Department of Biology and Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Arch Biochem Biophys. 2012 Jan 15;517(2):83-97. doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2011.10.018. Epub 2011 Nov 10.
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.
长链多萜醇和多萜醇磷酸酯是所有生命领域的细胞膜中普遍存在且必不可少的成分。多萜醇磷酸酯，包括细菌中的十一碳烯基磷酸酯和古菌及真核生物中的鲨烯磷酸酯，在糖生物合成途径中作为特定的膜结合载体发挥作用，负责细胞结构的生成，如 N-连接蛋白聚糖和细菌肽聚糖。多萜醇磷酸酯是具有明确生化作用的多萜醇唯一形式；然而，未修饰或酯化的多萜醇通常构成细胞多萜醇库的重要百分比。未修饰的多萜醇作为膜成分以及多萜醇磷酸酯作为生物合成途径中优选的聚糖载体在进化中得到高度保守的原因尚不清楚。本综述调查了现有研究，以探讨为什么未修饰的多萜醇在进化中得以保留，以及为什么多萜醇磷酸酯被普遍且特异地用于膜结合聚糖组装。
