Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, United Kingdom; email:
School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China; email:
Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2016 Oct 6;32:349-372. doi: 10.1146/annurev-cellbio-111315-124907. Epub 2016 Jun 27.
Compartmentation is essential for the localization of biological processes within a cell. In 2010, three groups independently reported that cytidine triphosphate synthase (CTPS), a metabolic enzyme for de novo synthesis of the nucleotide CTP, is compartmentalized in cytoophidia (Greek for "cellular snakes") in bacteria, yeast, and fruit flies. Subsequent studies demonstrate that CTPS can also form filaments in human cells. Thus, the cytoophidium represents a new type of intracellular compartment that is strikingly conserved across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Multiple lines of evidence have recently suggested that polymerization of metabolic enzymes such as CTPS and inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase into filamentous cytoophidia modulates enzymatic activity. With many more metabolic enzymes found to form the cytoophidium and its kind, compartmentation via filamentation may serve as a general mechanism for the regulation of metabolism.
区隔化对于细胞内生物过程的定位至关重要。2010 年，三个独立的研究小组报道称，三磷酸胞苷合成酶（CTPS）是从头合成核苷酸 CTP 的代谢酶，在细菌、酵母和果蝇的胞线体（希腊语，意为“细胞蛇”）中存在区隔化。随后的研究表明，CTPS 也可以在人类细胞中形成纤维。因此，胞线体代表了一种新的细胞内隔室，在原核生物和真核生物中高度保守。最近的多项证据表明，代谢酶如 CTPS 和单磷酸肌苷脱氢酶聚合形成丝状胞线体可调节酶活性。越来越多的代谢酶被发现形成胞线体及其同类物，通过纤维形成进行区隔化可能是代谢调节的一般机制。
