding polyP is its antiquity in prebiotic evolution, which, along with its high energy and phosphate content, make it a plausible precursor to RNA, DNA and proteins. Of practical interest is its many industrial applications, among which is its use in the microbial depollution of Pi in marine environments.
对合成和降解多聚磷酸的酶的研究提供了分析试剂，这些试剂证实了多聚磷酸在微生物和动物中的普遍存在，并为测量极低浓度提供了可靠的方法。根据多聚磷酸的丰度、链长、生物来源和亚细胞定位，它可能具有许多独特的功能：能量供应和ATP替代物、磷酸盐储存库、金属螯合剂、抗碱缓冲剂、DNA进入通道、细胞荚膜，以及最受关注的，在培养生长和发育的稳定期对应激反应的调节和生存调整。无论是微生物还是人类，我们都依赖于稳定期的适应，这是生命的一个动态阶段。人们更多地关注生物体的早期和繁殖阶段，即短暂的快速生长阶段，但需要更多地关注漫长的成熟阶段。微生物物种的生存取决于能否在稳定期生存。鉴于基本生化机制的普遍性和复杂性，如果在微生物中观察到的多聚磷酸的多种功能不适用于人类生长发育、衰老和疾病异常的某些方面，那将令人惊讶。关于多聚磷酸，从理论上讲有趣的是它在益生元进化中的古老性，这与其高能量和磷酸盐含量一起，使其成为RNA、DNA和蛋白质的一个合理前体。从实际应用角度来看，它有许多工业用途，其中包括用于海洋环境中微生物对磷酸盐的去污染。
